Day 1: Welcome Program

Introduction – What To Expect
With Amber Kay

Support your surgery with lifestyle changes to give yourself the best possible chance of long-term success

There are many reasons why people choose weight loss surgery, and all of them involve transforming lives and health. Many people find after surgery however that some of the lifestyle habits that led them to the surgery in the first place are still a challenge. You may also face new issues adjusting to your post-surgical lifestyle. This doesn’t mean that you have to go back to your old patterns however, and our aim is to give you the support, motivation and mindset tools you require, when you need them most, to help you overcome these challenges.

Over the next few days, we’re going to share with you some key actions that you can take that will really help support your surgery.

Set aside 10 minutes a day for the next 5 days

To get the most out of this program, you’ll need to set aside 10 minutes each day for the next 5 days.

Each day, you’ll have a short video to watch, covering one important topic.

Program resources to download

In addition, each day you’ll get a great resource to download that will help you get the most out of each lesson.

Let’s get started

Although it’s an incredibly valuable piece of the weight loss puzzle – weight loss surgery cannot work in isolation. Weight loss is generally effortless during the first few months after surgery, especially with your recovery and post-op diet. Your long-term success however is dependent on the lifestyle changes that you embrace with this new opportunity. Without a new lifestyle, new healthier habits and people to support you, the effects of your surgery on your weight and health will be constrained or limited.

In today’s lesson, we’ll give you an overview of the challenges that you may face and what you can do, starting now, to overcome these challenges and to get a head start on your transformation. 

What’s coming up: 

Day 2. Mindset – Conspire For Your Success

First, we’ll focus on the mindset piece of the success puzzle, arguably the most powerful piece. We’ll discuss how having the right mindset is essential for long-term success and walk you through a simple strategy that you can use to help to overcome any fears and doubts you may have about the future. 

Day 3. Nutrition – Why And How To Eat

We'll then look at nutrition. Up to now you've probably received lots of information about what you should be eating before and after your surgery to get great results, so we're going to focus instead on your mindset towards nutrition. We'll look at why you eat and address the challenge of "emotional" or "mindless" eating, where people eat not because they are truly hungry but because they are using food to change their state or how they feel. We'll look at some simple strategies that you can use to address this challenge so that you are better prepared to deal with any cravings you may experience on this journey. 

Day 4. Physical Activity – Make It Work For You

Next we’ll look at activity and movement. We’ll address the most misleading myths around exercise and weight loss that have made life after weight loss surgery frustrating and tiring for countless patients. We’ll also be talking to you about how to make being active fun and enjoyable, so you’ll be able to incorporate it into your post-surgery lifestyle easily and to reap the benefits.  

Day 5. Support And Coaching – The Key To Long Term Success

Finally, we’ll look at how to succeed – how to thrive and not just survive, namely the special resources of support and coaching that you’re not only going to appreciate but also going to need. These are the ones that separate the patients who get great results and keep them, from those that don’t. 

Today’s Resource

As mentioned in today’s video, we’ve recorded an interview for you to show you what’s possible. You can listen to Alison who has truly transformed after her surgery.

Your action for today? To listen to this interview, find out what life after surgery can be like and to get inspired.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow where we’ll we talk about your nutrition!

 

You can read the transcript for this video below:

Transcript: Welcome Program - Day 1

Hi it’s Amber Kay here from Fresh Start and welcome to Day 1 of your 5 day welcome program. You’re probably receiving this pre-surgery but you might even have just had your surgery and are receiving this because we didn’t receive your details in time - but that’s absolutely okay and this is all absolutely relevant to you.

No matter what’s led to your own struggles, making the decision to have bariatric or weight loss surgery is a decision that I know you haven’t taken lightly. It takes courage to be willing to take this step and you might be feeling a whole range of other emotions too, for example excitement, fear, curiosity, impatience, anticipation, overwhelm and more! Now, all of these are completely understandable and natural. And the purpose of this program is to help you prepare for what lies ahead. And also to help you make the most out of this opportunity so that you can lead a more enjoyable and healthy lifestyle for many years to come.

By now you will have received a significant amount of information from your surgeon and their team about your procedure as well as how to prepare for life before and after surgery, and what to expect. So as you no doubt know by now, weight loss surgery is a powerful tool that can really help you to regain control over your eating and your body weight, and this can impact positively upon all areas of your health and your life. 

Life after WLS is not without its challenges though and it’s really important to remember that although WLS  is an incredibly valuable piece of the weight loss puzzle – it cannot work on its own. Weight loss is generally effortless during the first few months after surgery, especially with your recovery and post-op diet. Your long term success, over the next 2, 5, 10 years or more however is going to be shaped by the lifestyle changes that you embrace with this new opportunity. Without a new lifestyle, new healthier habits for your mind and your body, and people to support you, the effects of your surgery on your weight and health will be limited. 

And this is why I’m so honoured and proud of what we do at Fresh Start, where we’ve assisted thousands of WLS patients to make the most of their post-surgical journey – to really craft a healthy lifestyle, in terms of their body and their mind, that enables them to achieve and maintain their best possible weight and health goals and results. We also consistently hear from our clients of how simply knowing that they have access to our support and our resources and the community, whenever they need it, is a powerful source of inspiration and reassurance. 

We’ve seen people truly transform - not only in their body shape but in all areas of their lives. The impact can be truly amazing - with huge increases in confidence and self-esteem, enhanced relationships, family and social lives, new careers and hobbies – the list goes on!

Sounds good? Well you can have that too. And over the next few days I’m going to give you an insight into some key concepts that will really help you start to design your new healthy post-surgery lifestyle so that you can make the most out of this life-changing opportunity. 

So, stick with me over the next 4 days as I share 4 concepts, or focuses, with you, that will get you thinking and acting in different ways. Ways that will help you to start to do what is going to be the most useful, valuable and life-changing for you right now, and down the track. 

1. Firstly we’ll focus on the mindset piece of the puzzle, arguably the most powerful piece, because if your mindset isn’t strong, the other areas of your lifestyle like your nutrition and your exercise will start to suffer despite your best intentions. As with anything, knowing what to do, and actually doing it are two completely different things! Your mind commands and your body obeys, so you must make sure that your mindset is conspiring for your success!
2. Next we’ll look at the area of nutrition – and by now you’ve probably received lots of information about what to eat, in the past and from your clinic or dietitian. So I’m actually going to be focused on a different area - how and why you might eat. I’m going to be giving you simple tips on how you can make sure that you’re eating for the right reasons and also how you can eat more mindfully. 
3. Thirdly we’ll look at your physical activity and movement Levels. I want to address a really common myth around  exercise and weight loss that’s made life after WLS frustrating and tiring for countless patients. I’m also going to be talking to you about how to make being physically active fun and enjoyable, so you’ll be able to add the right levels of movement into your post-surgery lifestyle easily.
4. Finally, we’ll look at how to make sure you succeed on your path to better health and we’ll look at the special area of support. Having access to and using support separates the patients who get great results and keep them, from those that don’t.

As well as all of this, you’ll now receive email invitations to our regular group phone calls, and our face-to-face workshops  - these are fantastic ways to get inspiration and support, so keep a look out for them

So, where to start? Well today I’m giving you 1 simple goal, which is to listen to an interview with one of our fantastic Fresh Start clients about their journey after surgery. Find out what could be possible for you and get inspired!

Enjoy listening and learning, and we’ll see you tomorrow!