Whether your bariatric surgery was a gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, or gastric band surgery, you had your procedure to help you lose weight. While you will spend a short time at your weight loss center after surgery, eventually you will have to go back home, where the challenges and temptations you’ve had in the past may resurface.
The time you spend at your home recovering can be a valuable to your post-bariatric surgery adaptation and as you continue through your weight loss journey.
Step One: Limit Your Choices to Only Healthy Choices
Your home can be your ally or your enemy simply by way of the food choices you have in your home. If you haven’t already cleaned out your cupboards and pantry of food items that were part of bad habits that can derail your weight loss success, now is the time to do so.
Give your pantry, refrigerator, freezer, and that special place where you stash junk food and snacks a complete clean sweep, removing all the unhealthy foods. Give these foods to a friend, neighbor, or your local homeless shelter. Ideally, you should have no unhealthy foods available in your home, at least for the initial weeks and months after your weight loss surgery.
Once these unhealthy food choices are out of your home — and out of your sight, make a commitment to not purchase any more of these types of foods. Instead, make healthy food choices your only choices at home. This means to stock your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry with healthy food choices, including plenty of lean protein, vegetables, whole grains and fruits.
Step Two: Make it Easy to Get in Physical Exercise
The foods you consume at home are an important part of your weight loss success, but there is more to it than just your diet. You’ll need to exercise regularly as well. You can make it easier to exercise by having exercise equipment and exercise accessories in your home. Items such as hand-held weights, exercise bands, and a yoga mat are simple and affordable additions to use for exercise, as are workout DVDs.
To begin with, forgo the equipment and settle for some short bouts of walking. While walking is one of the easiest exercises for most people to do, it is also one of the most beneficial to you after surgery to get you on the road to recovery and increased activity.
For even more inspiration, use an iPod with a playlist of your favorite songs to exercise to. For many people, music is a great motivator. A treadmill or exercise bike is a great addition, as you can watch television as your burn calories.
Your home can either hinder your weight loss progress or help it. Make sure yours does the latter rather than the former.
