10 Tips to Keeping Fat Off After Weight Loss Surgery

by admin (not verified) | Wed, 06/23/2010 - 11:07am
Liposuction is still one of the most popular surgical fat removal procedures today. Its effects are dramatic, enabling patients to lose ten or more pounds of fat instantly, radically reshaping their bodies without the need for exercise and dieting. Recently, new (albeit less dramatic) alternatives to liposuction have surfaced as well; alternatives such as laser fat removal and ultrasonic liposuction are increasing in popularity. Regardless of what surgical fat removal process you’ve undergone, the pounds lost as a result of the procedure are NOT automatically gone for good. In order to keep the weight off after surgery, patients must reform their eating and exercise habits, which is no easy task. However, with some perseverance, achieving permanent weight loss is possible. Here are a few tips that might prove helpful.
 
1. Do Not Skip Meals
Especially breakfast. Many people think that skipping meals is a good way to prevent weight gain after surgery, but this actually accomplishes the exact opposite. Skipping meals slows down your metabolism, making it harder for your body to break down and process food when you do actually eat (which, in the case of people who try to force themselves not to eat certain meals, eating ends up consisting of binges). Also, skipping early meals can lead to overheating later in the day.
 
2. Weigh Yourself Regularly
Checking your weight every week is recommended after you’ve undergone radical weight-loss surgery, as it ensures that you stay aware of how your body is changing. There is no denying progress or regression when you have to look at it on a regular basis. It’s good to weigh yourself because you get to see change in solid numbers, whereas if you don’t weigh yourself, you might not notice how your clothes are slowly starting to fit differently. Be honest and accurate in your measurements and keep them neatly recoded, preferably in a specially designated journal. 
 
3. Eat a Healthy Variety of Foods
Getting all the different nutrients you need each day is essential to not just keeping weight off, but also to staying healthy in general. Make sure you get whole grains, fruits, vegetables and protein sources into your diet every day. Loading up on leafy greens like spinach, broccoli and kale is especially important, as the antioxidants and minerals they contain keep your metabolism healthy, and their fiber moves slowly through your digestive system, making you feel fuller for longer periods of time.
 
4. Exercise Consistently
Regular exercise can be a tough habit to pick up, but if you make the small initial effort to get started, it’s actually pretty easy to maintain afterwards. And it doesn’t have to be an intensive gym workout either. There are tons of exercise methods that you can pick up, so chose the one that you find most enjoyable. All you need is to squeeze in 20-30 minutes of exercise each day, whether it’s jogging, swimming, playing tennis, or doing aerobics. The key here is consistency: make sure your body is getting a good cardio workout, keep your muscles moving and get some sweat on your brow.
 
5. Eat Throughout the Day
Eating small meals throughout the day is often much healthier than eating three big meals at the beginning, middle and end of your day. Spreading out your meals makes it easier for your body to digest and absorb calories efficiently so that they are less likely to turn into fat. Furthermore, eating small healthy meals throughout the day ensures that you are never hungry, which means you are less likely to go on impulsive binges.
 
6. Drink More Water
Put away the soda and the coffee drinks and start drinking more water. Water helps flush out the toxins in your body, it has less calories than other drinks, it can help keep hunger at bay, and it helps your metabolism stay in peak condition. The recommended daily amount of water intake is 8 glasses a day. 
 
7. A low-fat diet
Continuous low-fat meals are one of the most important parts of maintaining a good diet and keeping weight off after undergoing weight loss surgery. A good way of maintaining a low fat diet is to keep fat-free snacks with you at all times.
 
8. Keep Track of Portion Sizes
Making sure that you know how much you’re eating is crucial, at least for the first few months as you start to get into your healthy diet and exercising routine. Eat until you are no longer hungry, not until you feel full. It’s a good idea to record your meals in a diet journal to help you stay motivated and on track.
 
9. Join a Support Group
Like anything hard, dieting can be made easier if you have other people to help you along. While there are plenty of online weight loss support groups available, face-to-face meetings are still the most effective.
 
10. Exercise Cognitive Control
Developing cognitive control of your eating habits is probably the most elusive but also one of the most useful skills to master when you’re trying to keep the weight off. The best way is to start establishing a healthy eating and exercising routine before you go in for your weight loss surgery. Read as much as you can about dieting and healthy lifestyle changes. The goal is to get to a point where you can recognize when you are hungry and need to eat and when you are simply indulging bad habits. It takes a lot of effort, practice and self-awareness, but with perseverance, anything can be done.

 

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