Do I Need a Weight Loss Surgery Support Group?

Weight loss surgery is a HUGE life change that impacts many more facets of your life than you may expect.  While preparing to undergo weight loss surgery, you may ask yourself, “Do I need a support group?”  Whether or not you NEED a support group is ultimately up to you, but read on to learn how a bariatric support group might benefit you in some unexpected ways!

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of joining a bariatric support group is that you gain an instant army of experts who have been through the process you are about to begin.  While you may not have the time and access to ask your surgeon EVERY question you think of, a support group can be a great resource to answer even the most random of concerns. Remember that your support buddies should not be answering any medically related questions, and they should be directed to your surgeon’s office. It’s always best to speak to a professional if you have any medical concerns.

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How Can a Loved One Support Me During Weight Loss Surgery?

Weight loss surgery impacts not only the life of the patient but the patient’s loved ones.  Our loved ones need to have an active role in our life changes.  Read on to learn how our loved ones can support us and how important that is to our success.

Those close to us need to be educated about the weight loss surgery process.  Knowing about the pre-op, surgery, healing process, exercise, dietary changes, etc., helps them understand what to expect.  By being educated, they can assist when planning aftercare, meals, grocery lists, recipes, workout routines, etc.  Friends and family may be surprisingly good resources or come up with ideas you never thought of! Continue reading

How Will My Body Change After Weight Loss Surgery?

Following bariatric surgery, your body will change a lot!  Some of those changes are expected (like weight loss), but others are not discussed as often and may surprise you.  Read on to learn about some of the ways your body may change after weight loss surgery!

The most obvious (and expected) bodily change is weight loss.  For most of us, the goal of bariatric surgery is to reduce our weight drastically.  With that weight loss comes excess skin.  Loose skin can be both physically and emotionally uncomfortable to deal with.  There is a variety of home, professional and surgical options to combat loose skin.  It’s up to you how much it bothers you and what strategy will be the best fit for your lifestyle.

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Dealing With Emotional Eating

So, you’ve had weight loss surgery.  It was going well initially, but that familiar and frequent hunger has crept back in.  Even though you KNOW your stomach is tiny, you find yourself snacking too often or making unhealthy food choices, and your progress is now suffering.  Chances are, you’re dealing with emotional hunger.  No surgery can fix that.  It’s something we must face and change in ourselves.  Thankfully, there are strategies to combat and deal with emotional eating.  Read on for some helpful tips in dealing with emotional hunger.

One of the first things we need to do is define what the triggers are for our emotional eating.  It could be stress, anxiety, anger, sadness, boredom, or even celebration.  We are pairing food with our feelings if we start to soothe our bad feelings, fill our boredom, or reward our wins with food!  That can lead to emotional eating.  For many of us, this could have begun in our childhoods.  That can make it hard to identify the underlying triggers because it feels so automatic.

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Building Muscle After Weight Loss Surgery

You’ve hit your weight loss goal.  Now what?  Life changes post-WLS don’t end with the scale hitting your target weight.  It may be time to start shifting your diet and exercise goals from fat loss to muscle building.  Why?  I’m glad you asked!

Building muscle has many benefits.  The most obvious benefit is that you’ll have better strength and endurance for life by having a good amount of muscle.  You won’t tire as quickly.  You’ll be more independent and energetic.  But, there are other benefits of adding muscle that may surprise you.  The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate.  That means your body is better at burning calories, even when resting!  Building muscle can improve balance, reducing the risk of falls.  Strength training can improve heart health and blood sugar levels, as well.  It also can improve your overall mood and brain health.

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Tips for the Soft Food Diet

Congrats!  You’ve made it to the soft food stage!  That means not only have you successfully navigated the restrictive and challenging liquid and pureed phases, but you’re a significant step closer to eating “normal” meals again!  I put “normal” in quotes because, after bariatric surgery, the goal is to ultimately create a new normal for ourselves.  That new “normal” will be smaller, healthful, and more mindful meals!

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Tips for the Liquid Diet Stage

The first and possibly most intimidating dietary stage after bariatric surgery is the liquid stage.  If you haven’t gone through it yet, you’re probably thinking, “There’s no way I could only drink a few liquids in a whole day!”  Those of us who have been there know the mind-blowing feeling of being Thanksgiving dinner-level full after a sip of water!  Read on for tips to help you navigate the liquid stage!

The name of the game during the liquid stage is to “keep on sipping.”  Your number one goal during this stage is to keep yourself hydrated.  In the hours and days after your surgery, your stomach will be healing, so it will be EXTRA small.  Even a tiny sip or two may make you feel full!  Don’t worry.  It’s normal.  But you must keep sipping if you want to get your 48-64 ounces a day!  Trust me; it’s hard!  You’re likely not going to feel hungry or thirsty in those first few days, so you’ve got to make a conscious effort to sip all day long.

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Changing Relationships After Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery can have a more significant impact on your life than you think! Sure, the everyday things change – the scale, your clothes, your health. But can weight loss surgery have an impact on your relationships? ABSOLUTELY! This is an important aspect of the weight loss journey that isn’t talked about nearly enough!

Going through any huge life change can have an impact on our relationships. The most noticeable changes may be with those you live around. Whether it’s parents, a significant other, children, or a roommate, the people we live with know us the best. One of the most important things you can do is educate them about the weight loss surgery process. Learning about the prep, healing process, dietary changes, etc., helps them know what to expect and how to be a pillar of support. One of the best ways to ensure your long-term success is getting the whole household on board with eating healthier!

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Healthy Desserts to Try After Weight Loss Surgery

You may think that embarking on a weight loss journey means you have to give up all your favorite sweets. I remember wondering if I would be able to do it. Would I have the willpower? How would I handle cravings? Would I ever enjoy food again? Thankfully, I’ve learned that living a healthy lifestyle post weight loss surgery DOESN’T mean always depriving yourself. If you’re like me, your sweet tooth is REAL! I love having dessert at the end of the day. Needless to say, I was grateful to learn that I can still enjoy sweet treats while staying on track!

The key is to be smart about your choices. Your stomach is significantly smaller post-op, so you must be wise about the choices you make for it. Thankfully, there are tons of options for low-carb, low-calorie sweets these days! By keeping them low carb and low calorie, the treats will have minimal impact on your weight loss goals.

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Getting Into Pre-Op Shape

Many people incorrectly assume that life change starts only after bariatric surgery.  Life change should start quite a while BEFORE weight loss surgery to have the best outcome!  Read on to get some great tips on how to get yourself into pre-op shape!

Surgery of any kind takes a toll on our bodies.  So, it only makes sense to prepare our bodies for it as much as possible.  Getting into pre-op shape helps build heart and lung health.  They will be working overtime after surgery to heal and repair us, so we should help them out as much as we can!  It is also wise to build the strength and stamina that we will need, especially in the early days when our mobility might be affected.  Strengthening our arms and legs will help us not use our abdominal muscles to move around, allowing them to heal.

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