Nutrition and Fitness

Weight loss lifestyle tips

Establishing new eating and exercise habits is an essential part of achieving and maintaining a healthier weight. A weight loss lifestyle includes planning and creating small, high-protein meals, chewing every bite thoroughly, exercising 30 minutes a day, keeping a diet and exercise diary, and more. Your bariatric team will provide nutrition and fitness guidance and help you develop plans that will work best for you. The REALIZE mySUCCESS^® Program can help you follow through with your plans. Unique features of this Web-based clinical support tool allow you to customize your planning and goal tracking. You'll learn and practice strategies that will help cement your healthy habits.

You and your doctor can watch your progress and fine-tune your plan. Meanwhile, you can keep customizing your strategies and practice your healthy habits. Remember, only REALIZE mySUCCESS^® keeps you connected with your bariatric team and allows your doctor to step in precisely when needed to keep you on track.

Learn more about how REALIZE mySUCCESS^® can help you achieve and maintain a healthier weight.

The bariatric surgery diet

A typical meal in a bariatric surgery diet includes protein-rich foods such as lean meat, eggs, low-fat dairy products (yogurt, cheese, etc.), as well as starches and whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Eating protein helps you feel fuller longer. You'll be able to eat a variety of foods—in smaller portions, of course. Take a look at a few sample meals (PDF).

Use REALIZE mySUCCESS^® to help you create and follow an eating plan

This Web-based clinical support tool is designed to help you develop healthy eating habits and continue to make those healthy choices.

REALIZE mySUCCESS^® is tailored to meet the unique needs of bariatric patients—and recognizes that when it comes to food, different people have different tastes and schedules. Customized features allow you to:

• Review information that will help you adjust to your new way of eating and answer questions as they come up.
• Establish a food diary and identify the foods that your doctor and nutritionist recommend.
• Track your progress using detailed nutritional information for more than 5000 foods, a calorie counter, and fluid intake tracker.
• Use proven methods to create and stay true to an eating plan personalized to your needs and tastes.
• Identify eating patterns to see if they coincide with your mood and highlight trouble spots that can sabotage your weight loss goals.
• Explore more than 400 bariatric-friendly recipes and learn how to plan and prepare healthy, delicious meals the whole family can enjoy.
• Monitor your progress and fine-tune your plan with your doctor.

Tips for eating healthy and getting proper nutrition:

• Stay hydrated. Drink 64 ounces of fluid a day. Ensure that you drink between meals, not during meals.
• Eat several small, nutritionally balanced meals each day. Your bariatric program will give you advice regarding the variety of foods that are appropriate.
• Avoid desserts and other items with sugar listed as one of the first 3 ingredients. These high-calorie foods can sabotage any diet, so no matter which procedure you have, it's a good idea to avoid them. For bypass patients, eating high-sugar, high-fat foods can lead to dumping syndrome, an unpleasant side effect.
• Eat very small bites (the size of a pencil eraser) and chew thoroughly. Pieces of food that are too large may end up coming back up.
• Listen to your body's cues that you are full. Eat slowly and without distraction while you get used to having a smaller stomach. This will help you to recognize when you are full so you can stop eating before you feel discomfort.
• Avoid drinking liquids with meals. Do not drink anything 15-30 minutes before a meal and do not drink during a meal. Wait 30-60 minutes after a meal before drinking anything. Liquid causes food to empty from your stomach too quickly. The goal is to keep food in your stomach so that you feel full sooner and stay full longer.
• Take the recommended vitamin and mineral supplements. Because gastric bypass is a malabsorptive procedure, patients often need to take vitamin and mineral supplements to avoid vitamin deficiencies. Gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy are restrictive procedures, which means the body can still absorb nutrients from food, but doctors sometimes recommend supplements for these patients as well. Always follow your doctor's recommendations.
• Try new foods cautiously to see what you can tolerate. Some foods can cause nausea, pain, vomiting, or may block the opening of your stomach. That's perfectly normal. When you try new foods, do so carefully. Avoid problem foods for a while before trying them again.

Exercise: Start slowly and aim for 30 minutes a day

Regular exercise will maximize the amount of weight you lose. And as little as 30 minutes of exercise per day can reduce the risks associated with diabetes, premature death, heart disease, high blood pressure, and colon cancer, improve muscle and bone structure, and improve mental health.³⁰

If 30 minutes a day seems like a lot right now, don't worry. Gradual increases in activity will get you there—and even small increases in activity levels can add up to better health. Simple ways to increase activities and burn calories can range from vacuuming and gardening to walking and housecleaning. Strength-building exercises can also help tone your muscles, which will help you burn more calories and may help reduce the amount of skin sag you may experience after losing weight.

Activity plan tips

• Ask your bariatric team for help in creating an activity plan. Your team will recommend appropriate activities for your fitness level.
• You should start exercising only after your bariatric team says it's okay. If you have certain symptoms that don't go away after exercising, like chest pain, dizziness, pressure or pain in your chest, stop exercising and call your doctor right away.
• Recruit a walking buddy from your weight loss support team.

Use REALIZE mySUCCESS^® to help establish an active lifestyle

With information on a wide variety of activities ranging from gardening to skiing, REALIZE mySUCCESS^® can help you develop and stick with a fitness plan that works for you. Remember, it's important to consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

REALIZE mySUCCESS^® is available before surgery, to provide you with important features, such as a diet and exercise diary. You'll learn how to start an exercise routine, get advice on how to avoid getting hurt, track your activity, and set small reachable goals.

After surgery, you'll have access to the full set of REALIZE mySUCCESS^® features and tools to help you set goals, develop personal strategies, and track your progress. You can even create a 3-D model of yourself based on your goal weight, to envision how you might look in the future.

As you become stronger and increase your activity level, you can continue to use REALIZE mySUCCESS^® to help you break larger goals into manageable steps, stay motivated by charting your progress, and use reminders to stay true to your plan.

Best of all, REALIZE mySUCCESS^® can provide your bariatric team with updates that allow your doctor to step in precisely when needed to keep you on track.

Learn more about the power of REALIZE mySUCCESS^®.