FAQ: How Did you Regain After Having Bariatric Surgery?

How do people go from being so desperate to lose weight that they'll do anything, to forgetting all lessons learned and gaining back everything lost and then some?

This was posted in our Support Group on Facebook by a well-meaning member who would not open up to our pleas for her to listen. It is the best example and it's EXACTLY how Bariatric Regain begins.

There is a key phrase here in the caption on this photo that I'd like to share:

"I love that I'm at the point in the process where I can eat anything I want again."

Guys....there is NO point in this process where you can eat whatever you want again. Sorry to pop anyones bubble, but eating whatever we wanted to eat is how we ended up on a table in an operating room having a surgeon remove or limit parts of healthy functioning organs.

The way we need to eat after surgery is for LIFE. It does not end when you get to goal.

If you are doing what this person is doing... please do not kid yourself about this or the path you are putting yourself on.

Today you can have one cookie. Maybe tomorrow and the next day. But what happens when you decide to grab a Milky Way bar at the grocery store check out when you are on your way home to make dinner? Or when you reach for a bag of chips as you watch Game of Thrones on Sunday night... and that turns into your weekly "treat"? Or when you are out with your family and you decide that "Hey a couple of breadsticks won't hurt!" Then you don't have room for the veggies and lean protein you ordered and find yourself spending the night dealing with food cravings because you failed to eat to satisfy your actual needs.

It all adds up... maybe not immediately, but one day when you can't zip those skinny jeans you so proudly showed off on Facebook, you'll realize it's because you're eating an extra 500 calories a day.

Just stop now and go back to making the good choices that got you to where you are now.

The journey does not end when we get to goal. Goal is actually where the REAL work starts. Think about that today.

~~ Embracing Bariatric Life with a Smile, Suzi Shaw!