When you start thinking about your life after bariatric surgery i’m sure the idea of being more healthy being able to be more active, and fit into some clothes that you haven’t worn in years all come to the top of your mind. And all of those things can and will happen because of bariatric surgery, but there are a few surprising things that come along with this weight loss.
Your shoes don’t fit anymore.
Something that a lot of people who have gone through weight loss surgery find surprising is after a few months post op they find that the shoes they were wearing are too big. As the weight comes off you’ll notice and more people will notice that your face gets thinner but the same thing is happening at your feet. I’ve always said that weight loss starts at your ankles and your ears and goes inward. So you may find not that not long after your bariatric surgery that the shoes you own no longer fit. The good news is that once you’ve lost the fat around your feet the shoe size you need will probably stabilize unlike the shirts and pants where you’ll have to keep buying new sizes for a few months to come.
You might get a thinner tongue.
This is a weird one. But like every other part of your body your tongue can gain fat. There is some research out that shows with a reduced calorie diet or weight loss surgery you can reduce the size of your tongue. Why is this a big deal? Some new study come out to show that having a thinner tongue or a less fatty tongue can reduce sleep apnea by up to 30%. I’m not sure how it would change your speech patterns, but if you’re getting a better night sleep it can really help your overall health.
Your hips may hurt.
If you’re someone who is gone through bariatric and you need to lose significant amount of weight what you may notice a few months after your surgery is that your hips may start to hurt. Probably what you’re feeling is soreness from your muscles as the body fat around your hips start disappear allowing you more freedom of movement when you walk. This hip soreness is typically felt with people whose body fat severely limited their range of motion when walking; that is they would Shuffle side to side instead of moving their feet forward and back. And as the hips become more free to move in a more natural way the muscles that allow this movement start to get worked more than they have in a long time which could produce the same feeling as a good workout. The best way to get through this pain is to just keep walking building the strength around your hips.
Well there’s a lot of really important aspects to losing body fat such as reducing cardiovascular disease reducing your chances of cancers reducing or getting rid of type 2 diabetes there are some interesting side effects that come from this rapid weight loss.
Geof has been working with bariatric surgery clients for over a decade. His goal with Coaching For Bariatric Success is to give you the tools to make your weight loss successful for the long term.