When you make the decision to begin a weight loss program like bariatric surgery, you aren’t making one decision, you are committing to the process of making hundreds of decisions. Day after day, you’ll have to continue choosing your health and wellness goals over your desire for comfort foods and old habits that will die hard.

Every morning you’ll have to choose to opt for a simple cup of coffee without an overly sugary creamer. You’ll have to opt for a healthy breakfast instead of stopping for a donut on the way to work—and when you see those donuts in the break room, you’ll have the make that healthy choice all over again. You’ll have to make the choice to get up every afternoon or morning to keep up with your workout goals, despite your fatigue and your never-ending to-do list. Every day the healthy choices that you know you need to make will feel more difficult to make, and yet it will be up to you to keep up with the promise you made to yourself.

If making the decision to get weight loss surgery made all of those secondary decisions go away, it would be much easier of a process than it actually is. Instead, weight loss surgery isn’t a magic cure, and it isn’t an easy way out; it is a commitment that sets you up with the opportunity for great success. But at the end of the day, you are the one who is going to have to reach out and find that success, and you’ll find success by making healthy choices day after day, long after you reach your weight loss goals.

So, if the secret to success isn’t in making that initial choice, then is there a secret to success at all? As it turns out, there is, but it is more fundamental than you may initially realize. The secret to weight loss success is in the healthy mindset that will lead you to make that commitment in the first place.

Make this opportunity the chance you need to actually see change in your life and wellness goals by changing the way that you think about healthy foods. Every time you think about how much you don’t want to eat that salad, or how much you would rather indulge in something unhealthy, the worse off you are going to be in keeping up with your health and wellness goals. The more you can focus on keeping a healthy mindset, the better off you will be in keeping up with your weight loss goals.

If you need support and guidance to help you keep your mindset positive as you embark on this weight loss process, then reach out to your weight loss surgeon. Counseling and support groups can be incredibly helpful as you are trying to stay focused and positive as you work towards reaching your weight loss goals.