Manage Your Cravings After Weight Loss Surgery

Obese patients often look to weight loss surgery as a solution for their obesity problems. However, part of what makes weight loss so difficult is dealing with cravings. Sugary, fatty, and calorically dense foods are craved by the human body. Although you may crave weight loss, you also crave tasty foods! How can you deal with cravings after weight loss surgery? Let’s find out.

Why do People Have Cravings After Weight Loss Surgery

It’s simple enough to understand that we want what we can’t have. But the psychological mechanisms behind cravings are a bit more involved than that. Patients often come into surgery having eaten a diet high in calorie-dense foods for most of their lives. When these foods are removed from the diet, the brain is still used to getting those foods and thus insists that the patient should continue to eat them. This insistence results in cravings of a psychological nature. Cravings are also caused by the body’s desire to consume calorie-dense foods regardless of their form. After bariatric surgery, the body is losing weight very quickly and is unable to feel as hungry as it was before. So even though you might not feel hungry, you may still want those foods because your body wants calories to make up for the shortfall that’s causing you to lose weight.

How To Fight Cravings After Weight Loss Surgery

Consume water throughout the day.

Drinking water throughout the day can stave off hunger, but it can also reduce cravings. Many cravings are the result of the body wanting hydration, rather than food, but it’s often too easy to confuse the two. Zero calorie flavored water, such as Mio or Crystal Light, can help immensely with beverage cravings.

Eat very small portions of tasty, unhealthy food.

Occasional indulgences can help fight cravings because once you have it, you won’t crave it anymore. Keep your portions of high calorie food very small. We recommend keeping those portions smaller than the size of an egg. Before consuming the portion, fill up a bit on water or soup so you won’t want to eat too much.

Plan your indulgences ahead of time.

Nothing is more painful than losing something you love. For many bariatric patients, unhealthy but tasty food is one of those things that they have to give up. It’s recommended to plan your indulgences ahead of time, and stick with your healthy diet in the meantime. Make sure to keep these portions small! Remember: keep portion sizes smaller than the size of an egg.

Weight Loss Surgeon Maryland

MD Bariatrics has the top rated bariatric surgeons in Maryland and provides gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and bariatric revision surgery in Baltimore.