Know Yourself, Change Yourself, Lose Weight!
November 4th, 2009
Weight loss surgery is not just a life-changing event – it is an emotional journey. If you understand how your emotions have become triggers associated with eating, you can change your behavior and keep the weight off after surgery. In this article, Mary Ziller, L.C.S.W., a licensed social worker and cognitive behavioral therapist who has been involved in St. Vincent’s bariatric support groups and worked with LAP-BAND® patients for more than 10 years, explains why getting to know yourself well often results in the greatest weight loss success stories.
The better you understand your emotions – your eating history, trigger points, needs and response to stress – the better you are likely to do. “If you have ‘learned’ maladaptive or destructive eating behaviors that have contributed to weight gain,” Mary says, “you can also ‘unlearn’ these behaviors and ‘relearn’ new ones that help you keep the weight off after bariatric surgery.”
The first step is getting to know yourself on a deeper level. Tune in to your feelings to tell you what’s going on and to help you figure out what to do. Better yet, start a journal and write about your day every day for a couple of weeks. Ask yourself these questions before you have a meal:
• Why am I eating? Am I hungry or thirsty? Am I upset or emotional? Do I feel stressed? The only good reason to eat is for the nourishment of the body when you are truly hungry, so if you think you are eating for any other reason, make a note of this.
• When and where am I eating? What triggers my eating? Am I at work, at home, at a restaurant? Is there a recurring event or a person that triggers me? Identify and write down all of the cues, triggers and associations between your internal world (thoughts and feelings) and external world (people, places, times of day, etc) to allow you to see what pushes your brain’s eating buttons.
• How do I manage stress? Do I relax and meditate when I am under pressure? Do I get enough sleep? Or do I often find myself smoking, drinking or eating comfort foods when stressed? In modern society stress is a fact of everyday life, so learning to handle it in healthy ways is key to successful weight loss and maintenance – and your overall well-being.
Keep your journal for two weeks and then read your entries. Do you see a pattern in your daily bariatric diet? This information will help you assess your eating behavior and identify where and how to make changes. For example: should you clearly see from your logs that being alone at home at night is almost 100% associated with eating ice cream, you now know that you must address what’s going on under these circumstances.
Mary Ziller has seen time and time again, based on years of experience with bariatric patients, how this approach helps them keep the weight off and become more confident. “Once you’ve discovered what triggers you, learn to recognize and overcome it rather than act on it,” Mary advises. “Or come up with a change in your routine that will break the habit – like calling a friend, getting outside for a walk, or meditating. Get to know what you do and don’t like. Speak up for yourself – let yourself and other people know what you need.”
Getting to know yourself can be very rewarding. After all the work you’ve done, you may find that you’ve become an emotionally balanced, positive person who can control your weight and your life!
Entry Filed under: Food, Lap Band, Realize Band, gastric bypass, weight loss surgery
