Post Gastric Bypass Surgery Diet Article
Gastric bypass surgery and the fat monster
Many patients of gastric bypass surgery report feeling fearful of succeeding at weight loss after a lifetime of failed diet attempts. In most cases, the fear of success subsides as a patient reaches goal weight and becomes comfortable in their new body. About that time the fat monster shows up to scare the hell out of patients.
I thought the fear of success was scary - that is until i met the fat monster. The fat monster came into my life one night shortly after i achieved my weight loss goal. The fat monster terrified me with illusion - in the darkness of night he convinced me that the weight loss was just a dream, that by morning the little fat girl would be back. He convinced me that being thin was too good to be true. I was terrified. The fat monster scared the hell out of me and i believed his frightening stories. Even on days when my behavior was stellar - i followed the four rules - i was convinced he could catch me. Many restless nights i woke frequently to run my hands over my body confirming he hadn't caught me that night. I needed to know that i was still thin. Many patients are acquainted with the fat monster - after years of dieting failure it is common to believe this weight loss is too good to be true.
To this day the fat monster keeps me honest. Aloud i can say that looking and feeling great is my motivation to follow the rules, to exercise and maintain my weight. But deep down inside i'm on a dead run trying to get away from the fat monster. I don't ever want to return to being morbidly obese, i hated that life. So when i get on the treadmill i am literally running from the fat monster. When i eat my protein and take my supplements i'm building my strength to battle the fat monster. I am at war with the fat monster and i will never surrender; i am winning! Other patients are battling their own fat monster. One woman believed the fat monster had occupied her bathroom scale - she began weighing compulsively around the clock.
She had a before work weight, an after work weight, before work-out weight, after work-out weight and on and on. Any fluctuation from normal caused immediate panic and self-loathing. Her husband locked away the scale and she nearly lost her mind! So, they came to a compromise. He would keep the scale - and the fat monster - locked away except for the once a week weigh-in. The physical act of locking-up the fat monster worked for her. She no longer weighed herself compulsively and her weekly weigh-ins showed she could very successfully maintain a healthy weight without round-the-clock vigilance to the bathroom scale. Patients do best when they identify their own fat monster and learn what behaviors - good or bad - the monster is affecting in your life. Do not surrender control to the fat monster but use terror as a source of motivation in your healthy life.
