Has taking care of your bariatric-surgery needs been even more difficult during the pandemic?
Are you worried about emotional eating and don’t know what to do about it?
What if you could have more time and space to figure out what’s happened, and find the confidence and commitment to begin again?
Because of the unique challenges bariatric surgery presents, and the complexity of the women who undergo it, self-care after bariatric surgery can be difficult even in the best of times.
You can have experiences and make choices that leave you feeling frustrated, confused, and even ashamed.
With the pandemic, some women have suffered such a disruption in their lives emotionally and physically, that it seems like their bariatric lifestyle has vanished. They’ve begun to slide back into old coping mechanisms.
When women who have had bariatric surgery regain weight, they often tell themselves they are bad, they’re failing, and they can’t control themselves.
The truth is no one fails at bariatric surgery.
Sometimes it helps to step back and give yourself time and compassionate attention. With a little distance and some good support, you just might find a way to begin again. Fresh and inspired.
It may feel like you’ve gotten into a hopeless situation, but that is just a story you’re telling yourself. There always is a way forward.
Many of us miss the early days after surgery when the weight seemed to just melt off with little effort.
As you get further out from surgery it can feel overwhelming to have to work so much harder at your bariatric surgery lifestyle. Your old habits can come back with a vengeance and you try to get back on track over and over again.
That’s okay. The only way to get back is to keep trying. It is the only thing that works. And you do want it to work.
That’s why you bravely chose bariatric surgery to help you overcome your weight challenges. And that’s why you are considering reaching out for support.
Would you like to have a supportive experience that will transform the way you view yourself and your bariatric journey? Wouldn’t it be nice to spend a weekend with women who get what you’re going through and are working on figuring things out, too?
You deserve support and compassion. You deserve a post-surgery experience with no fear and no regrets, the outcome you desire, and most importantly, a way of living that works for you.
What if you could:
- Lose your fear of weight regain?
- Lose your feelings of unworthiness and shame?
- Lose your guilt over emotional eating?
- Lose your uncontrollable carb cravings?
- Lose your discouragement and hopelessness?
and…
- Gain self-compassion and empowerment?
- Gain the tools and strategies you need to move toward your bariatric-surgery goals?
- Gain the clarity and strength to get unstuck?
- Gain the friendships of supportive women who are walking beside you?
Begin Again! Renewal Retreat
Join Katie for a surprisingly connecting and user-friendly Zoom experience. Even at home, you can get away from the demands in your life, share an empowering adventure with like-minded women, and begin again on a bariatric journey to find peace and fulfillment.
At Katie’s exclusive retreat, she’ll shed light on a powerful process of growth and renewal with plenty of tools to take with you when the retreat ends. View a Preliminary Agenda.
I recommend Katie Jay’s Renewal Retreats without hesitation. It is for people who are willing to work at their recovery. I went in not knowing what to expect but hoping that it would be a good experience. It was life-changing for me.” Ory Brown, NY
Self-awareness: Observe yourself with curiosity, rather than with contempt or judgment.
Self-compassion: Treat yourself with kindness and empathy.
Self-care: Learn how to nurture yourself at a deeper level, so you can attend to your bariatric needs with confidence and competence.
We’ll discover how the foundation of self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-care can light up your life.
At Katie Jay’s Begin Again! Renewal Retreat you’ll have the opportunity to:
- Meet other bariatric women in small groups so you can make meaningful connections and feel more comfortable with the virtual retreat environment.
- Participate in activities to stretch your understanding of what’s possible and get an introduction to tools and strategies you can apply in your life.
- Evaluate what has been working for you and what has not.
- Participate in goal-setting sessions that focus on the whole person, not just the number on the scale.
- Explore the ways in which you put your needs behind the needs of others and how to change that dynamic.
- Practice skills to help you set better boundaries and communicate more clearly with empathy and clarity, in a safe and supportive environment.
- Explore the meaning of “being in control” and how to achieve that in your day-to-day life.
- Discover the ways in which a mindful approach to living can help you overcome your bariatric challenges.
The Details
Friday evening
5PM – 8:30PM
Saturday
10AM – 12PM
1PM – 4PM
5PM – 8PM
Sunday
10AM – 1PM
(We will take plenty of breaks!)
Location
This is a virtual retreat via Zoom.
Do the best you can to find a place in your home to be alone and uninterrupted, as much as possible.
Some attendees plan to stay in a hotel or Airbnb during the retreat, which could really enhance your experience, but please keep in mind the safety considerations with regard to COVID and do what’s best for you.
Despite the chaos of life (and it’s going to happen!), for the retreat you’ll need to be as present and focused as you can be – and try to limit interrupting factors that could interfere with everyone’s experience.
Investment
You have two options for the retreat
Option 1
$399
Retreat Experience
The “Box of Awesome” retreat kit, sent to you by Priority Mail (valued at $50):
- Retreat T-shirt
- Spiral-bound notebook
- Painted stone souvenir
- Signed copy of Katie Jay’s book, The Weight Loss Surgery Stages of Transformation: What to Expect and How to Manage Change after Bariatric Surgery
- Other small items
Option 2
$499
Retreat Experience (valued at $399)
- Retreat T-shirt
- Spiral-bound notebook
- Painted stone souvenir
- Signed copy of Katie Jay’s book, The Weight Loss Surgery Stages of Transformation: What to Expect and How to Manage Change after Bariatric Surgery
- Other small items
Important: Please keep in mind that due to the upfront expenses involved in organizing a retreat, your registration is non-refundable. (However, you may transfer the amount you’ve paid for your retreat registration to any other event – or events – in the future, or you may use it for coaching with Katie).
I don’t earn a huge salary. I work in the public schools. But I have found Katie’s retreats to be worth every penny. They are an important investment in myself and have kept me on a healthy, evolving path.” Cheryl McFarland, MD
Questions & Answers
Answers to some questions you might have.
Are you thinking you need to be computer savvy to attend Katie Jay’s virtual retreat?
All you need to do is click on the Zoom link Katie sends to your email address, and you will be taken to the retreat automatically. Once you’re in, and for the entire retreat, there will be a support team to help you trouble shoot. You won’t be left to figure it out by yourself.
Katie also is offering a couple of ‘trial tries’ on Zoom prior to the virtual retreat just to calm the nerves.
Please don’t let technology keep you from attending. You will find the process user friendly, and the retreat will be so very empowering for you.
For me, the best part of Katie’s retreats is the camaraderie among attendees. And yes, even on Zoom, you can make life-long friends!”
Karen Lewis, NC
Won’t Zoom make the retreat feel awkward and impersonal?
Of course it will! But only if you let it. Katie encourages everyone to be “all-in.”
When she says, “All In,” she means:
Be on time (actually 10 minutes early). The retreat will be planned meticulously, and timeliness will be critical. When you arrive late, you miss needed instructions, you miss hearing what others share, you miss the chance to ask questions, it’s possible your partner for a given activity will be sitting alone in her breakout room, and you will create a feeling of disconnection with your group members. We must be there for ourselves and each other.
Be present. When you are in the Zoom retreat, you need to be aware and curious. Engaged and connected. Interested and compassionate.
Participate. When you listen but don’t engage, people can’t necessarily read your energy the way they could in person. So, even if you’re muted you can smile, nod your head, laugh, lean forward, explain yourself in chat, and join in.
Show curiosity about the other women, befriend them, and listen to them.
Share yourself. The other women will want to get to know you, get a feel for you, and feel safe and connected with you.
Attend to your own needs. Zoom requires energy of us that in-person meetings do not. You may become visually tired, need to stretch or stand, use the restroom, refill your drink, and more. Try to attend to the group, but if you are uncomfortable and it can’t wait, quietly take care of your needs. And be sure to ask for help if you need it.
Katie Jay
Katie Jay, MSW; Certified Wellness Coach is an internationally recognized, bariatric surgery professional, specializing in “whole-person transformation.” She is interested in not just physical change, but emotional, psychological, and social transformation.
A leading authority on weight loss surgery success, Katie Jay founded the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery in 2005 and created www.BariSupport.com in 2020.
She underwent a gastric bypass in 2004 and maintains a 130+ pound weight loss (with notable ups and downs). And more importantly, is the happiest and most fulfilled she’s ever been in her life.
Katie is the author of three books: Dying to Change: My Really Heavy Life Story; Small Bites: Daily Inspirations for Weight Loss Surgery Patients; and Katie Jay’s™ Weight Loss Surgery Stages of Transformation.
She is a beloved and internationally sought-after keynote speaker, retreat facilitator, workshop leader, wellness coach, and researcher, whose main goal is to empower individuals to overcome obesity and to transform their lives, by addressing food obsession and cravings, weight regain, carbohydrate sensitivity, emotional eating, low self esteem, and transfer addiction. She also assists surgeons, bariatric programs, and hospitals to optimize bariatric-surgery outcomes.
Meet the Team
Karen Lewis
Meet Karen Lewis! A bariatric surgery veteran, Karen Lewis also is volunteering her time to make the retreat as wonderful an experience as possible for all of the women who are attending. Karen will give us good-hearted support and encouragement and will be available by chat during our Zoom retreat to answer non-technical questions. Karen also will be available and sometimes join in with the retreat activities and discussions. She has contributed many hours of her time to help plan and prepare for the retreat.
Roz Harris
Meet Roz Harris! Not only is Roz a bariatric surgery veteran (who has attended several of Katie Jay’s retreats), she is the owner of Fit Chicks!, an Indiana-based fitness center that offers in person and online personal training and nutrition consults for women. Roz is donating her time to all of us to help make our Zoom experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible! If you’re a Star Trek fan, you could say she’ll be our Scotty (the miracle-working genius in the engine room, without whom the virtual retreat would be a disaster).