The First Step To Getting What You Want After WLS

Would you like to know how to avoid one of the biggest obstacles to success after weight loss surgery? And would you like to know how to greatly increase your chances of getting what you want?

We’ve coached thousands of people who have had weight loss surgery over the last decade and in that time, we’ve seen a very common pattern in people who are struggling after their surgery.

Today we’re going to help you to avoid this situation and to greatly increase your chances of getting the results that you truly desire. We’re also going to help you to feel excited and confident about the journey ahead.

What Do You Really Want?

Let’s get right into it by first asking you: what do you really want after WLS?

It might seem like a silly question, but it’s actually one of the most important questions we can ask you, because chances are that you’re not clear on what exactly WLS ‘success’ means for you. In fact, we suspect, like most people, you’re clearer on what you don’t want.

It sounds like a really obvious question but most (around 70%) of our initial coaching sessions with our clients start with the discovery that our client doesn’t know exactly what they’re aiming for after their surgery. They generally know what they don’t want – for example, they don’t want to “feel fat” or “be in pain” or “feel tired all the time” - but they haven’t given themselves clarity about what they do actually want so that they can move towards what they want, and set themselves some goals around that.  

Why is this seemingly small distinction important?

It’s absolutely essential to focus on a clear destination rather than just on what you don’t want in order to experience long-term success. Getting clear on what you want and where you want to go is the only way to arrive at your chosen destination! 

Think about the pilot of a plane who leaves Sydney Airport with the instructions “not to be in Sydney”  - the pilot will take off and not know where to go. The pilot could circle around for a while not really knowing what to aim for but just constantly trying to keep away from Sydney. Eventually the pilot will be forced to land to refuel, either in some random location, in Brisbane, in Singapore, in Wagga, or right back at the start in Sydney!

Compare that to a pilot who leaves Sydney with clear instructions to head to Honolulu airport. The plane takes off with a clear target to aim for. That plane might be forced off track by winds or storms or other planes on the same path, but with a clear destination in mind the pilot can keep readjusting the course back towards Honolulu, and 99 times out of 100 will eventually land at the correct destination.

Where do you want to end up on your journey - where you were aiming for..., or some random destination instead?

So if you truly want to enjoy long term success then the first step is to get clear on what that success looks, sounds, and feels like and have a goal or ‘vision’ to work towards. This is essential to be motivated and on track for the long-term. 

Create A Clear Vision Of What You Want

One of the best ways to get clear on what you want to achieve in terms of your health and body results and to help bring those results about is to use the process of visualisation. 

Visualisation is a tool that’s used by virtually every successful person and every Olympic athlete, and there’s real science that validates its effectiveness. 

Why does it work?

It works because your mind cannot distinguish between imagination and reality – between whether you are really doing something or if it’s a practice in your head. So if you’ve been somewhere in the mind then that greatly increases the chances that you can go there in the body. 

So, to maximise the potential and possibility of you achieving what you want for your health and body after your WLS, we want you to tap into the power of visualisation!

We want you to create an image in your mind’s eye of what you truly want, and it’s really important to make it compelling and powerful, so that you feel excited and drawn to move towards it. The power is in its attraction, and how exciting and compelling you make it - this provides you with the motivation to keep on taking the right actions.

We've put together a Guided Visualisation Audio Recording to help you get clear around what you want to achieve and you can download the recording here.

After you’ve listened to the recording and created a vision, we trust that you’re feeling pretty fantastic, and also really excited about your vision for your future. If not go back and do it again! Get yourself juiced up, because it needs to be compelling and what you truly want in order for you to want to move towards it, and to prime your mind to conspire for your success in achieving it!

It's totally okay also if the image isn’t clear yet – if the details are blurry perhaps, or if you’re coming up with more ‘sensations’ than pictures – keep re-visiting it and getting clearer on it, and as long as you’re moving towards clarity on what you want, that’s what’s important.

Capture Your Vision In Words

Once you’ve got a clear picture of what you want, the next step is to then capture that image in words and write it down, using plenty of “I am …” statements.

By doing this, you’re already telling your mind to act ‘as if’ it has already happened. Remember that your mind doesn’t know what is reality and what is imagination, so if you tell it that something is, right now, then it will prime itself to ensure that that ‘state’ is achieved.

For example, you might write something like: “I am walking easily, looking fit, toned and energetic. I am wearing a fitted t-shirt with slim-fit jeans and I feel really confident and comfortable in them. I am hearing my family and friends tell me how clear my skin looks and how bright my eyes are. I have lots of energy to enjoy my days and to focus on what’s important to me. My health is constantly improving and I am more open, more sociable, more courageous and more willing to try new places, people, and activities.”

Next, cast an eye over what you’ve written. Did you focus on what you want, or on what you don’t want? For example, did you write something like, “I am feeling full of energy...”, which is what you want to move towards, or did you write something like, “I am not feeling tired...”, which is what you want to move away from? 

Remember that getting clear on what you want and where you want to go is the only way to arrive at your chosen destination. You want to be the plane leaving the airport with clear instructions on which destination to arrive at! 

So if you need to, go back over your written vision and put it clearly in terms of what you want, not what you don’t want…

… and if you don’t need to, then well done! You’ve just achieved a crucially important step in creating long-term success after WLS.

We trust that if you've taken yourself through this process then you’re feeling more clear and excited than perhaps you have in a good while! 

On your journey, remember to look at and connect with this vision regularly to remind yourself of what you’re aiming for. This will help you to feel motivated and guided to take the actions that will support you in moving towards it. You can then be the pilot who just keeps adjusting the course for your desired destination.