4 Simple Habits That Lead to Weight Loss Surgery Success
Bariatric surgery jumpstarts your weight loss journey, but it’s also important to make lifestyle changes in order to keep the excess weight off for good.
Bariatric surgery is an effective way for people who struggle with obesity to start living a healthier, happier life. Weight loss surgery patients lose 60 to 80 percent of their excess weight on average and often go into full remission from serious health conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
However, this doesn’t mean that surgery is the easy way out. You won’t lose weight overnight and miraculously keep it off just because you’ve had the procedure. The key to weight loss success after surgery is working with your doctor to sustain healthy lifestyle changes. Practicing the following simple, healthy habits will make it easier to stay on track.
Combining Bariatric Surgery and Lifestyle Changes
Although lifestyle changes are important, they’re not the be-all-end-all when it comes to losing weight. Many obese people have the will to lose weight, but still struggle with challenges like a slow metabolism or debilitating joint pain.
However, when good habits like diet and exercise are combined with bariatric surgery, you’ve unlocked a winning combination for weight loss success. How? For starters, surgery makes your stomach smaller and changes the way your body processes food, making it easier to stick to a healthy diet. It also increases your ability to be physically active by reducing joint pain and breathing problems. Finally, weight loss surgery can make you feel more confident as you start seeing results, which is just the motivational boost you need to maintain healthy habits.
4 Healthy Habits for Weight Loss Success
It takes 30 days to solidify a good habit, which means it takes 30 days to begin your journey to a new you. Start small with these four changes, and watch your weight loss results increase dramatically.
1. Eat Healthfully and Mindfully
Before weight loss surgery, your bariatric surgeon will put you on a pre-surgery diet to reduce your body fat. Consider this as a slow introduction to the kind of dietary changes you’ll need to make after surgery, although there will be more post-surgery guidelines to incorporate as well.
If you’ve tried to lose weight by dieting before, you might associate changing your eating habits with deprivation — no sugar, no meat, no carbs, no fun. Yet getting in the habit of eating mindfully and focusing on all of the delicious, healthful meals you’ll enjoy now can help you make a lasting change.
2. Cut Back on Late Night Snacking
Along the same lines, get in the habit of not eating after dinner. A study in the Obesity journal found that people who ate late at night gained twice as much weight as those who didn’t, even when the total calories consumed remained the same. Based on the results of the study, the researchers recommend eating 90 percent of your calories before 8:00 pm, which works out to eating meals every three to four hours. If you do need a post-dinner snack, opt for fruit or low-fat yogurt.
3. Don’t Drink Your Calories
Don’t forget to change your drinking habits, too! The added sugar in soda, tea, fruit juice, and alcohol can add up before you know it. Aim to drink two liters of water a day, which will aid in digestion and help you feel fuller as you eat. Replacing soft drinks with water can also cut down on your sugar intake.
After your weight loss procedure, be sure to drink slowly, sipping water regularly between meals. It’s also important to not drink anything 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after eating.
4. Incorporate Activity into Your Day-to-Day Life
Exercising when you haven’t for a long time can be challenging. The good news is you don’t have to start running at marathon speeds right out of the gate. Ease yourself into physical activity in small ways, like taking the stairs every day or using an app to make sure you get up and move a little each hour. As you get stronger, you’ll be able to start doing 30 minute sessions of moderate to high intensity exercise five days a week.
If you’re interested in learning more about weight loss surgery and helpful tips for success, contact the experts at Long Island Laparoscopic Doctors today. Our dedicated team will help you get started.