How do you know your weight loss surgery won’t just become another of your long list of dieting failures?
We all wonder that before going under the knife. How do I know I won’t screw this up, too? It’s a constant theme on this blog that gastric bypass surgery isn’t the “easy way out.” It requires discipline. But where does that discipline come from?
During your honeymoon period, if you want to get the most out of this surgery, you’ve got to use your time wisely. You can’t count on your pouch to enforce the good habits you need forever.
Immediately after surgery, you physically can’t eat certain foods. It hurts very badly if you gulp liquids, or eat too fast or don’t chew. But those effects can wear off as time goes by.
Plus, your pouch will never force you to exercise. It won’t stop you from eating late at night, or grazing. And while you may lose weight pretty quickly in the first months no matter what, that doesn’t last long.
So to make this work, you have to form good habits on purpose.
- Make exercise a daily priority. Whatever you can do in the beginning, do it. If you can go to the gym, go. If not, walk. After the first month, you’ll suddenly be exploding with energy. Put it to use every single day, and before long you won’t be able to imagine life without it.
- Keep track of everything you eat. Write every morsel down. The more you’re aware of what goes in your mouth, the more likely you are to eat the right things. And the longer you go eating the right things at the right times, the easier it gets.
- Start a journal. Pay attention to the mental cravings you must battle and write about them. You must discover now why you overate before. Most of us go through a miserable time of mourning over our broken relationship with food. Analyze this. Be sure you understand it. This knowledge will give you the power to change.
- Plan alternate activites. Decide in advance what you’ll do when that mental craving for chocolate-iced-cream-filled doughnuts overwhelms you. Or – since you know you can’t indulge in that one without being miserable after - what you’ll do when it’s 11:00 PM and you’re not really hungry, but just really want another helping of dinner leftovers. Brush your teeth? Jump on your mini trampoline? Grab your significant other and indulge in some wild hanky panky? Hey, those who fail to plan plan to fail.
- Establish a schedule. Again with the failing to plan concept. Decide in advance when you plan to eat meals, how much water you’ll drink between each one, and at what times you’ll take protein shakes and your multitude of supplements. Set the alarm on your watch if you have to in order to remind yourself.
“They” say that it takes approximately 30 days to ingrain a habit. So every day that you get up and exercise, every day that you take your vitamins on time, every day that you don’t eat that extra snack, the good habits you’ll need will become a little more entrenched.
And, of course, success breeds success. The more you do the “good” things, and the more you avoid the “bad,” the better you’ll feel. And the more weight you’ll lose. Which gives you a whole lot of motivation to keep up the good work!
Eventually, you’ll be living the healthy life on auto-pilot.
