[iaradajnos]

I would like to propose (for those maintainers interested) a thread to actively promote weight control success.

Advocators in this group would support any or all of the following:
1) maintenance is possible after weight loss
advocate to: media, weight loss magazines, government officials

2) the need for programs to support maintenance
advocate to: government officials, insurance, gyms, others

3) 3fatchicks is an awesome place
advocate to: general media, weight loss magazines

Steps for this group:
I) Maintainers Platform Decisions
a) decide on core issues our groups supports
b) decide on key concerns our group is against

II) Actions
1) write letters to editors,
a) basic sample letters provided
b) suggested places to send letters (such as:
i) local media/newspapers
ii) regional media/newspapers
iii) national media/internet/newspapers

2) email/call/write/visit elected officials,
a) basic sample letters provided to our group with specific requests for officials
b) specific, simplified scripts provided to our group for calls or visits
c) list of current policies/laws provided for group to follow
i) we may want to support current policies
ii) we might want to stop current practices/policies/laws
d) list of pending policies/legislation
i) we may want to support pending policies/legislation
ii) we might want to prevent something that is pending
e) basic list of core issues our groups supports
(we’ll agree in advance)
f) basic list of key concerns our group is against
(we’ll agree in advance)

3) attend local meetings around health issues,
a) local public health department meetings
b) local hospital public meetings
c) conferences on women’s or family health
d) local municipal meetings determining allocation of funds for health and prevention

4) follow a group email community network,
a) we each might follow our own favorite sites and
b) “pipe in” when we see opportunities for comment

5) share some/all of personal weight loss/maintenance story
a) write up our own stories, best practices, etc.

Interested maintainers can follow hot topics, share pending policies that will help or hurt weight control or maintenance, and publicly promote the existenance of successful weight loss and maintainers.

Anyone can participate. I'll recruit some experts (hopefully) who can inform us on successful programs, pending policies, and give ideas for helpful advocating. I'll also look up and give info, help write sample scripts and letters, cheerlead and clarify anything.

Watch for more ways to advocate about successful weight loss and maintenance!