Bariatric dietitian Elizabeth Anderson is a big advocate for bariatric surgery--her whole livelihood revolves around it.

She goes a little bananas though when people misunderstand this potential game-changer.

Tori* came to me 200 pounds overweight.

She listened carefully to all the facts about bariatric surgery’s possibilities and limitations.

She agreed that to reach optimal success, she needed to begin exercising, changing her eating habits and looking at her relationship with food.

Tori lost 150 pounds in her first-year post-op.

She didn’t have to follow any exercise program or deal with her issues with food. The weight just kept falling off.

She was even able to eat her favorite foods, just a lot less.

Tori was ecstatic and clearly over her battle with weight.

At 18 months post-op, the good times stopped rolling.

Tori was frustrated she couldn’t keep losing weight. In fact, it was getting harder to maintain her current weight.

By two years post op, she had regained 40 pounds and was frantic.

I have been as subtle as a mosquito urging Tori to check in with a counselor to better understand why she eats when she’s not hungry.

Now she was ready to give it a try.

4 months later she said to me,

“Elizabeth, this surgery can only take you so far. I thought if I lost the weight I would never regain it, even though everyone I’ve known that’s had this surgery, has regained it. I thought I would be stronger. Now I see that if you don’t face the issues you’ve got and that you’ve used food to self-medicate, all the old habits will come back and you’ll regain the weight.”

And this is the reason I say weight loss surgery is not the solution.

Calling it a tool is becoming a cliché; it’s simply the start of a different life.

It can be a new and better life with healthier eating, daily exercise and taking care of yourself emotionally.

Or, it can be a detour, a brush with a healthier possibility that is not embraced.

Tori says she didn’t think it would be so hard to keep the weight off. She says she didn’t expect all the things in her life to stay the same after she lost weight.

Now that she’s seeing things with a brand-new perspective, Tori seems more hopeful that the Weight Regain Train is not barreling toward her.

I wish Tori wasn’t the exception but she is.

Taking an emotional inventory is the scariest part of full immersion into a new life after WLS.

But it’s worth it and I’m afraid, necessary for long-term success.

Whatever you need to do to take the dive, seek it out, today and start to imagine a more peaceful, positive future with a weight you feel good in.

_____________________________________

*client names and features are always changed to protect identity.

Turning off the need to OBSESSS over food seems to be my personal issue. Thinking about the nearby Peanut Butter and how good it is. It truly is the greatest use of a legume.

I am working on two things......not focusing on peanut butter (or cheese, chocolate or cookies) , not allowing these things to be there in the first place and completely disavowing knowledge of these items when others have them in my kitchen.

...and counting, that was three things.

She says she didn’t expect all the things in her life to stay the same after she lost weight.

I wonder why so many people think their lives will magically change once they've lost weight. Of course I like being thinner but life stays the same more or less. My job is as stressful as ever, my marriage is the same as ever etc.

I can imagine that for some people WLS is a true life changer (e. g. patients who are physically severely impaired because of their weight) but for many, many patients life stays the same.

She says she didn’t expect all the things in her life to stay the same after she lost weight.

Almost EVERYTHING in my life change. Mostly for the better. I can't even think of anything negative. Unless tossing hardly used fat clothes as a negative, but I got over that quickly.

"Or, it can be a detour, a brush with a healthier possibility that is not embraced".

That is all of my fears summed up in a concise, eloquent sentence.

Great article!

Good points. I have been realizing lately I'm still obsessed with food - it has just changed from what tastes good to what has enough Protein or hardly any carbs. I'm trying to build a life for myself outside of food and constantly thinking about my weight.

Good points. I have been realizing lately I'm still obsessed with food - it has just changed from what tastes good to what has enough protein or hardly any carbs. I'm trying to build a life for myself outside of food and constantly thinking about my weight.

Sadly this new obsession is all too often viewed as a very good thing to cultivate or even as a predictor for adequate weight loss and maintenance.