Facing challenges
Just as you become comfortable with your new way of eating, life will throw you a curve ball. You may encounter people or situations that may not support your new healthy eating practices.
 Eating out, eating with other people, celebrations, vacations all can pose challenges to your new lifestyle. At times, you may feel that you are not well supported by friends and family. Your best line of defence is pre-planning. Planning ahead is critical because it allows you to anticipate difficulties and strategise effective ways to cope with them.
Taking control of your eating triggers
Identifying, preventing, and managing your emotional eating triggers and temptations are very important for long-term success. Emotional eating, sometimes known as “comfort eating,” “head hunger,” or “mouth hunger,” can generally be defined as eating for any reason other than physical hunger. Triggers can come in the form of experiences—both internal (thoughts and feelings) and external (sights, sounds, and smells of food)—that cause you to be tempted to eat, even when you are not physically hungry.
When a trigger happens, it is important to be prepared with alternative activities other than eating that you genuinely like and make you feel good.
For example:
- My trigger is: Loneliness
- What I will do when I feel lonely: Join an online chat group
- Call a friend to go for a walk together
- Join a volunteer group.
Saboteurs
Some people may not be helpful in your efforts to live a healthy lifestyle. Some may just be indifferent. For example, they may bring high-calorie foods into the house even though you are trying to avoid them.
Others may become threatened by your weight loss. They may talk to you about people who haven’t done well after surgery and try to undermine your success. Be honest; tell them how their behaviours are discouraging you from achieving success. If they don’t change, you may need to limit the time you spend with them.
Here are some suggestions for dealing with saboteurs:
- Find supportive friends/family.
- When faced with saboteurs, be honest and ask for their support.
- Let them know that it is difficult for you when they encourage you to eat certain foods. You may find that they do not even realise what they are doing.
- Explain that your new eating and exercise plan is making you healthy and giving you more energy. Describe improvements in blood sugar, high blood pressure, or sleep problems. Share with them that you are able to travel comfortably, play on the floor with your children, and shop for clothes in a regular store.
- When friends or family bring food, just say, “Thanks, I’m just not hungry right now,” or give the food away.
- Reassure them. You may want to tell them that your relationship will remain intact and strong throughout your journey.
- Invite them to participate in your new activities by taking them to the gym, going for a walk, taking a cooking class, or having them over for a healthy dinner.
- Be sensitive to how others may interpret your enthusiasm. They may take it personally and feel that you are commenting on their shortcomings.
- If all else fails, you may have to limit the amount of time you spend with saboteurs until they are better able to cope with your new diet and lifestyle.
- Show confidence in taking charge of your own life.
Your support network
Surround yourself with a support network of people who want you to succeed.
- This network includes your healthcare team, family, and friends.
- Attend virtual or live support groups where people share their experiences and where you can be comfortable with others who understand you.
Who: Your spouse / partner / significant other
How he/she can help: A supportive partner can make all the difference in your day-to-day weight-loss journey. A general source of encouragement, he or she may be an exercise buddy, give you pep talks and moral support, help you with grocery shopping and cooking, walk with you through the challenges, and celebrate your successes with you.
Who: Your extended family
How they can help: You may come from a family with a history of obesity. You may have other family members who are dieting, who have had weight loss surgery or who are considering having it. With or without a family history of obesity, there are a number of ways your extended family can help. Organising a walk together, sharing recipes, working together to make family gatherings less food-oriented or providing a quick chat in times of need are all ways your family can contribute to your weight loss success.
Who: Friends
How they can help: Good friends are a priceless source of support for weight loss surgery patients. They listen and provide a sounding board; they can offer advice without being judgmental. Good friends are genuinely happy for you when you succeed! Enlist your friends by letting them know what kind of help you would like from them, and express your appreciation for the help they give.
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