The most successful bariatric patients tend to be those who see weight-loss surgery as a tool, not a quick fix. If you’re considering weight-loss surgery, it’s important to be prepared for specific lifestyle changes to help ensure long-term success and minimize the risk of weight regain and its associated health problems. Here’s what the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) recommends.
Lifestyle Changes After Weight-Loss Changes
As you’d expect, most of these adjustments involve nutrition, exercise, and other healthy choices.
- Be mindful of diet. Immediately following your surgical procedure, it’s very important to follow post-op instructions regarding how much to eat and drink and when to do so. Keep in mind, these instructions will change as time passes. While you’ll be on a liquid diet immediately following surgery, you’ll soon transition to soft and then solid foods. Prioritize healthy choice, including sufficient amounts of protein and minimal amounts of sugary, starchy foods. Your bariatric care team should provide plenty of direction so that you’re very clear on what to eat and what to avoid.
- Hydrate properly. Drink up! Ensuring you’re getting plenty of water will help you avoid nausea, constipation, fatigue, and other problems.
- Supplement with vitamins and minerals. Be prepared to take vitamin and mineral supplements daily. These supplements are recommended to help your body replenish key nutrients and often include a multivitamin, B12, calcium, iron, and vitamin D.
- Exercise. Patients often experience more energy after weight-loss surgery, which makes it easier to get moving. Daily exercise should be the goal.
- Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol. While patients are advised to quit smoking before surgery, this habit should continue afterwards as well. Nicotine interferes with the body’s ability to heal. Alcohol should also be avoided. It absorbs faster into the blood after surgery, and there is a higher risk of alcoholism in people who have had weight-loss surgery.
The Bottom Line
Being clear about the lifestyle changes you’ll need to embrace after surgery is the best way to set expectations. Obesity is an environmental disease, and treatment goes beyond diet or surgery alone. In addition to living a healthy lifestyle encompassing all of the above, follow-up care with your bariatric team will also be important to ensure you’re staying on the right track. Plus, it will give you a chance to ask questions and get advice on lifestyle choices.
Learn more about whether you might be a candidate for metabolic surgery. Contact the Nevada Surgical team today.
