A WLS Bird’s Eye View

You had bariatric surgery to feel better, to be healthy, to move easier and, if we’re being honest, to be happier in a lot of cases.

 The first year goes by and it’s pretty amazing because weight loss happens. There is still struggle and there is fear when maybe you’re not losing as  fast as you thought you would, but by the end of the month you still lose. You still feel restriction. You know it’s working and you can see the difference if yourself.   You feel good, you have hope and renewed confidence in yourself. You feel more like yourself than you have in years.

Then that first year ends and you’re not losing weight as rapidly or consistently as before. Its a scary spot.  You spent a year learning how to eat as bariatric patient and then suddenly it’s not the same it’s like you have a whole new way of eating to learn. You now have to learn what maintenance is. You can look online and find diet plans, you could live on protein shakes and quest chips  (which by the way  -is that really living?).

So how do you find this new normal? 

How do you get to this way of eating that allows you to maintain your bariatric success with flexibility?  How are you to be in the real world of vacations and catered lunches at work or cookies at the office?  What do you even want your new normal to be?

Sometimes the transition from baby bariatric person to someone over a year post-op happens without you realizing it. Six months go by or five years go by and you realize you’re not eating at all as you did that first year, but you also know that you can’t really eat the way you did that first year without being hangry or frustrated. Then you’ll hop on the scale and you’ve gained 10 pounds or  50 pounds!  What the actual heck?!

This is not what you signed up for! This is not the whole description of what comes with weight loss surgery. 

Here’s why I think this happens: 

There are awesome surgeons and nurses, and awesome dietitians that care (I’m one of them),  but our clinics are built to serve you in the process of getting to surgery.

But the help and the support just kind of disappears as the months go by.  

It could be that someone moved, or schedules are difficult, or you just don’t feel connected anymore.  We could come up with many reasons, but the main point is there’s just not much out there focused on you -  the long term bariatric patient.

So what are you to do?  This is where I come in. I’ve worked with many people in this exact spot.  

I’ve seen what happens in the years after surgery and the frustration that can occur,  the feelings of  loss and shame and loneliness. I am working to change that. I want to be here and serve bariatric folks for the long-haul - in the “shit storm of too much weight gain” and in the “I want to be healthy and a good example for my family”. I am here to you in the real life that comes in the years after surgery.