How to Maintain Weight Loss After Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric surgery can help a chronically obese person lose weight. Ideally, a person can lose 50 to 60 percent of their excess weight within two years of the surgery. However, the patient needs to change their overall eating and exercise habits for lasting results. Follow these steps to explore how you can maintain weight loss after bariatric surgery.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Talk to your doctor. Ask about the changes in diet and lifestyle that you'll have to make after the surgery. Get all details specific to your case, like your ideal weight, the kind of exercises you need to start doing, any precautions and dietary supplements you need to take.
2. Make a note of all generic dietary instructions that you need after the surgery.
3. Stick to a liquid diet for the first two weeks after the surgery. Start with small portions of soft food after that time. Make sure that the diet focuses on proteins. Keep each portion to approximately 60 ml.
4. Advance the diet at a very slow pace. Add a new food item every two weeks. Note that the patient should be able to eat a child-sized meal after six months of surgery.
5. Remember that people who take bariatric surgery are advised not to consume sugar. It could cause dumping syndrome, which is vomiting or nausea due to feeling like you're overstuffed. Also avoid foods that are tough to digest, like bread.
6. Eat and drink slowly so that you can stop the moment your stomach starts feeling full. Take around 30 minutes to eat one portion of food and 30 to 60 minutes to drink one cup of fluid. This also prevents dumping syndrome.
7. Make sure that you chew your food well. This not only slows the intake, but it also makes food easy to digest.
8. Exercise regularly. Make a list of exercises and sports you can continue after the surgery and the advised frequency. Talk to your surgeon to know the exercises that are best suited for you.
9. Hire a dietician to monitor your diet and weight loss. Make note of any minor increase in weight that can be detected and corrected in time.

Tips & Warnings

• Bariatric surgery helps you loose weight, but the extent that it works after the surgery depends on your willingness and determination.
• If you don’t loose weight or if you put on more despite all your efforts, talk to your doctor immediately to get to the root of the problem.