"A person is not good if they lose weight and bad if they gain weight. Gained weight is a symptom of the metabolic disorder called obesity. When weight is lost and managed the disease is in remission; when weight gain occurs the disease is in relapse." Kaye Bailey
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Lately the bulk of the email I have received is about weight regain:
from people who have put on weight after losing it with surgery and
people who are afraid they will gain weight after working so hard to
lose it. As I think about it I have never met a WLS patient who is not
concerned about the weight coming back. When you think about it, it
makes sense. By the time we are morbidly obese we have probably lost and
gained the same pounds many times over. We live in a world where being
overweight and staying overweight is easy -- Losing weight is the
opposite. Losing weight and keeping it off is akin to swimming upstream
in a swift current.
There are a few things I hope you
will remember about weight regain which may help you face it rationally
with kind and gentle compassion:
Weight regain is not a moral issue. A person is not good if they lose weight and bad if they gain weight. Gained weight is a symptom of the metabolic disorder called obesity. When weight is lost and managed the disease is in remission; when weight gain occurs the disease is in relapse. Managing the disease is our responsibility and we are served well when seeking the support of others including our bariatric team, friends, family and WLS community. (Read: Four Truths About Weight Gain After WLS)
Knowledge is power. Not long ago I heard a bariatric surgeon say that patients regain weight because they were not fully educated before surgery. The fact is, life after surgery is quite overwhelming. I'm positive I retained only scant bits of information taught during my pre-op and early post-op recovery. What I know now is the pursuit of new information day in and day out is mandatory if I'm going to stay focused and enthused about weight management. The best place to learn about life after WLS is from other patients who are doing their best -- just like you -- to make this weight management experience healthy and effective.
It is never too late. If we have allowed our health problem to become a moral problem it is easy to suffer feelings of hopelessness. But it is never too late to make little changes which bring about a big difference in our life. Each new day, each new meal, each new step we take is an opportunity to nurture our body and being. It is never too late.
Last week's LivingAfterWLS Digest offered several resources addressing the topic of weight regain after surgery. Take a moment to find something meaningful to you, and pass the word on to a friend who may be feeling down and discouraged. Remember, we are all in this together!
And while you're in the retrospective mode please consider taking a moment to complete our LivingAfterWLS Personal Self-Assessment. This is a proven tool to help you stay on track with weight loss surgery.
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