Want To Stay As Healthy As Possible After Surgery?

Have you been looking to get back on track with your weight loss and to stay healthy after bariatric surgery? It is very common for motivation and support to fade over time after surgery. Sometimes it takes re-focusing your mindset on making your health goals your top priority. It may even take investing in your health as an incentive to feel re-energize and re-inspired again. In this blog post, I’ve invited Dr. Connie Stapleton (Bariatric Psychologist) to chat about what it looks like to invest in your health.

One Of The Major Financial Benefits Of Bariatric Surgery

Weight loss can be financially advantageous the first few months after surgery. Simply coming off some of your medications and reducing co-morbidities can be a real cost savings for your budget- especially if you have a history of Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and/or high blood pressure. Less medications means less co-pays, less refill requests, less home medical equipment management, and potentially less visits to the doctor’s office. Less, is definitely more! Yay!

Saving Money After Bariatric Surgery

Other ways to save money after surgery can be holding off on buying new clothes. Explore your local bariatric community and/or Church (or religious center). You may find that there are monthly clothing swaps where you can donate big sizes you’re holding onto and picking up a few smaller sizes to bridge the gap until you’re in more of a weight stable phase of your health and wellness journey.

Where Is Your Money Otherwise Going After Surgery?

Let’s talk about where our money goes when it comes to health. Especially when it comes to nutrition and food with bariatric surgery. Yes, unhealthy food can be cheaper. But what are some of the ramifications from this when fast food becomes a regular part of your routine?

First, ask yourself how often you eat out at a fast food place or at a restaurant. Are you going 4-5x per week? Are you feeding just yourself or your entire family? Look back at your bank statement from the previous month and tally how much you’re spending eating out over the course of 30 days.

Can you cut back on some of these expenses? Try to cut back 50% to start, and prioritize healthier options when you go. Some great choices are grilled chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A (but watch the dipping sauces!) and chili from Wendy’s.

If you’re tight on time, challenge yourself to really look at your schedule and see where you can squeeze in 15 minutes of meal prep. If you’re always ordering egg bites at Starbucks, can you make the same kinds at home? You can make a whole batch in less time than you’re probably waiting in the Starbucks line all week. We know you want to stay healthy after bariatric surgery, so invest in a few minutes each week to plan ahead.

Establishing Good Habits Around Meal Planning

In order to invest in your health, you have to look ahead and plan accordingly for your week. If you know in advance that you’ve got sporting events for your kids to attend, and you know you’re going to smell the buttered popcorn and hot dogs and will be tempted to over-indulge, make a game plan before you leave the house.

How can you set yourself up for success by bringing something healthy?

Additional Ideas On How To Better Your Health

Enjoy our interview with Dr. Connie Stapleton as we dive deeper into this specific topic on how important it is to invest in your health after bariatric surgery: