Managing Plateaus and Weight Regain
Weight loss surgery is a fabulous tool to help support significant weight loss, however it does not guarantee you will reach your goal weight, or make you immune to weight regain. How much weight you lose and more importantly, how much weight you keep off, will be affected by how much you focus on long-term lifestyle changes and work with your surgery.
From the outset it is important that you have realistic expectations of your weight loss and set a goal weight that is both achievable and maintainable. Whilst it can be appealing to think otherwise, this is often a weight that sits above your ‘healthy weight range’ on a BMI (body mass index) chart. The ‘average’ weight loss for those who have had surgery in Australia is around 30% of their starting body weight. An average means some will lose more and some will lose less. It is however also important to consider that a goal weight should not be purely about a number, but also where you:
- feel good
- have improved health and fitness parameters
- can maintain your weight with a degree of ease, meaning not constantly dieting.
If your weight plateaus for more than one month and you haven’t reached your realistic goal, or when you start to experience a weight regain, it could be the ‘common culprits’ that are involved. The ‘common culprits’ are a range of factors that we commonly see which can sabotage your weight loss goals. Pleasingly however, many of these are completely within your control. The trick is to identify these ‘common culprits’ early and set up an action plan to combat them.
The ‘Common Culprits’ Checklist
(Download a PDF copy here or read below.)
Eating Techniques and Patterns
- Are you controlling your portion sizes?
- Are you eating beyond the point of satisfied?
- Are you ensuring you are not eating too quickly?
- Are you ensuring you are not spending too long eating your meals?
- Are you avoiding drinking with your meals?
- Are you including at least three core meals each day?
- Are you including breakfast?
- Are you listening to your internal hunger cues?
- Are you avoiding grazing?
Food and Fluid Types
- Are you consuming adequate protein?
- Are you spreading your protein food out over the day?
- Are you avoiding consuming excess carbohydrate foods?
- Are you avoiding consuming excess fat?
Physical Activity
- Are you tracking your steps each day?
- Are you including planned, regular exercise?
- Are you including a combination of cardiovascular and resistance exercise?
Behaviours and Support
- Are you engaged with a professional support team?
- Are you seeking the support of friends and family?
- Are you managing saboteurs?
- Are your remembering your ‘why’?
Could any of these Common Culprits slipped back in to your lifestyle?
Are there some ‘loopholes’ you may have found and fallen into which work against your surgery?
If so, our Smash Plateaus and Reverse Regain online course can help. The course walks you through the key steps to pinpoint areas of concern within your lifestyle and provides practical tools to work through these. Find our more here.
