What is it that you see when you think about a healthy you? Is it having energy left at the end of the day, walking up 2 flights of stairs without being winded, fitting comfortably in an airplane seat, or simply the feeling of being normal?
You’ve taken the first step towards health and wellness with bariatric surgery–an effective tool to help you reach your weight and health goals. The second step is to put behaviors in place that help to support a healthy body in the long run.
There are many physical and psychological changes after surgery; your body works with you (instead of against you) as you make efforts to change unhealthy behaviors. You see rapid results, encouraging you further. These internal changes are a tremendous help, a tool to help you move forward towards your goals. Although you have this internal tool, the external world around you doesn’t change when you have surgery, and it provides some significant challenges. For instance, food is still a big part of almost every social situation. You’re still just a short distance from your favorite fast food. Your co-workers continue to bring in donuts every Friday. It still takes a lot of effort to engage in regular exercise. Some people remain unkind. There are only 24 hours in each day. Life has many difficulties.
Our environment and society promote weight gain–requiring you to be aware of the pitfalls and protect yourself with healthy behaviors and strategies. It takes effort to find and consistently use strategies to cope with the challenges you face in a healthy manner, but with determination and the tool of bariatric surgery, it is well within your grasp.
Change the changeable. Accept the unchangeable. Remove yourself from the unacceptable. -Denis Waitley
Download: On Track with Barix–Moving Forward
