3 Keys to Back to Basics After Weight Loss Surgery

Image : http://www.flickr.com

People who have undergone weight loss surgery and later gain weight are often told to "get back to basics" but we are seldom given more in depth directions. I was told that when I reported a weight gain to my bariatric center. Many of us have feelings of hopelessness: we are lost without a place to begin the act of losing weight again.

Over the years with much learned there is an effective way to get back to basics and make the most of our gastric bypass or gastric banding surgeries as tools in weight maintenance. In addition to following the food plan there are three key things we can do to sustain weight loss and maintain a healthy weight:

Plan Ahead - Do Not Leave it to Chance

Read, study, and understand the basics completely before you begin. Plan for five days with limited disruptions including life, work, and cyclical (menstruation). Create a meal plan for all five back to basics days and purchase the food to avoid tempting trips to the market. In advance cook a pot of hearty vegetable soup and divide into 1-cup portions. Mentally excite yourself over the opportunity to make new friends with your old pouch. Prepare for carbohydrate withdrawal by having fruit on hand or a supply of Emergen-C. Announce your plan to those who will support you and ask for their encouragement. Visualize feeling wonderful over next few days as you return to the basics. Plan to succeed and you will.

Use the 5 Day Pouch Test Journal

Please do not stop reading, I know keeping a food and exercise log is inconvenient. But it is a waste of five days if we do not make a record of what happens and learn from that record. Your journal does not need to be complicated: track your food, activity, motivation, and energy levels. Record your weight. In so doing you learn how your eating and activity affect your daily function. Identify hunger trends and also learn how, to arrest them. A food journal opens a window to personal discovery.

Get a Buddy

Do not go alone. Get support. Get a partner. Get a buddy. I am repeatedly impressed by the momentum of the buddy system when people go back to basics together. Almost like spontaneous combustion an online group will organize and return to the basics together. And people who are not doing it join to cheer along their fellow neighbors. Others report tremendous success when joined by a spouse, a friend or fellow support group member. Buddies offer support, encouragement, and accountability. Do not go alone.

Your online destination for support is: LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood.