Handling Weight Loss Setbacks

When we talk about weight loss, there’s often a discussion around failure, but as bariatric surgeons and weight loss experts, failure is not in our dictionary. Why? Well, we can get pretty hard on ourselves and consider ourselves failures seeing stories and pictures on social media of people who have gone from obese to slim, weak to strong. With only a few exceptions, they seem to have had a linear journey with few setbacks. This can make us feel like we are somehow less or unable to do what they were able to achieve. When considering a setback a failure, it’s easy to curl up in a ball and quit. This is part of the reason why most diet and exercise programs fail. It’s also why some medical or surgical weight loss methods may not yield the desired results. In this article, we discuss a little more about how to prepare ourselves for setbacks and ultimately overcome them.

Preparing for the Inevitable Setback

Set Expectations

Most importantly, to prepare for setbacks, we must learn what’s to come – what to expect. The weight loss will be rapid in the first six months after bariatric surgery. It’ll seem like you can’t do anything to stop it. Amazing! This is pronounced with a gastric sleeve but even more so with a gastric bypass. However, you must know this progress will eventually plateau – several times. At some point, you will stop losing weight and level off. This is normal and requires tweaking your diet and exercise program to ensure your weight loss gets back on track.

Knowing you will lose weight in a stepwise way, you can now reassess your expectations. Part of this will include a chat with your bariatric surgeon and nutritionist/dietician to understand what most patients go through because, after thousands of surgeries, we’ve seen it all.

Trouble Losing Weight

If you have trouble losing weight early after surgery or constantly feel fatigued, speak to your bariatric surgeon early on. We will need to closely examine what you’re eating and whether you’re sticking to the significantly lower-calorie diet prescribed to you. Other important things to remember are ensuring that you take your postoperative multivitamins and any other supplements you’ve been prescribed. Nutritional imbalances can cause significant issues after surgery.

Also, be sure you are drinking enough water to stay hydrated. It may be difficult in the early days after surgery, but you must hit your numbers even if you get water one 1-ounce shot at a time.

Lastly, think about your lifestyle habits. Are you getting enough sleep? Sleep is critical to weight loss. Ensure you’re getting 7 to 8 hours; if not, seek help from your PCP, bariatric surgeon, or sleep specialist. Don’t smoke or drink alcohol in excess. Make sure you are exercising regularly, doing both cardio and strength training.

Strength Training & Weight Loss Plateaus

Your weight loss may slow or plateau soon after you start working out. This is because you are building muscle, which is dense. Initially, you will create that muscle but won’t burn much fat, leading to slowing weight loss or even weight increases. This is nothing to worry about and is perfectly normal. This is why it’s best not to use weight as the only barometer of success but rather consider your body shape and blood counts, for example.

Don’t Self-Diagnose

It’s critical not to use other people’s experiences on the Internet as your only guide. Many forums and online resources will give you tips and tricks to overcome hurdles and challenges after surgery. They’re also full of horror stories, primarily due to poor post-op habits and not indicative of typical bariatric surgery results.

Weight Loss Is Not Easy, Even With Bariatric Surgery

Lastly, you must understand that the weight loss process takes work. If you find it hard to lose weight with diet and exercise now, you will find it hard to do so after bariatric surgery, too; this is especially true during the weight loss maintenance phase after you’ve hit your goals, which can be around one and a half to two years after surgery. It sounds clichéd, but weight loss surgery is genuinely only a tool. It is up to you to take the opportunity to change your lifestyle and mindset because that will carry you to success over the long term.

Surgery is not a copout; this is not the easy way out. However, your body and mind will change significantly after surgery, and most of our patients find their weight loss goals more attainable than when they only had diet and exercise to rely on. Again, it’s worth stressing repeatedly that you should not go into the bariatric surgery process thinking it will be easy, nor should you take your weight loss for granted. Take that excitement and motivation and put it towards long-term lifestyle change – developing new, healthier habits in every part of your life.