Weight Loss Surgery Forums

Top Ten Things To Do To Prepare For Weight-Loss Surgery

An Excerpt from the book Outpatient Weight-Loss Surgery: Safe and Successful Weight Loss with Modern Bariatric Surgery by Kent Sasse, MD, MPH, FACS

1. Write down your top ten specific reasons for wanting to lose weight. Keep this list visible and review it every day.

2. Start your journey to better health now by losing weight and beginning an exercise program that you can do safely, such as gentle walking, before you have your weight-loss surgery. Being fitter and losing weight will make surgery safer, and you?ll already be on your way to making diet and exercise part of your daily routine once you?ve had your surgery. 

3. Stop smoking!

4. Attend a support group of people who have undergone weight-loss surgery or who are considering it. Join an online support community, ask questions, and share your thoughts, concerns, and experiences.

5. Attend medical seminars on weight-loss surgery that are conducted by the surgical practice you are considering.

6. Read this book and every other good resource you can find on bariatric surgery and how to succeed at losing weight and keeping it off.

7. Bring along a support person to all preoperative visits and appointments. She or he can serve as a second set of ears and can assist you in taking notes and asking any questions you may have.

8. Emphasize the positives, such as making healthy changes in your life every day, and dispense with the negatives, such as fear of failure, impatience with your progress, and criticism of others.

9. Identify ways to celebrate your coming successes without food. For example, perhaps you?ll treat yourself to a new outfit or a massage once you?ve lost 60 pounds.

10. Think about all the things you haven?t been able to do because of your weight?whether it?s wearing a bathing suit, taking up a new sport, getting into the dating scene, or running a marathon?and start making plans to do those things., whether it?s taking a dream vacation, wearing a bathing suit, or attending a class reunion.

Kent C. Sasse, MD, MPH, FACS is the Medical Director of Western Bariatric Institute and the author of Outpatient Weight Loss Surgery, Safe and Effective Weight Loss with Modern Bariatric Surgery.  For further information please visit www.SasseGuide.com.