It requires some effort, but with a few simple things in mind you can maintain progress towards your goals and achieve what you may have never thought possible.  Although recovering from any surgical procedure takes time, you can feel healthy, be energized and lose weight while you work towards your goals.

Tips to Control Your Appetite After Bariatric Surgery

Not knowing when your body is full is the leading cause of overeating. Foods that are high in salt, fat and sugar are especially misleading, and are even addictive.  In addition to this, problems like depression, boredom, or previous substance addictions can add to the tendency to eat when it isn’t necessary.  By choosing the right foods, taking gastric bypass supplements, and drinking lots of water, you can help train your body to recognize when you are genuinely hungry.

We naturally have a tendency to eat more of the foods that contain large quantities of these ingredients, not only because it tends to make food taste better, but because our hunter-gatherer ancestors had less access to them then they did to plants and seeds. In the small quantities available in a natural setting, fat, salt and sugar are actually good for you.

However, obtaining food is much more convenient than it used to be, and unfortunately most of what we can buy from the grocery store is heavy with these ingredients. Even when we think we are making healthy decisions, all we have to do is read the back label to see that the number one ingredient is something unnecessary and detrimental like corn syrup.  By following the guidelines set by your doctor in determining your bariatric diet, false hunger will eventually cease to be a problem.

How to Choose Your Beverages Wisely

It is important to know what to drink, even after you have reintroduced solid foods into your diet. Although fruit juice has vitamins and may appear to be healthy, many juices contain high quanities of sugar and empty calories that will hurt your dietary efforts. Drink at least 8 glasses of water throughout the day, as this will help you feel full and aid digestion.

You should always have a bottle of water at your side. Unsweetened tea is also okay, and can be a good way to put additional vitamins in your body.

Avoid carbonated beverages like soda. The sugar is detrimental to your diet, and the carbonation can cause pain and discomfort.

Stay away from alcohol for the same reasons. It adds on calories, it can cause severe stomach cramping, and will dehydrate you. Staying well hydrated after gastric bypass surgery facilitates a speedy recovery, keeps you energized, and helps control your appetite.

Gastric Bypass Supplements

The importance of getting the proper nutrients after gastric bypass surgery cannot be stressed enough.  By taking good gastric bypass supplements, you will expedite a healthy recovery and avoid malnutrition.  It will help to prevent your body from sending you false hunger signals, and will increase your energy.

Be careful to select quality gastric bypass supplements that contain no fillers.  This will help you avoid problems with malabsorption, and will improve your digestion.  Don’t use a general multivitamin.  You should choose vitamin supplements that are designed to provide the proper dosages required by your body’s specific needs after gastric bypass surgery.

Why You Should Exercise Regularly After Bariatric Surgery

This can be very challenging, especially after any type of surgical procedure, but this step simply cannot be skipped. Regular exercise will help you heal faster. It also boosts your metabolism, mood and energy, and even helps to decrease your appetite. Exercise alone is the best way to lose weight, and must be done to achieve success after gastric bypass surgery.

Knowing what exercises are safe for you after surgery is vital. You should definitely avoid anything too intensive, as starting a strenuous workout regimen immediately after surgery can cause injury.

Most doctors recommend light impact exercises such as yoga, hiking, bicycling and swimming. These will help you burn calories, and they are inifinitely more fun than doing pushups. Discuss your options with your physician. You may want to hire a personal trainer who is experienced with individuals who are trying to lose weight after gastric bypass surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery can change your life, as long as you are willing to work for it. If you don’t see results right away, don’t give up. It may be something as seemingly insignificant as not taking the right gastric bypass vitamins or not drinking enough water.

Whatever the issue, discuss any problems you are having with your doctor. It may take a simple restructuring of your post-surgical plan, but with dedication and will power you are sure to meet your weightloss goals.

Bariatric surgery does not adversely affect the life span in male bariatric patients, says the Veteran Affairs secretary Eric K. Shineski. The agency compared rates of 850 “high-risk” patients–those of advanced age and obesity–to 41,000 equally overweight veterans who had not undergone weight loss surgery.

The study–the first of its kind strictly for male gastric bypass patients–found that certain factors after gastric bypass surgery actually work to increase lifespan.  To find out what those factors are, click the link to read read the agency’s bariatric news release.

Bariatric Surgery Improves Diabetes

The Houston Northwest Medical Center recently announced that gastric bypass surgery can significantly–and positively–impact diabetes in overweight patients. The medical center reported that over 75% of diabetic patients were able to quit there medications within six months of bariatric surgery.

The medical center also found that weight loss efforts helped by bariatric surgery were up to five tiems more likely to succeed in eliminating diabetes, than were other weight loss methods.

Houston Northwest Medical Center also found several other ways that weight loss surgery can improve your health. Click here to read about them.

Study Shows You Will be Able to Exercise!

Having problems with your energy level or other exercise-related concerns after bariatric surgery?  Don’t worry. You should be able to run, row, or jog with the best just as soon as you heal up, a University of Texas study recently found.

The study found that bariatric patients were about to handle increasingly more exercise, burning between 1,500-2,000 calories a week!  The exercise didn’t just help with weight loss efforts–it also improved participants’ overall fitness and sense of well-being.

To find out just how much you can (and should) exercise in order to lose more weight and improve your overall well-being, visit the bariatric news release.

Your physician will help guide you by letting you know what you can do and when you can do it. With that in mind there is much you can do to get your exercise and burn calories. Having realistic expectations and taking things slowly but surely will get you where you need to go.

Two Months Post Bariatric Surgery

For the first two months after your surgery you may find that walking is the ideal exercise. It’s a great way to get out and see the world. You can walk with a friend and catch up on the latest news. Walking alone is good too. It’s a great time to reflect on how your new life is going to be. You may even want to try walking with some music. Make a recording of your favorites and rock out while you walk.

Bariatric Exercise when you are given the All Clear

Once your doctor has released you to partake in all types of exercise you will be able to choose between many different ways of exercising. Excess weight may have prohibited you from many activities you can now add to your exercise regimen. Now is the time to add things like hiking, swimming, or going to the gym. Gradually add each and make them part of your new lifestyle.

It’s important to make exercise part of your lifestyle for a couple reasons. Obviously you will burn more calories if you exercise. But weight loss after the first year may become a little more difficult. Just cutting back on calories may not be enough for you to maintain a healthy weight. Gastric bypass or lapband isn’t just surgery – it’s a lifestyle change.

Join in on the Fun

There are many activities and groups you can join where fun and exercise is combined. Check out the local community center as to what is available. They may have yoga classes, basketball pick-up games, spinning classes, swimming, and even more. It’s a great way to meet new people and enjoy getting in shape.

So now you have it. Your routine is set and you are ready for a great lifestyle. You have your gastric bypass diet planned, as well as your bariatric exercise tactics. Don’t forget that even though you are living a healthier life you still must take your bariatric vitamins. Make sure they have no fillers, additives, or artificial flavoring. You haven’t come this far to scrimp there!