What are the reasons for gaining weight after bariatric surgery?

Gaining weight after bariatric surgery?

Many people benefit from bariatric surgery as they lose weight in a short amount of time; however, some of those regain much of the weight they lost. Thus, maintaining that weight loss and also keeping it off can be difficult. As known, gaining weight is quite easy even if you had bariatric surgery. There are various reasons why people regain the weight they lose:

1) Lifestyle

The quality of life has a significant impact on people’s health and, as a result, on their weight, so it can be considered one of the most important factors for losing weight. If you have a lifestyle that makes you exhausted during the day, it may seem easier to eat fast food or junk food. However, if this becomes a habit, weight gain is inevitable. Furthermore, a lifestyle without having food for long hours may also lead to overeating in the end. Also, alcohol consumption and drugs affect the process of weight loss negatively.

2) Less Physical Activity

After a few years from the bariatric surgery, people tend to leave their healthy habits slowly. For example, most of them stop exercising and, as a result of such physical inactivity, people start to regain the weight they have lost. In time, some people begin to eat more as their tolerance for many kinds of food improves. However, since they also stop exercising, weight gain becomes inevitable.

3) Binge Eating

Binge Eating Disorder also causes weight gain after bariatric surgery. People who have this disorder tend to consume a large amount of food in a short period of time, and they are usually in not control of this. Patients tend to eat all day continuously even if they feel uncomfortably full. There could be many reasons for this behavior since every people have various and different triggers when it comes to eating.

4) Insufficient Nutrition and Inadequate Protein

In time, patients start to consume food with little nutritional value in greater quantities. And this eventually becomes a habit, leading to ignoring healthy foods and consuming unhealthy foods. Some patients do not even continue their nutritional follow-up with dietitians after bariatric surgeries. Moreover, after the bariatric surgery, especially for the first months, protein intake is also necessary to protect the muscle mass and lose the fat from the body.

5) Mental (Psychological) Health

One of the most important factors that cause gaining weight is related to mental health. This also applies to patients who have undergone bariatric surgery. Every person has different triggers for eating food. For instance, if you are in depression or sad, you tend to eat more than necessary. Also, people tend to eat more when they are stressed as well. In a nutshell, there are psychological factors that interfere with people’s eating habits, and such factors may endanger the success of bariatric surgeries by causing patients to gain weight.

6) Surgical Issues Weight gain after bariatric operations is not always because of the patient’s lifestyle; sometimes, there may be some issues regarding the surgery. Even though it is not a common result, there have been cases where the surgery was problematic, so a revisional surgery was needed. Albeit, it should be highlighted that such cases are rare.