Imperative To Your Long-Term Weight Loss Surgery Success
We Cannot Believe EVERYTHING We Read…
So much of our collective bariatric knowledge and wisdom is from shared experience on social media. This is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, for finding our tribe and loving them hard, (as the saying goes). And also for learning from somehow like-minded and like-spirited people. Encouragement, camaraderie and synergy. Our surgeons don’t usually HAVE their own pouch and sleeves from which to offer practical experiential advice.
But the other side of this coin is that what we read and are exposed to on social media isn’t necessarily objectively representative of the whole population of bariatric patients. Some people like to engage online; many people don’t. People who struggle more will likely reach out and post more, whereas people for whom it’s a breeze wouldn’t. So what we read and hear might not be objectively, quantitatively true.
It’s for this reason that I’ve been dabbling quite a bit, of late, in academic research published in bariatric
and surgical journals. I love the anecdotal wisdom and shared experience of social media. But I’m also interested to know what science is saying, and what controlled studies are showing us.
In this vein, I was fascinated to find an academic research article which states that one of the best predictors of sustainable weight loss surgery success is, what they called, EATING SELF EFFICACY.
In Psychology, ‘self-efficacy’ refers to a person’s belief in their competence, aptitude and ability to
achieve their goals. It’s not the same as self-esteem. It’s a bit like self-confidence, but as it pertains to a very specific area of life. Professional self-efficacy, for example, means how competent and confident I feel to meet the demands of my role at work. (If I have high self-efficacy, I’ll naturally be calm, focussed
and productive. If I have low self-efficacy, I may be stressed out, burdened and constantly fearful).
So this academic article is highlighting that a person's CONFIDENCE IN THEIR ABILITY TO CONTROL EATING is really important in their long-term success. If they believe they can – that they know how to – they are far more likely to succeed. That it's not just starting weight, rate of loss, eating plan adopted, surgical bougie size, etcetera, that play a pivotal role in outcome.
And I feel encouraged by this, today. Because then my Facebook group and my programs are pitched in the right place, and have the power to dramatically improve a person’s odds of living a slim and healthy life! My primary objective, in fact, both with Bariatric Mind Masters and my BACK ON TRACK Mini Course is to get people confident in their ability to navigate head hunger, heart hunger and compulsive over-eating. And to understand the POWERHOUSES that their MINDS are at taking the wheel and steering through cravings, urges and hard-wired habits.
I have long-since held the belief, personally and professionally, that we are all doing the best we can with the resources at our disposal. That no one sets out to be overweight, unhealthy, depressed, abused or abusive, in debt, etcetera. Most people truly want to be the best version of themselves that they can be. But something goes awry, and we find ourselves somehow betraying that ideal image. But it wasn’t for lack of trying; it was for lack of know-how! I often quote Maya Angelou, who said,
“Do your best until you know better. And then, when you know better, DO BETTER”.
When our best isn’t quite good enough, it’s not because WE are failures and that WE are not good enough. Rather, I truly believe that it’s because there’s a skill we do not yet possess; there’s a resource we need to acquire and integrate in order to raise the level of our personal best.
And when we LEARN these tools and skills, and USE them successfully, we get a sense of MASTERY. Many of you share your seemingly small wins in the Facebook group. The times you DISTRACTED yourself from a chocolate cake. The times you caught yourself in a binge, and went and had a shower. The times when you journaled and unpacked a horrible day, processing the resultant feelings, rather than shovelling them down with food. These ‘small wins’ are not small at all; they are MOMENTOUS.
Because the win isn’t just the win. It’s also the sense of pride it begets. The sense of mastery. The sense of
HOPE, and the sense of CONFIDENCE. That the future can be different; the future can be better. Maybe, just maybe, with our surgeries performed, and our minds in training, we can actually go the distance and heal our bodies, our hearts and our heads.
Isn’t that wonderful? And then today’s academic research says that just this process is a wonderful predictor of a bariatric patient who won’t suffer significant regain in the future. Because he/she knows what to do, and KNOWS that he/she knows what to do!
BARIATRIC MIND MASTERY, as taught both in my really intensive program, and in my BACK ON TRACK PLAN, both seek to provide users with CONFIDENCE TO CONTROL EATING. And I do this by providing insight, perspective, tools, skills and strategies to CONTROL urges and cravings as they hit, before they hit and after they hit.
And if this means, as I know it does, that people using these programs are less likely to have revolting outcome stats in 5-10 years’ time, then I'm THRILLED. Less regain, fewer revisions, and more people knowing that they’ve overcome one of the worst challenges to befall a person.
In my own life and my own bariatric journey, I am heavily comforted to know that I have a plan when the wheels come off. Because the wheels will come off. That's life.
My plan gives me confidence. That I know what to do when the numbers on the scale are up a bit, or I know they shortly will be, for how I've been eating.
And now there's research to prove it!
Let me help you to improve your confidence to control your eating.
Because when you have that confidence and that know-how, you're really on the right path to long-term
success.
Bariatric Mind Mastery isn't an add-on or a plug-in... It's EVERYTHING...
