Weight loss surgery is becoming the “big thing” now after many people have become fed up with exercising. What really triggers this is quest to cut down from obese state and have hour-glass figure.
As pleasant as this might sound to patients that have been looking for ways to trim down their body shape, passing under the knife is one experience that lingers for long. However, after the surgery, most people tend to put up some attitudes that were hitherto alien to them.
While some patients keep their weight loss surgery secret, others let their friends and colleagues in. Nonetheless, this hadn’t done much as they still have some traits to exhibit that will always let them away with regards to their weight loss surgery.
If you’re about to embark on medical tourism to get some weight loss surgeries such as gastric sleeve or you have done so, detailed below are four (4) habits that are unique to patients that have had weight loss surgery. If you’re already experiencing these, you will discover best ways to keep them at bay.
1. Favorite Foods are ditched
We all have food we crave for and would always consume as many times as possible. While most patients that undergo weight loss surgeries are actually obese, some food in-take contributes to that.
For instance, consuming carbohydrates frequently has negative tidings for your health. On this note, it is noteworthy that people who have lost weight after their weight loss surgeries no longer crave for such food they loved before the surgery. Rather, such food becomes alien to them.
Though some come naturally, the weight loss surgery you opted for has a hand in such distance from foods. It is pertinent to note that some food contributed to your journey to the hospital for weight loss surgery and continuing with them might be suicidal.
In simpler terms, your taste buds will no longer have enthusiasm to take-in some foods while your craving for them gradually reduces. Though you can still take them, the quantity won’t be same as your pre-surgery days. This calls to mind the different perceptive to picking at meals after your weight loss surgery.
2. The Surgical Angle
The essence of your weight loss surgery was to cut down fats in the stomach and make your body fit in to the desired shape. It however remains to be seen the effect of this on the patient’s diet.
First, some weight loss surgery techniques such as gastric sleeve leads to cutting off greater portion of the stomach. After the surgery, you’re left with a banana-sized stomach which is clear indication that same amount of food you consumed earlier will not be supported.
Thus, your meal consumption will be less. This helps you retain same shape you actually wanted. This is however tip of the iceberg because the major reason why you can’t eat as you wanted was because of the health risks they might cause.
For instance, taking more than required meal portion will escalate the stomach beyond the shape retained after the surgery. This might be another journey back to the hospital. Hence, it is advisable to eat within specified limit.
In some other cases, the weight loss surgery stops your digestive system from functioning the way it was mean to. This means is that absorption of nutrients will be at the barest minimum.
3. Keeping up with Meals
Though some meals are not advisable to be taken after your weight loss surgery, there are others that are greatly needed in the body. It is always advisable to consult your physician about this and have aftercare support after your surgery. You’ll garner information that will keep you fit throughout the healing process.
For meals to be taken, it is always recommended that meals high in protein are taken after the surgery. Meal in-take varies from doctors but protein-filled meals are always on the chart. The reason for this was to get patients filled up faster. So, if you have being consuming a bowl-full of flakes, half of those in proteins is enough for your body. You might not even finish it!
While on it, avoid frequent water in-take. Such tends to wash off food from the stomach; leaving you consuming more than designated meal.
As mentioned before, meal recommendation varies by doctors. Some doctors might recommend liquid meals for the first weeks after the surgery before the patient can be allowed to move on to solid food. It is advisable that you consult your doctor on meals that will help your body heal faster after the weight loss surgery.
Their Body feels Alien
Someone might ask “how possible is that?” If you have been through the phase of weight loss surgery, you might have realized that your inside literally doesn’t belong to you anymore. There is feeling of emptiness that radiates from within you.
The body mass index (BMI) might have been close to 40 before going for the weight loss surgery. After that, having a BMI of 20 or less makes your whole body feel lesser than before. Because you have lived with bigger body mass before deciding on a weight loss surgery, having a slimmer body will certainly make you feel less heavy.
Though literally used, the wind might actually blow off people that have had weight loss surgery. The habit of being wary of the wind has literal undertone and is simply looking at the clumsiness they feel inside of them. For some, they feel empty and it seems their bowls have been taken off and for some others; it just seems they have become feeble.
From Baggy to Slim-fitted clothes
If you wouldn’t want to be bothering about your slim figure, then you need to do something about it. Before the surgery, make sure you have set aside funds for your wardrobe. If you’re hoping on wearing same clothes you had before the weight loss surgery, then you want to look odd and less-fashionable.
Your clothing has to be changed to clothes that will match your post-weight loss surgery physique. Slim-fitted clothes will do. While many are happy to have the desired shape, much remains to be seen how they hope to cope with baggy clothes.
The Skin also Matters
It is not just the clothing that must be looked; your skin and generality of your body has to be considered. Some patients often record minor casualties after their weight loss surgery. For instance, the body diminishes after the surgery but sadly, the skin records the opposite.
In some patients, the general mass of the body doesn’t shrink; only the stomach and some other areas. For the skin, the reverse becomes the case. Some patients’ skins do not shrink but rather increase in size.
As you change your clothes to fitted ones, always watch your skin and see if it is corresponding to the body reduction. If it isn’t, consider consulting your doctor. In some cases, a plastic surgery is recommended to cut off extra pounds from the skin.
4. Cutting down Social Life
Friends might turn to foes after your weight loss surgery and this is usually the case if your social life was active before the surgery. If you’ve been moving around with friends at lunch time and share some bottles of drinks over mutual discussions, you will find yourself pulling away from them.
The whole issue boils down to food in-take during such meetings. As your doctor might have told you, little amount of food will do you lots of good and you wouldn’t want to compromise that by consuming and drinking freely when meeting with friends.
So people who have had weight loss surgery and kept it off from others often seclude themselves and wouldn’t want to be in public places where their actions can be analyzed. For instance, if you’re a habitual drinker and you suddenly became a teetotaler in the company of friends, it strikes up a red night that will have them sniffing to find the cause. The same goes for food. It is critical that after a gastric bypass, you eat healthy foods. Even when you're cooking, it's important to stick to recipes that are in accord with your diet.
It is part for this that forces people that have had weight loss surgery to keep away from the public eye as much as they could.
Why spend much on what you won’t eat?
Perhaps your friends are looking up for a free meal and drink at the end of the day’s work and it is your turn to be the host. If you haven’t told them about your surgery, it is always better to keep away from their company (except, of course, if they are supportive to help you go through the phase). If they are not, what benefit will it be spending much money on a meal that you will barely eat of it?
Getting Around – Meal Meeting should be out of the picture
If you want to heal on your own without intimating friends or family about your weight loss surgery, then keeping away from meetings that will have meal on the list is the best option. The first time might be overlooked but avoiding meal or drinks at subsequent interactions might force your friends to seek out what’s wrong with you.
You can still socialize with friends if the meeting won’t have meals or drinks served at the end. That way, you keep your social life active while enduring the pangs of your healing process. If on the other hand, eating and drinking is part of the socialization, then coming up with a planned meeting that won’t have to do with meals is better way to keep your weight loss surgery a secret.
You can make lots of enemies (especially from your former clique) when you start avoiding their coming. You can let them know about your surgery and if you chose to keep it a secret, then consider meeting them on your terms – no meals and drinks.
Cold Becomes a Neighbour
You might give yourself up in the office one of these days. Many offices now have heaters and air conditioners but patronizing heaters more often will keep your colleagues wondering what the matter is.
The reason for this is your body temperature – cold. Some weight loss surgery patients have become prone to cold and are quick to avoid places that have less heat. The body change sees them feeling cold most of the time.
Because greater part of the stomach had been cut off, the body will have less weight and this opens up the door to being fidgety most of the time. The body becomes colder than it was before the surgery and this is easiest way of giving you away.
For instance, you will always call for windows to be shut in the middle of the day. When this continues for a long time, your colleagues will soon find out about your surgery.
Getting Away from Cold
People who have had weight loss surgery also have heaters under their desks to keep them warm. If you don’t want to be cold, then consider having portable heaters that can be placed under your working desk to keep you warm throughout the day.
At home, extra blankets are needed to keep your warm all night. Some pair of fingerless hand gloves to keep your fingers warm. If you don’t want to let your colleagues at the office in to you surgery, then keep the gloves away and make do with the heater under your desk.
Keeping It Off...Forever
Keeping your weight loss surgery a secret is a task only you has to achieve. You can keep it away from the public eye as long as you want if you were able to take necessary precautions that will make your actions less suspicious.
Keeping away from friends can bring you enemies and putting on fitted wears might hint on your surgery (especially if your friends are conversant with the changes). It is always better to keep your allies (friends and family) abreast of your surgery to help them adjust to your new person.
If you however choose to keep it and battle it out yourself, you have to be smart enough to keep clues out of the way. In a nutshell, your weight loss surgery can be kept off for long – it all depends on your ability to not become distracted from your goal. Want to learn more? Call Weight Loss Riga or simply fill out a contact form.
