How to Achieve Long Term Success After Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery and what comes next are major undertakings. It takes planning, discipline, and dedication to recover from your procedure and make the lifestyle changes that will get pounds off like you wanted.

After all that effort, how can you keep the weight off for the long haul? You will still need to put in a lot of effort, and maybe even more effort than you were while losing weight. However, there are a lot of things you can do to make it easier. Here are some tips for achieving long-term success after weight loss surgery.

Effects of Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss is hard, and nobody has yet found the solution that works for everyone. At this point, it looks like weight loss surgery is one of the best solutions for people who have a lot of weight to lose. For patients who qualify for bariatric surgery and decide to go through with it, weight loss is consistently greater than for patients who choose not to undergo bariatric surgery. 

Also, weight loss surgery patients can experience these benefits rather quickly after their procedures or with some weight loss..

• Improved blood sugar control.
• Reduced blood pressure and cholesterol.
• Better quality of life.
• Reductions in medication dosages (though remember not to change your medications without talking to your healthcare provider).

Challenges with Keeping Weight Off

Most weight loss surgery patients lose a significant amount of weight after their procedure, but keeping it off is another story. Pounds can come back on for a number of reasons, such as the following.

• Increased intake of less-healthy, calorie-dense, or slider foods, such as sweets, ice cream, or fast food.
• Ability to consume more food due to stretching of the pouch or sleeve or loss of touch with what “fullness” feels like.
• Switching back to old habits in terms of eating and exercising. 

While it’s impossible to stay focused all the time for life, it is possible to make things easier so healthy choices become routine.

Five Steps for Achieving Long Term Success After Weight Loss Surgery

Some careful strategizing can help you keep the pounds off without as much effort. These are some steps for achieving long-term success after weight loss surgery.

Do you want to be able to stick to your diet? Then make it fun and exciting without feeling deprived. That means including foods you love at every meal. So much the better if you love broccoli, chicken breast, cottage cheese, and other high-protein or low-calorie foods. But there is no problem if you need variety and love other foods, too.

Here are a few examples of foods you can include to stay happy and satisfied on your bariatric surgery diet. These are all available in low-carb and/or high-protein options.

• Pizza Crust, Bread, Bagels, and Wraps
• Pasta, Soups, and Entrees
• Protein Bars, Protein Chips, Protein Puffs, and Protein Cookies
• Sugar-Free Chocolate, Hard Candies, and Cakes
• Sugar-Free Protein Pudding and Gelatin
• Keto Cereal, Granola, and Oatmeal

They are all available at the BariatricPal Store, so they are just a click away.

Logging your meals can help you stay on track. Even when you become a pro at making healthy choices, which can happen in the months after weight loss surgery, logging meals can keep you aware of what you are eating. It holds you accountable and helps you remember that the “little bites” and “extras,” such as cooking fats and condiments, add up.

In general, it’s a good idea to treat your body right if you want it to behave for you. Taking a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement for life is a standard recommendation for post-op bariatric surgery patients. Even if you eat a healthy diet, taking the supplement can help keep you nourished because your needs may be higher than they used to be, and your diet may be more restricted than it was before.

BariatricPal Multivitamin ONE is a multivitamin and mineral supplement designed specifically for bariatric surgery patients. It has all of the vitamins, as well as minerals such as zinc, copper, selenium, iodine, and more. You can select the version that has no iron or 18, 45, or 60 mg of iron, depending on your needs. 

Getting the nutrients you need can support long-term success after weight loss surgery in a few ways. For example, you need specific vitamins and minerals to maximize metabolism and energy production in the body. With certain deficiencies, you may feel tired and have trouble burning as many calories as you would like, or being active.

BariatricPal Calcium Soft Chews with Probiotics can also support nourishment. Calcium is necessary for strong bones, and the chews come with vitamin D to support calcium utilization. They come in a variety of delicious flavors, and taking them may become a favorite part of your day!

What is the magic amount of exercise? It depends on your goals. For general health, it seems as though a goal of at least 150 minutes per week, or 30 minutes most days of the week, is a good benchmark. For weight loss, more is probably better, but what you eat probably has far more of an impact on how much weight you lose.

But how much should you work out to keep the weight off? Study after study points to high amounts of exercise to prevent weight regain. People who lose a lot of weight and keep it off for years tend to exercise for an hour or more most days. Just be sure to check with your doctor about which activities are safe for you.

Life happens, and you are entitled to enjoy it. The trick for enjoying life while keeping the pounds off is adjusting to the situation. For example, if there is a party coming up, consider what you will eat at it. You may need to bring a snack for yourself or a healthy dish to share. At a restaurant, similarly, try to figure out ahead of time what you will order. Enjoying life, not avoiding fun times, can help you stay on track and achieve long-term success.

Long-term success after weight loss surgery is challenging, but there are ways to bring it within reach. Eating well, staying nourished with easy-to-take multivitamins such as BariatricPal Multivitamin ONE and BariatricPal Calcium Soft Chews, and keeping your metabolism up can all help. The BariatricPal Store has many other products to make it easier and more fun to stay on track to keep pounds off for life.