BLAST

Identify Behaviors that Help or Hurt Weight Loss

In this class, we will identify behaviors that may help or inhibit weight loss, including examining your relationship with food, identifying your hunger and fullness signals, learning how to keep a food and activity log, and identifying ways to nurture yourself other than with food.

Make Your Food Relationship a Healthy One

Most relationships take a long time to truly get established, and it is no different with food. Unhealthy relationships with food often take a long time to reverse. It's important to work to change this relationship so it doesn't continue to hold you back after your weight loss surgery.

Examine Your Lifestyle & the Hunger/Fullness Scale

Take some time before surgery to examine your lifestyle and be honest with yourself. If you feel like you don't have time to devote to exercise or if you don't like to cook, surgery itself will not change this. We all have the opportunity to prioritize how we will spend the 24 hours we are given. Make sure you are spending it wisely.

You Can Take These Practical Steps First

There are other things you can start doing now to help your weight loss in the future. Start eating three healthy, small meals over a 15- to 20-minute time frame. Remember, eating slowly is very important as it takes this amount of time for your brain to get the message that you are full. Eating too fast leads to overeating almost every time. Also, try to start cutting back on carbonated beverages and not drinking 30 minutes before or after your meal.

Learn What 'Mindful Eating' Means

Did you know eating slower and smaller amounts could actually increase how much you enjoy your food? It's true. When you pay more attention to your food, like how it smells and looks on the plate, and how it tastes and feels in your mouth, you enjoy it much more than when you eat in a hurry. This is called "mindful eating" and when you eat this way, you are much less likely to overeat because you will be more satisfied after eating.

Start Weight Loss Before Surgery

While you work toward surgery, it's important to make dietary and behavioral changes so you can begin solidifying good habits, but also to help you lose weight preoperatively. Many dislike the fact that the surgeon or their insurance company requires them to lose weight beforehand. However, this is extremely important to help make your surgery safer.

To achieve your weight loss goal, check the manual you received at your consultation for an example of a 1200-calorie diet. In addition to eating right, implementing an exercise routine to aid weight loss is also beneficial. You don't have to start with something big; start small and do the best you can. You'll be surprised how fast your body responds to these healthy changes.

Make Healthy Choices by Planning Ahead

Most of us do some type of menu planning, even if it's only for the next meal. If we don't, the end result is usually swinging by a fast food restaurant on the way home for dinner or throwing a frozen pizza in the oven for a quick meal. These behaviors will not help your pre- or post-op weight loss, and many successful weight loss surgery patients swear that menu planning is essential to avoid bad choices.

Make a List for Health & Savings

Grocery shopping can be challenging on a good day. But if you use your menu and these other tools as a basis for writing a list, you will see a savings in your bank account and come home with healthy foods.

Make Better Choices on Where & What to Eat

The very first choice we make when deciding to eat out is actually where to eat. Not all places will have foods that will work well for you after surgery. If you choose to eat at a fast food restaurant that serves only fried foods, you aren't going to find much that you can eat. If you do end up there, avoid oversized portions and fried foods as much as possible.

Support Your Weight Loss with Exercise & Rest

And now, what you've all been waiting to hear about: physical activity. It isn't a bad thing, like a lot of people make it out to be. Exercise is essential to help you lose and maintain your weight. You should strive to exercise for 30 minutes above your normal activity level for five to six days per week. If you have bad joints or a lower endurance level, do the best you can, as something is better than nothing at all.

Assemble Your Non-Food Coping Skills

Is food one of your best friends? How much time do you spend with that friend? Is food your invisible coping partner and friend in times of need or celebration? Think about how involved food is in your life. Changing your attitude toward food may require changing your support system.