The weight loss‘ book club’ 198 ways of dealing with obstacles, not by therapists who may never have had the problem, but by other normal people battling with their weight amongst the demands of real life. Group members develop a bond forged on the anvil of personal struggle through the process of change in the pursuit of personal growth. Over time, through witnessing how others deal with‘ similar but different’ experiences and problems, and of course through sharing your own, a new way forward becomes clear. One of the most fascinating studies that I came across( at least to me with my longstanding interest in groups) looked at how group therapy compared to individual therapy for causing weight loss. First, the researchers, Renjilian and co-workers, found that those in groups lost more weight than those being treated individually. But what interested me was that they looked at who preferred group therapy versus those who preferred individual work. What they found was that even people who preferred individual therapy did better in groups – in fact they did slightly better than those who had preferred to work in a group format! This is the power of group work. In Australia I rarely come across anyone who would prefer to work in a group. We’ re all a bit too anxious about letting others really get to know us. Although, in more recent years as some of my group‘ graduates’ have spread the word, I have had a trickle of people approaching me specifically to do group work. But, by and large it is not our first choice. Group guidelines What I suggest you do if you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off for the long-term is form a‘ book club’ type support group. It can be as small as two members and as large as eight. Start with you and a friend and then invite others – go for open-minded people. Ask everyone invited if they can, in turn, bring an interested friend. In this way two co-founders can ask one other person each, who each bring one