Day 5: Welcome Program
Set Yourself Up For Success
With Amber Kay
Yesterday we talked all about how to make physical activity work for you. In today’s video Amber is going to look at the most overlooked part of every program – how to succeed. Although everyone loses weight initially after weight loss surgery, it’s not uncommon to plateau at around the 2-year mark, or re-gain weight. Achieving great results after surgery is not always easy to do but many do succeed – thousands of patients have lost weight, got into great physical health and are maintaining their fantastic results over time.
In today’s lesson, we’ll share with you the difference between those who make it, and those who don’t.
What’s your strategy for success?
The journey after weight loss surgery is certainly not always easy – sometimes it can be really tough. We’ve included an exercise that will help you get clear on the support and strategies that are around you that you can tap into when times are challenging.
You can download the resource here.
Coaching and Support
One thing that we really want to stress is that it’s essential not to do this alone. Having someone you can turn to — someone who understands what you are going through and who can help simplify and strategise — is perhaps the most important thing you can do for yourself.
We're here to help you and we’d love to help you; that’s what our coaching and support program is here for. When you are cleared to participate on our post-surgery program (usually around 3 months after your surgery), you will also gain access to our private online forum where you can connect with other people who have had weight loss surgery. This is a wonderful source of support.
But who you get the help from is less important than simply getting some help in the first place. It could be a friend, a co-worker, a trainer at the gym — they can help you.
What’s the most important thing? Your willingness to put your ego aside, make things simple and ask for help. That, in our experience, is what separates those who make it from those who don’t.
We'd like to wish you a smooth recovery from your surgery and enjoy the next chapter of your life as you move towards great health!
You can read the transcript for this video below:
Transcript: Welcome Program - Day 5 (Success)
Hello and welcome to the 5th and final day of our welcome program.
Now obviously no-one makes the decision to have WLS without the intention to get rid of their excess weight and to improve their health, wellbeing, confidence and other aspects of their life.
Despite these good intentions however some people can get in their own way and I’ve spoken about some of the ways that some can fail to achieve their goals and sabotage their success in the previous videos.
Achieving great results after surgery isn’t always easy to do but many do succeed - many of our clients have significantly reduced their weight, achieved great physical health and are maintaining their results over the long term.
So what do those who succeed after WLS do that those who struggle don’t? Well, here at Fresh Start we centre our program around the 3 strategies that will truly make the difference and turn those good intentions into reality. They’re easy to remember – you simply have to ACT.
A is for ACTION
Results are all about action – the actions you take and the actions you don’t take – they’ll still lead to results, but they may not be the results that you want!
In most cases, your surgery alone will not be enough to get you to your ideal weight and health – it is the starting point, the launch pad. You must take further action with your nutrition, your physical activity, your rest and, most importantly, your mindset to achieve your desired results, as I’ve spoken about in the previous videos and activities.
Action is also about noticing when what you’re doing isn’t getting you the results that you want – it’s about making sure that your actions adjust and change in response to what’s changing for you in terms of your weight and health, rather than keeping on doing what you’re doing and hoping for different results.
C is for COMMUNITY
Research shows that people who have WLS and who have access to support networks are more successful with weight reduction and mental adjustment, especially over the long term, than those that don’t.
Having people on your team who support you, who will encourage you to start new healthy habits and maintain them, who believe in you even on those days when perhaps you don’t believe in yourself, and maybe also understand what you’re going through because they’ve been through it too – this is critical.
At Fresh Start we’re very proud of our growing private support community where members feel they are in a safe, judgment-free environment, and everyone wants everyone else to succeed. The feedback we get consistently is that it far exceeds any other support forums in terms of its levels of professionalism, support, and access to useful resources.
Being willing to ask for help and support, and accepting it, is probably one of the best gifts you can give to yourself on your post-surgical journey.
Lastly, T is for TOOLBOX
Making sure you have the right ‘tools’ in your toolbox is key. In the past, you maybe didn’t have the tools, or you didn’t know which ones to use and when, or perhaps you didn’t want to use the tools you knew existed because it seemed too hard or too overwhelming.
These tools can be physical like equipment, or mental like knowing how to stay focused, they may be nutritional, like the principle I shared with you in video 3, or related to physical activity like the concepts I talked about in video 4.
One of the most important tools is coaching. The people that are most likely to succeed are the ones who have asked for and found help to make sure that their mindset is working for them, and towards their weight and health goals.
These two aspects are also essential because they assist you to get clear on your goals, build momentum and motivation, overcome hurdles, stay on track, or get back on track if necessary, and get past any unhealthy mental and / or physical habits and challenges.
A great coach will establish what you need to know and do, and filter out all of the other additional information that isn’t going to be useful for you, so you can start to add in the necessary changes and actions into your life step-by-step, rather than feeling like you have to do it all at once! Which of course only leads to overwhelm and poor results. A great coach can also assist you to make rapid mindset changes for yourself, in a safe and supportive way, so that you can get on with creating the life and health you truly desire and deserve much more quickly.
At Fresh Start we know that those patients who get coaching and counseling support, and have the necessary tools in their toolbox are more likely to succeed. It’s as simple as that.
So, remembering to ACT is all you need to do after your surgery. And you don’t need to wait to get that ball rolling, which is why for your final resource today, I’ve put together a really simple exercise to get you thinking about the support and strategies that can help you on this journey.
On behalf of the Fresh Start team, I’d like to wish you all the best with your surgery and the recovery period, and enjoy the next chapter of your life as you move towards great health! At around 3 months post-surgery we’ll be back in contact to start you on our post-surgery program.
