POST SURGERY SUCCESS

Paulette’s is a success story shared by about 60 per cent of people who undergo weight loss surgery. The rest will regain some or all of those lost kilos. That’s still better odds than any diet gives – around 97 per cent of dieters regain weight – but bariatric nurse Kate Berridge reckons we could do better. Kate conducted a study looking at what affects long-term success following surgery. She wanted to know how best to help patients once they hit that crucial point 18 months down the track, when the body recalibrates and the appetite comes back. “Life continues, stress happens,” she says. “Just because we’ve reduced your stomach doesn’t change who you are and how you do things. If your coping mechanism before surgery was to selfsoothe with food, it’s not going to change.” It’s easy to regain weight. Bariatric patients talk of “slider foods”, things that go down easily with little or no feeling of restriction, like crackers, popcorn or soft cheese, increasing calorific intake. “And what I commonly see is that food no longer soothes, so people deal with stress in a new way,” says Kate. “They transfer addiction, and use alcohol instead.” Her research showed that those who succeed after weight loss surgery follow the dietitian’s guidelines because they have a strong sense of self-worth. If you don’t like yourself, if years of yo-yo dieting have led to a deep sense of shame, you’re going to continue to find ways to self-harm. That’s why Kate has developed Beyond Obesity, a wellness programme to provide support and guidance for people post surgery. It’s not just about eating differently, but thinking differently. She helps her clients to separate the emotional “head hunger” from real hunger and she teaches a technique called “urge surfing” to manage cravings. Most of all, she encourages them to start liking themselves. “Until I started doing this I had no idea how difficult life is for those who are morbidly obese,” she says. “If you could hear the conversations I have with people; how much they hate themselves because of their weight, it’s heartbreaking.”