Setting Realistic Goals After Weight Loss Surgery

It is important that you set goals throughout the course of your post-surgical diet and exercise plan. These goals create mini-milestones that allow you to gauge your progress, feel proud of yourself and recognize the enormity of what you are accomplishing.

If you don’t set realistic goals, this process can instead work against you and hurt the progress of your weight loss. Determining what constitutes a realistic goal isn’t always easy but by listening to your body and understanding what constitutes as a reasonable expectation you can set reasonable and achievable goals.

Understanding calories and their affect on pounds is the first step toward setting realistic goals. Before you can lose on single pound, you have to burn 3,500 calories. You can do so either by exercising off 3,500 calories or by eating 3,500 fewer calories than usual, or by combining the two. In general, in the first year after LAP-BAND surgery a reasonable expectation is to lose about two pounds per week if you follow post-surgical instructions faithfully. A lot of effort goes into that two pounds (7,000 calories worth of effort) so it is a number that should make you proud.