It is important to make healthy food choices throughout your weight loss process to be as healthy as possible while losing weight. Healthy food and lifestyle choices after bariatric surgery are critical to maintain your weight loss in long term. These tips are recommended for people who are in the maintenance phase of weight loss:

Eat small & frequent Meals:

• Eat three main meals along with 3-4 minor meals each day.
• Have a healthy snack only if hungry. Skipping meals does not promote weight loss and results in overeating in the long run.
  

Don’t drink empty calories:

• Don’t ruin your surgery by taking in empty or liquid calories, like juices and sweetened drinks, as they provide no nutrition and will interfere with your weight los process.

Eat protein first:

• It is necessary to take in 60-80 grams of protein a day.
• Space out the intake of protein in the entire.
• Add recommended protein supplements to meet your protein needs.

Avoid Sugar:

• You will still be able to absorb sugar and gain back.
• You must moderate your sugar intake, cut on simple sugars as these will slow down your weight loss.
• Read food labels for the sugar content.
• Avoid castor sugar, honey, jaggery, jam, juices and squashes etc. as these may cause dumping post-surgery.
• Diabetes surgery helps you resolve diabetes, taking sugar may interfere with the surgery’s response and results.

Avoid Soda

• Aerated drinks or soda produces gas and cause can cause gastric pain and inflate your stomach, which can be harmful to staples and sutures, especially in the months immediately after surgery.
• In long term use this may increase your stomach pouch size, tending you eating more.

Avoid drinking liquids with meals:

• Fluids may force foods through your pouch too quickly.
• This may cause dumping syndrome in gastric bypass patients and also all patients to become hungry quickly and eat more throughout the day.
• Keep a gap of 30 minutes before and after meals for liquids.

Do not use Straws:

• Don’t use a straw to drink liquids after bariatric surgery.
• Straws not only let you to drink too swiftly, so you may end up with an uncomfortably full stomach, but you also gulp in air into the stomach that can cause serious discomfort.

Practice the new diet behaviour:

• Chew food thoroughly.
• Your stomach pouch will not be able to physically break down foods that have not been chewed to a liquid consistency.
• Avoid problematic foods such as tough, fibrous or overcooked meats, skin and seeds of fruits and vegetables, nuts and popcorn.
• Stop eating when you begin to feel full. It is critical that you do not eat to the point of feeling overfull.
• Your pouch may get dilated by eating too much and you may regain weight.

Do not weigh yourself everyday:

• Weigh yourself in the gap of one month.
• It’s much easier to correct 1 2 kg weight gain (physically and psychologically) than a 10 Kg weight gain.

Exercise:

• Try to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day.
• Physical activity is defined as activities in addition to normal daily routine such as work, shopping or housekeeping.

Take enough liquids:

• Strive to drink 6 to 8 cups of water each day. Artificially flavoured, unsweetened drinks are fine, but we recommend that you avoid juices, squashes etc.
• Take coconut water, lemon water, lassi, butter milk, veg soups and veg juices to fulfil this requirement.

Do visit for Follow-Up:

• Post-surgery, your progress will be carefully observed.
• Avoiding follow up appointments may mean that a nutritional deficiency, surgical complication, weight loss trend or other health issues may not be discovered in time.
• Also, frequent meetings with your surgeon and dietician are a worthy motivator for keeping on track to achieve your goals.

Take recommended nutritional supplements:

• Obesity causes nutritional deficiencies, so many patients are already deficient before the surgery.
• Surgery produces restricted food intake, mal-digestion and mal-absorption of macro and micro nutrients.
• If your surgeon or dietician recommends a supplement to correct or prevent the nutritional deficiency, take the supplement.

Do not self-medicate:

• Don’t take any medications without your surgeon’s approval.
• Most health issues will improve with surgery and weight loss, so take all medications as prescribed.

Say no to Alcohol:

• Alcohol is full of empty calories 7Kcal/ml, and provides no nutritional value.
• May contribute to stomach ulcers.
• Weight loss surgery also makes you more sensitive towards alcohol because your small stomach pouch absorbs it quickly, so a little goes a long way.

Avoid Pregnancy:

• Avoid pregnancy for the first 2 years after surgery.
• Your body will be in weight reduction mode during 1 to 1.t5 years after your surgery.
• During that time, pregnancy would be unhealthy for you and terrible for a developing foetus.
• If you are sexually active, use approaches to birth control, and check with your surgeon before trying to conceive.

Do attend Support Groups:

• There are many people having weight-loss surgery each year, so people who have walked in your shoes are not difficult to find.
• Attending a support groups offers you emotional support though making you meet people who have undergone the feelings, nitty-gritty and success.
• They can also help you on the varied kind of changes you are facing during your weight loss journey.
• Support groups are a great platform to build healthy bonds and achieve your health goals.

Remember Surgery is a tool:

• Remember that surgery is a tool to help you lose weight, you need to practice it well each day.
• It is not a dream solution for every problem in your life.
• You need to be disciplined to achieve and maintain your health goals in the long run. Be realistic in your expectations of life after surgery.

These tips shall help you go easy after weight loss surgery, stick to your goals and stay happy!!