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Author admin Categories Bariatric Surgery, Bariatrics, Diet, Emotional Eating, Health, Weight Loss, Weight Loss Mindset, Weight Loss Surgery, WLS Posted on

To Tell or Not to Tell

TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL

 

To Tell or Not to Tell – do I tell them or don’t I?  I’ve just made one of the most important decisions in my life.  I’ve done the research, looked at the pros and cons, and made the commitment emotionally and financially.   I feel great, it’s the right decision for me.  Weight loss surgery is going to help change my life in so many ways.  I deserve this.

The decision to tell or not to tell now overwhelms me.  I feel like a thunderbolt struck right in the middle of my chest. Those euphoric moments of a new slimmer life are replaced with fear, dread, shame, and guilt.

 

To Tell or Not to Tell

If I tell, who do I tell and why?

What do I expect their response to be?

What if it’s not what I wanted or expected

Can I cope with negative responses to WLS?

Do I have to tell?

If I don’t tell and they find out, how will I cope with that.

Won’t they suspect anyway, I can’t hide a massive weight loss?

If it was them, would they tell.

And on and on and on….

 

We can never pre-empt what another’s response will be.  The very people you thought would support and encourage you through this journey can often be the very people who shoot you down.  Comments like:

 

To Tell or Not to Tell
I’m confused – do I tell or don’t I?

Just stop eating so much

Get off your backside and exercise.

Surgery is taking the easy way out

You’ve always been big that’s who you are

You will just put it back on like you always do

It’s the lazy persons way of cheating

Just diet and exercise that’s all you need to do

 Confiding in someone you thought would have your back and getting an adverse response is devastating

 

Take the time before disclosing to really think about why you are disclosing.  Do you want support and encouragement or are you just telling because you feel obligated to?  Maybe it’s because you are excited about a new slimmer future and just want to share that.  We want those we love to feel our excitement, to be happy for us like they would an upcoming wedding or birth.

Reflect on Your Intentions

Understanding your motivation for disclosing is important. The need for emotional support, encouragement and accountability from loved ones cannot be underestimated. Having an understanding and compassionate support and/or a support network can make an enormous difference to your journey after weight loss surgery.

Evaluate Your Support System

Sharing your decision for weight loss surgery you may encounter judgement, unsolicited advice, opinions, and privacy concerns.  Revealing personal health information might challenge your sense of privacy, especially with acquaintances or colleagues.  Many are quick to announce that your weight loss is due to surgery rather than your hard committed work.

Set Boundaries

Establish clear boundaries with individuals who might not be supportive or understanding, focusing on your well-being.  Knowing you have had Weight Loss Surgery some people take on their role in the Food Policing Squad with even more vigour.   Scrutinising and issuing “warnings” about how much and what you are eating.  Contemplate the extent to which you are comfortable with vulnerability and openness.

Anticipate Potential Reactions

Sharing your story might impact your emotional health.  Consider the potential reactions you might receive upon disclosing your weight loss surgery. While some may offer support and encouragement, others might not fully understand the complexities of your decision. Be prepared for a range of responses, both positive and negative. Negative reactions or judgment from others could potentially affect your self-esteem and progress.

Weight Loss Surgery is a recognised medical procedure.  You do not need to justify your decision to anyone.   Unfortunately, there will always be some who seek to undermine your choice.

Seek Professional Guidance

To Tell or Not to Tell
Talking with a professional can help with your decision to tell or not to tell

 

If you’re unsure about whether to disclose your weight loss surgery, consider seeking guidance from a mental health professional. A therapist can help you navigate your feelings, provide coping strategies, and assist in making an informed decision.

 

To Tell or Not to Tell – It’s not an easy decision.  But whatever you decide, be comfortable and happy with it.  Decide, commit, and focus on your weight loss journey with pride and confidence.  It’s your life, your decision and you deserve a slimmer healthier body.

 

If you have any queries or would like to know how we can help you on this amazing life changing journey, please contact us or book a free strategy call via our  website  https://www.savvybariatrics.com

Stay Savvy

 

 

Author admin Categories Bariatrics, Emotional Eating, Weight Loss, WLS Posted on

Emotional Eating

The number one reason a weight loss program fails is Emotional Eating.  Emotional eating is the act of eating in response to an emotion. That emotion can be deemed positive or negative.

 

People with this condition are eating in response to a negative action or as a coping mechanism for a negative emotion.  It’s a strategy which soothes and pacifies you when you feel stressed, angry, bored, overwhelmed, stuck, sad or lonely.  It is a Habit.  Eliminate Emotional Eating for good.  You learned it and so, as you learned it, you can most definitely unlearn it.  Yep that’s right.  You can stop the cycle of emotional eating for good and take back control of your relationship with food forever.

How many times have you thought that if you could control that never ending cycle of emotional eating you would control your weight issues?  Yeh I know too many to count right?  You can lose weight, you stick to a diet, maybe even one of those 12 weeks intensive food and exercise programs and you lose the weight.  You feel great and empowered.  But what happens when the support and the program ends?  Most oftentimes people will put the weight back on and then some.

For too long now we have ignored the missing link in the weight loss equation and that is the power of Mindset Transformation.

As a leading expert in this field I have been helping people transform their Mindset around food and emotional eating for over 20 years with outstanding success.  I have witnessed the elation of clients when they take control of food, some for the first time in their lives.  We can eliminate these destructive behaviours with techniques and strategies that you can use anytime and anywhere. Time to let go of the blockages, emotional or otherwise, that keep you from getting where you want to be.  It motivates you to get moving and to let go of all those excuses.  Isn’t it time YOU took control of food, instead of food controlling you?   What if you could learn the skills to lose weight and keep it off forever.

We all know what to eat to be healthy.  Yet when there is the slightest hint of stress we feel this uncontrollable urge to eat those sugary, sweet comfort foods.  Then we feel comfort and pleasure which is short lived and quickly replaced with feelings of regret, shame, guilt and overwhelm that is all encompassing and leads to another bout of mindless eating.  It’s a vicious cycle and one which you do not need to suffer any longer.  You can learn healthier strategies to avoid triggers, eliminate cravings and deal with those emotions to put a stop to emotional eating. Visit www.savvybariatrics.com and see how we can help you.

Basically we use food to stuff down our emotions to tranquillise ourselves from feelings and emotions that just seem too overwhelming to address.

 The problem with this is that while you are stuffing these emotional feelings down you are just compounding the issue by not actually addressing it.

It actually takes more energy to do this than it does to address the issue and let it go.  I know it can feel too hard sometimes, but please believe me when I tell you it isn’t.

If you do not change your relationship and mindset about Food, Dieting and Weight Loss, you are always going to struggle with your weight.  I cannot stress enough just how important it is to lasting and successful weight reduction, that you change the way you think. We use food as a reward and for celebrations, sometimes not necessarily a bad thing.

However, when your main mechanism for coping emotionally is eating, then you are out of control.

How many times have you opened the refrigerator when you are stressed, angry, lonely or bored?

I can still remember my parents yelling at us to get out of the fridge.  It was like a treasure chest of amazingly magical things that would make you feel better. But alas, it never did.

 

Ready to Eliminate the Cycle of Emotional Eating forever without deprivation, guilt or shame?   Then contact me for a free 30 minute strategy call.

www.savvybariatrics.com

Author admin Categories Bariatrics, Weight Loss Posted on

Mindset Change – Key to Weight Loss Success

Mindset Change – Key to Weight Loss Success.  For too long now we have ignored the power of our brain in the weight loss equation.  Our brain drives our behaviours, habits, feelings and emotions.  

In order for Weight Loss Success to occur you must have a Mindset Change. When we are stressed, bored etc our brain seeks pleasure, comfort and familiarity.  This makes us feel safe, comfortable. It’s the power of the Brain not the power of the Will that is the key to regaining a healthy weight and maintaining it easily. We are all too aware that diets don’t work due to the restrictive nature and the internal battle that therefore ensues.

 

Mindset Change - Key to Weight Loss Success

 

Anyone can do a 12 week program and lose weight.  But what happens when its finished.

Generally, the weight will creep back on and before you know it you are back where you started and maybe even a little heavier.  Not great for your self esteem and confidence is it?   But what if you retrained your brain, your mindset about food whilst you undertook a program to achieve a healthy weight?

There is no good or bad food.  There is just food.  You know what to eat to be healthy and maintain a comfortable weight.  Yet when there is the slightest hint of stress we feel this uncontrollable urge to eat those sugary, sweet comfort foods.  Then we feel comfort and pleasure which is short lived and of course, you have to feed the urge again to get your hit.

 

Mindset Change - Key to Weight Loss Success

 

When we experience pleasure, our body gets a rush of dopamine, serotonin and endorphins, the pleasure hormones.

These hormones then attach to receptors in the brain reducing the effect of stress hormones.   Consumption of sugar changes the brain which in turn leads to the cycle of needing/craving more.    In order to get that same experience of pleasure.  So you feel hopeless and helpless, addicted to food and it all gets just so overwhelming.

Awareness of how the Amygdala brain initiates your impulses and behaviours is imperative to being able to control these triggers.  Learn how to manage these impulses and have permanent mindset changes that lead to permanent weight loss that is maintained.  Remember Mindset Change is Key to Weight Loss Success.

 

And you can do it all without dieting while controlling portion sizes and eliminating emotional eating.

For more information please visit https://www.savvybariatrics.com/service/emotional-eating

If you would like help achieving your weight loss goals head over to our website for more details.

www.savvybariatrics.com

www.savvybariatrics.com

Author admin Categories Positive Living, Weight Loss Posted on

Anxiety of a Risk Taker

Julia Lorent, interviews Jaemin Frazer, entrepreneur, podcaster and personal development expert. 

The downsides of being somewhat of a risk taker with a with an entrepreneurial spirit are that it seems one has to manage a seemingly never-ending sea of uncertainty. So where did the anxiety come from? 

I’m sure there are just as many costs involved in being risk-averse, but when I decided to back myself, follow my gut and launch into business 9 years ago, I certainly underestimated some of the mental and emotional impacts of stepping out.

In fact, I only lasted 3 years before I needed a 12-month sabbatical because I found myself overwhelmed with anxiety. I handed the operations over to my business partner and checked out.

Interestingly, the sabbatical year was initially incredibly confronting.

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I went from doing everything to doing nothing overnight. To my surprise, that only increased the anxiety! Yet, in the process of holding the space for myself and not going back to my business until I’d solved the anxiety problem, I learned some wonderfully valuable lessons that have served me well ever since.

Anxiety needs a back story to survive.

Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not convinced that anxiety is a condition that you simply have to survive or endure. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. You are not broken. What’s more, the source of your anxiety is not strange, random or unknowable. There is always a reason, an underlying belief, fear or insecurity that has created the anxiety response to something in your reality.

If there was no limiting belief, then it just doesn’t make any sense to be anxious.

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Anxiety always flows from a story of inadequacy. At a deep level, you are insecure about not being enough for the challenges you are facing. This leaves you feeling incapable of doing what needs to be done and then the only thing left to do it be anxious.

Therefore, the aim of the game is to live out of a story where to be anxious just doesn’t make sense.

Only focus on the next thing.

Former Australian opening batsman Justin Langer defines mental toughness as the ability to just focus on the next thing. The last ball has already passed, and the fast bowler you are afraid of is not on until the next over, but right now all you need to focus on is the very next ball. Be totally present for the next thing.

When I am worried about the challenges of tomorrow before I go to sleep, my simple instruction to myself is to focus on the next thing I need to do – which is to get some peaceful sleep. Once I have completed that job, I’m allowed to focus on the next thing I need to do. One thing at a time. With this strategy, there is no room for anxiety.  It just doesn’t make any sense to be anxious if all I am focused on is the current task right in front of me and I believe that I am capable of completing it successfully.

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Change the language

Susan Jeffers in her book “Embracing Uncertainty” says that if we tie our happiness to things working out the way we want, then we are perpetually bound to disappointment. Why tie happiness to matters outside our control? It is still crucial to be very clear about what we want, but we need to work out how to be happy because of who you are, not just when things go the way we want them to.

To be anxiety free, it is crucial to cut the cord between your happiness and your outcomes. This starts with the language you use with yourself.

I have two mantras that I find particularly useful to win the game with anxiety:  – “Whether this works out or not, I still deeply love and accept myself.” .”All I need is within me now. I am a good person, a creative person, an intelligent person. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but when I get there, I know I will work it out, just like I have every other day of my life till now.”  This means I am able to totally pour my best energy and effort into what I am doing and then let go of the need to control what is outside of my control. In this story, anxiety makes zero sense.

Jaemin Fraser Anxiety Risk Taker

Jaemin Frazer featured author

Jaemin Frazer is an Australian personal development expert and is one of the leading voices globally in dealing with personal insecurity.

Jaemin is the founder of The Insecurity Projectt, the voice behind the popular one minute coach radio segment featured on stations all around Australia, author of “Elegantly simple solutions to complex people problems, and soon to be released “Unhindered – How to be free from insecurity before you are 40.”

He specializes in helping 35-40-year-old entrepreneurs eradicate insecurity so they can show up to life unhindered by doubt, fear and self-limiting beliefs.

Savvy Changemaker 5 Day Challenge

Author admin Categories Bariatrics, Weight Loss Posted on

When you Change Your Mind, you will, Change Your Life

Have you ever wondered why we spend more time on our physical health than we do on our emotional and psychological health? I have! As a transformational therapist I see the ramifications of the neglect in this area every day with my clients, friends and family. Hell, even myself. We are all guilty of focusing on looking good, having the best house in the street, the latest car, getting trim, toned, six packs etc etc, you get the idea.

We service our cars regularly because if we don’t, they develop problems that will sometimes render them unable to operate properly, if at all. But when was the last time you had a service on your emotional or psychological health and well being? Interesting question isn’t it?.

It is the ignorance of the lack of importance we place on this issue that eventually leaves us unable to cope when we face life changing and life challenging events. Then when we feel desperate and defeated, sometimes feeling stuck in an emotional spiraling abyss, only then do we seek help and education.

Its my mission to change this thought process.

Our Brains are truly amazing. In order for permanent change to happen, you need to rewire your brain, your mindset, regardless of what issue you need help with. You will learn the skills and strategies required for permanent change in behaviours and emotions that may have kept you stuck, overwhelmed and feeling helpless.

These programs are designed to empower you to reach beyond your limits so that you can truly live your potential.

Your thoughts control your life, what are you thinking right now? Would you want that to be permanent. Oftentimes instead of focusing on what we want we are concentrating on exactly what we don’t want and just getting more of the same. I am here to help you change those thoughts, to step out of the thought bubble that has kept you stuck.

Making your emotional and psychological health and well being your first priority is the most important and life changing thing you can do for yourself and those that love you.