Maintaining Slim Figure After The Weight-Loss Surgery
WebWire, 15 October 2008
Weight-loss surgery gives relatively quick effects. The body adjusts to the new system and, as patients claim, they tend to lose weight with almost no effort. Unfortunately, not everything looks that good. After the initial period after the surgery, patients’ behaviour needs changing in order to achieve a long-lasting success.
As Dr. Ajay Goyal, FACS, Director of Bariatric Surgery at Overlook Hospital said: “Weight loss surgery is not the end of the weight loss process, it’s the beginning. “Gastric Bypass, Lap Band and REALIZE Band surgery is only a tool to jump start weight loss. For long term success and weight maintenance it’s important for patients to adopt a healthy lifestyle, full of exercise and nutritious choices for life.”
The very first thing to do after the weight-loss surgery is exercise. It’s crucial to maintain not only the desired weight but also to stay healthy. Patients need to remember to start by slow and simple exercises and then change them into more demanding once their ability improves. Aerobic exercises need to be done at least 4 times a week for 30 minutes.
Another thing is being aware of the type of food provided to the body. This awareness can be risen by reading the nutritional labels, counting calories and keeping a food diary. All this will make you conscious and help to evaluate the progress.
A good way of controlling the body is weighting yourself once a week. This allows to spot on the weight gain quickly and react instantly.
Losing weight is difficult and demanding. It requires lots of good will. People need to realize, though, they will gain some weight back over lifetime. It’s natural but it cannot make patients put into a place of emotional eating for comfort. If there is an eating disorder, the patient has to admit it and find out its reasons.
After the weight-loss surgery some people are afraid of food. Food is not an enemy, though. Patients should eat healthy but not to be afraid of treating themselves from time to time. It would fend off the everyday temptations.
A rule of thumb is to follow the doctor’s guidelines after the surgery. Eating three times a day, avoiding snacks, fast food and liquid calories and eating slowly are very important to maintain healthy lifestyle.
The last, but not least, thing is to visit the doctor once a year. He/she will spot on problems and treat them quickly, and perform a nutritional evaluation to make sure the vitamins and proteins are at a good level.
