Your lifestyle is made up of the behaviors, habits and choices that you make daily. It includes the actions you take without thinking, the way you perceive your problems and the people you engage with. Your lifestyle is partially shaped by your personal and family history, partially by cultural elements and partially by the environment you live in.
A Healthy Way of Life
After weight loss surgery, you’ll want to take steps to shape your life to be more directed towards long-term wellness. Doing this requires more than short-term dietary and exercise changes. For long-term weight management, you need to create healthy habits that last.
There are three primary forms of lifestyle changes:
- Psychological changes: These include changes to the way you think and feel about certain aspects of your life or weight loss program. Attitude changes are an example of a psychological lifestyle change.
- Dietary changes: Even after weight loss surgery you’ll have to change the way you eat, including the types of foods you choose to eat and how much food you generally eat at once.
- Activity changes: Consider the level of activity in your current lifestyle and then think about ways that you can increase it. This may include scheduling workouts.
Healthy Habits for a Healthy Lifestyle
When making changes to your lifestyle, think about ways that you can replace unhealthy behaviors with healthier habits that make sense. Instead of staying up late and eating a midnight snack, start waking up earlier to exercise so you are tired and motivate to get to bed earlier.
It takes approximately 21 days to form a habit. Take an inventory of your current habits and consider which ones would benefit from change. Then, focus on each habit one at a time and consider ways that you can alter the behavior for the better.
To get started, think about habits like:
- Sleeping habits
- Activity level
- Stress management methods
- Food choices
A post-bariatric lifestyle includes behaviors that support not only healthy weight, but also a healthy life. The weight loss journey is really one to improved health, which encompasses a healthy weight. After bariatric surgery, continue making other positive changes to your life to enjoy a healthier mind, body and spirit.