Weight loss surgery brings on a lot of changes to just about every aspect of your life. From the foods that you eat to the way you spend your free time, you’ll have to rethink almost every aspect of your day as you start to focus on living a healthy lifestyle and work towards achieving your ultimate weight loss goal.

Change can be scary, but it doesn’t have to stop you in your tracks. There are a million little habits that you participate in every day, some of which are more meaningful and noticeable than others. As you want to become healthier, it is these small habits that will have to change. For some this might mean changing up where you meet with your friends and socialize. For others it will mean spending less time on the couch watching TV. Still for others this will mean finding healthier ways to cope with stress. Thinking critically about what these changes will mean for your daily life can help you conceptualize the changes that lay ahead of you, and ultimately make your transition to a healthier lifestyle easier to cope with.

Here are a few strategies that can help you make healthy adjustments to the changes that weight loss surgery will bring into your life:

• As changes appear in your life, be deliberate and intentional in choosing how you will cope with them. Taking control over how these changes will impact you will give you a sense of control and will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.
• Come up with a plan of action before the changes start. Look ahead, even if only a week or a month into the future, and do your best to prepare. For example, before your surgery date approaches you can take steps to prepare your home for a healthy and less stressful recovery.
• Do your best not to think in absolutes. When you say no to going out to eat or say no to having desert, you are not saying no forever. There will come a time when you may be able to have something in moderation, but you need to be patient and accept the changes your body needs right now.
• Try finding close replacement for the habits you have to change so it doesn’t all feel so drastic and difficult. If you have always relaxed by watching your favorite TV shows, take that habit to the gym and catch up on your shows while on the stationary bicycle.

Everyone deals with change differently, so only you can say how you will be able to cope with the changes that come with weight loss surgery. The important thing is that you are able to acknowledge that those changes are coming, and that you are doing something to prepare yourself for what is necessary for long-term weight loss success. For help coping with the many changes that come after weight loss surgery, talk to your weight loss surgeon.