Life after weight loss surgery
Our patients often have questions about how their life may change after surgery and significant weight loss—what they can expect both immediately post-op and further down the road. Here we’re answering some of those burning questions.
How can I care for my emotional well-being after weight loss surgery?
One of the most important things that bariatric patients can do is seek help to address the psychological and behavioural aspects of bariatric surgery. With professional support, they are better equipped to deal with attitude, emotional, and behavioural factors associated with the successful transition to a very different lifestyle.
Prior to surgery, many patients use food for more than just fuel. It can serve as reward, comfort, socialisation, entertainment, and more. Post weight loss surgery, food can’t be an answer to these needs—and many will feel that loss significantly. This can even lead to “buyer’s remorse” and acute emotional responses. This is normal and can be overcome; support from counsellors and psychologists is very important post-surgery.
Patients report a variety of unfamiliar emotions directly post weight loss surgery. Support from those you love and trust, as well as professionals, is important at this time. Our four-day residential retreat program (Foundations of Healthy Living Retreat) is a fantastic tools to help you develop good habits and make the required lifestyle changes after weight loss and surgery.
How can I tell people about my weight loss surgery?
The choice to talk openly about bariatric surgery, whether before or after the operation itself, is yours alone. There are pros and cons of sharing about your decision. There is more about this in the patient manual, and our team members can talk to you about it—just ask!
Can/should I exercise after weight loss surgery?
Regular exercise is a very important aspect of recovery and lifestyle changes after your weight loss surgery—once you have physically recovered, of course!
Intentional exercise and movement is one of the best tools you have when it comes to weight loss, weight maintenance, and general wellbeing. It can increase your energy, strength, and muscle tone, keep your joints loose and supple, contribute to good posture, and boost your mood. Your overall health benefits hugely from moving your body. You might get better sleep, reduce stress, and improve your brain power.
Of course, exercise also burns calories, and this will contribute to weight loss by balancing the amount you consume and the amount you use. It is recommended that you average 150 minutes of medium-intensity exercise as well as 75 minutes of strength/resistance training per week to maintain good health, but doing more can help with weight loss and maintenance after surgery. Exercise can also serve as a distraction from snacking.
Tailor Clinics has an at-home exercise program available that can guide you in keeping fit, building strength, and experiencing that dopamine high! It progresses alongside you to constantly provide challenging and effective workouts.
How much fluid do I need?
Your fluid intake is important after weight loss surgery! Directly post-surgery, you will only be able to drink small amounts of water at a time, so you will need to take in small amounts frequently to reach the recommended amount of 1.5 - 2 litres per day.
Fluid is needed for all of the systems in the human body. You need to get enough of it, particularly while healing from surgery! It regulates your body temperature, hydrates your skin, hair and nails, removes toxins and waste products from your body, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, cushions joints, prevents constipation, and dissolves many nutrients for the body to use. Fluid can also assist weight loss.
Is alcohol OK after surgery?
Bariatric patients should abstain from alcohol entirely for at least the first 12 months post-surgery. This is especially important if you are not taking vitamin and mineral supplements or are vomiting frequently.
In addition to anatomical changes, the gastric bypass patient may be more sensitive to the intoxicating effects of alcohol because of the reduced calorie intake that occurs after surgery. A number of studies have found that alcohol absorption is far higher if fasting or when consumed on an empty stomach than if provided with a meal or drank soon thereafter. Frequent vomiting, low calorie intake, not taking multivitamins, and malabsorption may cause a number of vitamin and mineral deficits, including thiamine (vitamin B1).
Your successful weight loss after surgery is our priority, and in many ways consuming alcohol works directly against this goal. Alcohol converts readily into blood sugar that can slow your progress and can cause dumping syndrome. Alcohol has no nutrient benefits and contains high numbers of calories that may cause weight gain or prevent weight loss.
Bariatric patients must also consider the possibility of addiction transfer. The prevalence of food addiction and associated eating abnormalities, i.e. binge eating and carbohydrate cravings, are high among individuals with morbid obesity. With bariatric surgery, these are considerably improved—however, individuals with addictions often transfer them to a different substance, such as alcohol. According to the findings of one study, addiction transfer may occur in up to 25% of bariatric surgery patients. We want you to avoid this.
What will my nutrition look like after weight loss surgery?
Getting your eating right is foundational to the success of your weight loss post-surgery and recovery. These are some guidelines we suggest you follow:
Eat three regular nutritious meals each day, preferably with no snacks in between.
Take your time and chew food really well. Eat mindfully and stop when you are comfortable.
Eat only good foods that help meet all of your nutritional requirements.
At the beginning, you may have occasional episodes of vomiting if you eat the wrong type of food or if you eat too quickly. With time, you will learn to identify which foods cause you problems—but if you eat slowly, eat small amounts, chew really well and take your time, you can avoid some of these difficulties. Usually, by 9-12 months after your operation you will be eating a wide range of high protein, moderate fat, and low carbohydrate foods in fairly normal amounts.
As your food intake will be restricted by your operation, it is important to make wise decisions about what you do eat. Protein supplementation is essential to your health after bariatric surgery and promotes healing. When your intake advances to more normal foods post-operatively, protein becomes very important; patients should try to take in 60-80 grams per day minimum. This may require supplemental protein, such as protein powder and protein bars.
After weight loss surgery, it is very difficult to eat enough of the right foods in order to get the quantity of nutrients your body requires. This means taking your vitamin and mineral supplements for the rest of your life. These supplements can range from basic multivitamins for the non-absorptive procedures like the gastric band to iron, folic acid, calcium and B group vitamins for the procedures that involve some malabsorption such as the bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.
What about smoking?
Illness resulting from tobacco usage is the single greatest cause of disease and premature death in New Zealand. It is also the most preventable. At Tailor Clinics, we are committed to helping our patients improve their overall health after weight loss surgery—so it is always our recommendation that you quit smoking in addition to addressing weight loss needs.
Potential complications that come along with smoking are reason enough for us to have smokers to partake in a comprehensive smoking-cessation program. Completion of such a program is mandatory for bariatric surgery candidates who smoke. This should take place a minimum of four weeks prior to surgery, but preferably prior to your initial consultations.
Your surgery will be postponed and could even be cancelled if you continue to smoke. You will not be rescheduled for surgery until you have been nicotine-free for three months (including vaping with nicotine). In the event of any complications that occur as a result of smoking, treatment involved will be at the patient’s expense. Nicotine products include cigarettes, patches, gum, and vapourisers.
What if I struggle to lose weight even after the surgery?
Bariatric surgery has been around for many years now, but our understanding of how it works and how to get the best results from it have improved over time.
There can be mechanical issues with some operations that mean that they are no longer effective. We understand this, and are always happy to see our own or other surgeons' patients back for an assessment of where they are, what is happening with their previous surgery, and options for the future.
If you have watched the videos on the causes of obesity (on our Understanding Excess Weight page), you may find reasons for slow or nonexistent weight loss post-surgery. It could be lifestyle factors, requiring nutritional advice and guidance. It might be an issue with your operation results, requiring a physical assessment and even revision surgery. This has been true since the beginning of bariatric surgery, and even now there is no guarantee of perfect results. All operations are only an aid to change a lifetime of habits; we can't cure anyone, but we can try and make further weight loss possible.
If you are unhappy with your outcome, please first watch the aforementioned video on understanding of the causes of obesity. Then, email us a summary of your surgical history, with a comment about whether you are happy for us to get more information from your surgeon. We can arrange an appointment with a surgeon for an initial assessment of your situation.