Weight loss success starts at home. After having weight loss surgery, your home needs to become your base—a place where you know you can turn when you need support and reassurance. But for many people, home is not exactly a weight loss haven. A pantry filled with snacks, a freezer filled with ice cream, and family members who don’t understand your commitment to being healthier can wreak havoc on your weight loss goals.

Your decision to lose weight requires commitment. Making a few fundamental and pivotal changes at home can help you form a support network that will help encourage you throughout your weight loss program.

Creating a Healthy Haven at Home

When thinking about weight loss, many people jump directly to food choices and exercise routines. However, there is much more to losing weight than what meets the eye. Making healthy choices at home means developing healthy eating habits, on top of making healthier food choices.

Unhealthy habits could be encouraging obesity in your home, and could make it difficult to lose weight, even after having weight loss surgery.

Unhealthy habits include things like:

• Eating in front of the TV
• Bringing dinner to the table to make it easy to grab “seconds”
• Keeping plenty of snacks around for on-the-go munching
• Snacking directly out of the food container, such as the bag or box
• Mindless snacking or binge eating

Weight loss surgery can set you up for long-term success, providing you with the physical tools to resist hunger and lose large amounts of weight. However, the physical support will only go so far. To reach your weight loss goal you need to surround yourself with support, including mental, emotional, and practical forms of support. Creating a haven in your home where making healthy choices comes naturally will help you in succeeding.

Poor eating habits like those listed above tend to run in families. If you are guilty of one or two, then the people you live with are probably also doing those same things. By addressing unhealthy habits by making rules about where snacks are kept, what snacking containers to use, and not to eat in front of the TV, you can help your entire family begin to experience the health benefits of following a healthier lifestyle.