Many people who turn to bariatric procedures like gastric band, gastric bypass and the sleeve gastrectomy operations in Salt Lake City have had experience with weight loss failure. Fad diets, exercise programs and over-the-counter miracle pills were all tried in their turn—and to no avail. Sometimes the programs worked for a few pounds, but they never stayed off. As soon as you were back to your normal routine the weight came back as well, sometimes with a bit extra to show for it.
Sometimes it is difficult to see the flaws of a plan while you are in the midst of it. You think you are making weight loss progress with a new fad diet but instead you are moving farther away from a healthier lifestyle, and you don’t realize the defects of the diet until later when you are removed from the situation. Don’t hold those past weight loss mishaps against yourself. By trying what didn’t work you were led to a weight loss surgery program that can work.
“There are no failures. Just experiences and your reactions to them.” – Tom Krause
Feelings of failure are a common problem for people pursuing bariatric surgery. But when you stop and think about it you might realize that it is those past experiences that have prepared you for the journey you are taking now with weight loss surgery. Could you imagine facing the drastic diet and lifestyle changes of weight loss surgery without ever first attempting a diet on your own, or reaching your weight loss goal without knowing the hardship of what it feels like to gain it all back? If you hadn’t experienced those supposed failures you wouldn’t be able to appreciate the hard work and success that you are benefiting from now.
Regretting the past is a waste of time. Without yesterday there wouldn’t be a today, and without today there wouldn’t be a tomorrow. Sure you might wish that something had gone differently, but unless you are holding the secret to time travel then you aren’t going to be able to change it.
Whether you win or fail at a certain experience, how you react and the lesson you take from that experience will last longer than the experience itself. It only took a few hours to undergo weight loss surgery, but the changes you make and weight loss you experience will last a lifetime. Don’t dwell on your past failures. Instead, think of what is beneficial to take away from each experience and let the rest go. Appreciate that you understand the hardships of losing weight and let the past frustrations of weight re-gain be a problem of the past.