At Goal
Learn To Change Your Lifestyle
by Terry Simpson, MD, FACS
As we go into the New Year, there are a lot of desires to either get back on track, or to stay on track for weight loss. How many New Year’s resolutions were to lose weight, only to have those resolutions dashed by March? Part of the issue was not setting a behavior to modify, and instead, have a generic idea. For this year, we will start with one simple fact:
When you look at all weight loss operations five years post-op, those who do well all changed their lifestyle. Those who did not do well, did not change their lifestyle or fell back into an old lifestyle that was not healthy for them. If people are unwilling to change their lifestyle, they will regain weight and probably seek another operation, believing the operation was an “answer? to weight loss, instead of a tool to help attain weight loss.
This year, At Goal will focus on a few simple changes in lifestyle, that will pay dividends in the long run, no matter what weight loss operation you have.
Portion control - eating a set amount of portion and stopping.
Prior to weight loss surgery, a portion was whatever was presented, be that a large plate or a container of food. The entire content was “cleaned up? and however many calories were in it were counted only by the body and excess calories stored as fat.
Weight loss surgery is not meant to enforce portion control. It will early on, but all weight loss operations, regardless of their type, will allow a person to increase portions over time and thus regain weight. It does not matter if there is a malabsorptive component to the operation, all stomachs will stretch. To prevent this, it is imperative to only eat a portion of food and that is it.
The behavior to change this year is to “measure? that portion of food and never exceed it. Eyeballing portions works less well than physically measuring food. It is improbable for you to measure all foods, so once a week seek to physically measure (by volume, not by weight) portions of the food you will eat, plate them out and continue to get an idea of how much is the MAXIMUM you should eat.
If your operation is working well, you will be able to consume that portion of food, or a bit less, and be satisfied for three to five hours before the body begins to want you to eat.
So, as the New Year begins, seek to measure several meals a week- typically something you have commonly. Measure it and you can manage it. A typical meal would be 1/2 cup of meat and 3/4 cup of vegetables (not the starchy ones like potatoes or corn).
By changing this one simple behavior, by the end of the year this lifestyle change will be embedded in you.
Terry Simpson, MD, FACS is a weight loss surgeon in Phoenix and has authored several books. For more information visit www.drsimpson.net.
Click here for the PDF version of this article from its appearance in OH Magazine
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