I have seen many people who are one, two, three years out from their surgery hang their head in discouragement.  Some are frustrated they have not lost more than they had initially hoped, others feel they have been wasting time and playing games with themselves, others feel the road is too long and arduous.  I want to remind you that you have your weight loss tool for life and one decision towards health does not mean you can't continue to make more decisions towards changing your life.  If you are not as successful as you would have liked to have been then use this opportunity to find out why.  Investigate way down deep what is causing you to stay where you are.  Careful, you may discover that you need to make some major changes. Here are some things you may see:

 Possibly a job that locks you into a chair all day or causes you more stress than you can handle.  You may discover you truly have an addictive disorder and need treatment.  Your relationships with others may come to the forefront and now you can see your own emotional patterns and the detrimental effect they have on your health.  You may see the rock of pride you have been hiding under and how it has kept you from making appointments, reaching out for help or entering into an environment of accountability.  You may see a lot and I hope you do.  Unless these things are exposed they will stay hidden and simmer.  Change takes a long time and it usually happens one step at a time.  Take a step today and call it success not weight loss.

Melanie Machado, RD, CD