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Want to know how to change your behaviours for success on your Lap Band journey?

By Jodie Flynn

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 07Aug2009 Word count: 585 Viewed: 264 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The extent a patient is willing to change their behaviours correlates directly with the success that they have on their Lap Band journey. As we all know, obesity is not as simple as eating too much and not exercising enough - if it was, the multitude of diets that are prevalent throughout Western society would have cured the obesity problem decades ago. It is about the behaviours and habits that are behind the choice to eat, what we eat and how much we do or don't exercise. It is changing those behaviours that determine our success on the Lap Band journey.

Change can sometimes be a challenge for many people fear change and would rather put up with some pretty debilitating consequences rather than change (ie. giving up smoking). On the Lap Band journey, a fear of change can hinder success significantly. Generally, most people who choose to have Lap Band surgery are obese because their behaviours have led them to eat unhealthy food choices and volumes of food. If they do not address these behaviours, they will likely only experience limited success with the Lap Band because unless they keep going to the doctor to ensure the optimal fill, they can eat more food and regardless of fill - the choice of food (healthy or unhealthy) is up to the patient.

So how can we move past this fear of change and make significant changes and gain success on our journey? Well, basically there are three steps:

1. Aware: Become aware of the negative behaviour that is occurring. Some habits and behaviours are so ingrained that they become automatic so that they seemingly are uncontrollable. This is far from the truth, there is always a trigger that will set off a particular behaviour so you have to be aware of what is happening so that you can identify it. Be on the lookout for what you see/hear/feel and tell yourself to identify what triggers off the behaviour that you would like to change.

2. Change: Here is the part where some choices need to be made. Do you want to change the behaviour? If so, what are you going to replace it with that will support and nurture you? It is important to replace a negative behaviour with a positive one otherwise you may rubber band your way back to the original behaviour.

3. Practise: It is most likely you have been doing the old behaviour for a number of years so it is important to practise, practise, practise the new behaviour.

A few tips with making behavioural changes:

1. Focus on only one behaviour at a time, bed down that change for at least 3-4 weeks before moving on to the next behaviour that you want to change.

2. Identify as closely as possible the trigger that causes you to begin doing the behaviour that you want to change as it makes it a lot easier to: see/hear/feel the trigger, stop, then make a choice to do the new behaviour.

3. Have fun with it: Change doesn't have to be stressful, you can certainly have fun with it if you try. If you recognise your trigger and then stop, put in an action that will make you laugh (ie. Hop in a circle clockwise 3 times, singing your favourite Mickey Mouse song and I challenge you not to laugh!!).

4. Be kind to yourself: The Lap Band journey is all about change so keep the other changes to small chunks so that you don't overwhelm yourself.

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