In the early weeks and months after, it can be difficult to believe you will ever reach a time when you forget you had weight loss surgery. However, as the months and years pass, it can be easier to slip into some old habits that can begin to sabotage long term weight management success. The following are 9 health behaviors that can often slip as we get further away from surgery but are paramount to achieving long term weight loss surgery success.
- Eat every three to four hours
The restriction that surgery provides keeps meal volumes smaller on average long term. These small meals provide less food energy to keep our metabolism fired up. Going too long between meals can allow our metabolism to decline and impact how efficiently we use the food energy we consume. Eating every three to four hours provides fuel to keep our metabolism using the fuel we provide from food instead of storing it.
- Breakfast within one hour of waking
Eating is one of the few things we can do to boost our metabolism along with exercise. Eating breakfast with in one hour of waking kick starts the metabolism for the day and sets us up to use the food energy we eat more efficiently.
- Protein first
One of the first things we learn when reintroducing food after weight loss surgery is to always eat our protein first. This is key to success early on after weight loss surgery but remains equally important long term. Eating our protein first helps control our hunger because it takes longer to digest. Protein also provides a longer burning fuel source to keep our metabolism fired up. Eating our protein first also helps us to use the restriction our surgery provides to maintain dietary balance from other fuel sources at our meals like carbohydrate and fats.
- Single digit rule
Keeping calories from sugar and fat in check helps to avoid any negative gastrointestinal (GI) consequences such as abdominal cramping and loose stools from too much sugar and fat. Long term, following the single digit rule: <10 grams total fat and <10 grams sugars (per serving) when reading nutrition facts helps to maintain calorie control and keeps our meals in a calorie range that helps us reach and maintain our healthy weight.
- Separate food and fluid
Not drinking with meals is probably one of the most difficult eating habits to adjust for successful weight loss surgery success. Long term it may be easy and comfortable to start sipping or drinking with meals again. However, watering down our meals long term can sabotage the restriction the surgery provides by allowing our food to empty from the stomach more rapidly allowing us to eat bigger portions and decreasing fullness and appetite control.
- Avoid alcohol
After weight loss surgery the enzyme produced in the GI tract that helps us metabolize alcohol is significantly reduced. We do not metabolize alcohol the same due to the removal or bypass of a significant amount of the stomach and or small intestine. Alcohol can have a much more pronounced effect and be more taxing on the liver and kidneys. Alcohol is also very calorie dense and dehydrating. It is best to limit or avoid alcohol completely after weight loss surgery.
- Bariatric vitamins
Regardless of what type of weight loss surgery you may have had the restriction that surgery provides makes it challenging to eat enough of a variety of foods each day to obtain all of the vitamins and minerals we need each day from food. Surgeries like the Roux en Y Gastric bypass and Duodenal Switch also involve bypassing sections of the small intestine that are the primary absorption site for several nutrients creating an increased need for these vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Daily lifelong supplementation with a Bariatric vitamin formulated specifically for your weight loss surgery procedure and supplemental calcium can provide enough supplemental levels of these nutrients to prevent deficiencies from forming.
- Exercise
Whether we have had weight loss surgery or not, our bodies are made to move. Exercise is important for our heart, lung, joint, vascular, and mental wellbeing. We also know from over 50 years of research on weight loss surgery patients that those who exercise regularly are much more likely to achieve a healthy weight and more importantly maintain that healthy weight. Strive for 150-250 minutes of activity/exercise per week. That’s 30-45 mins of intentional heart rate raising activity 5 days each week.
- Follow up
Weight loss surgery requires many significant lifestyle and health behavior changes to achieve and maintain a healthy body. Annual checkups are recommended life long and are associated with long term success. Has it been more than a year since you saw your bariatric provider? Schedule a follow up visit today.
