Being committed and responsible for your own health is the
most important determinant for lifelong maintenance of weight loss and good
health.
We have seen that those who follow up regularly and
religiously maintain their weight loss and health. Those who do not come for
follow up even when it is free, is possible on phone or video call even after
reminders from the clinic, show that they are very casual about their health.
It shows that health is not at all a priority for them, and these are the
patients who either regain weight or land up with nutritional deficiencies.
It is not uncommon to see patients missing their follow up
visits or postponing it for trivial and insignificant reasons, let’s call them
excuses. I strongly urge all my patients to be very religious and punctual
about the follow ups.
Finally a healthy way of living is the most crucial
determinant. How can a surgery be an alternative to a healthy lifestyle?
Bariatric surgery treats your obesity and related problems and brings you back
as close to normal health as possible. But to maintain that you have to share
the responsibility with your bariatric surgeon. Your job is to follow the
healthy lifestyle and your surgeon’s job is to guide you, motivate you and
remind you to do so. Discussion regarding different aspects of healthy
lifestyle is an important aspect of follow up visits and hence they are very
important.
