Weight loss surgery doesn’t just affect your life, it can have an impact on everyone around you — your spouse, your kids, even your parents. After all, when you start to make major lifestyle changes, like eating smaller portions and getting more physical activity, it can disrupt the family’s normal routine. Maybe you’re the cook in the house, and your family is used to you preparing big, filling meals. Now, suddenly, you’re cooking more healthful fare, and serving up smaller portions. Or, perhaps you’re the one everyone turns to for transportation — taking little Timmy to soccer practice, and picking Jessica up from her piano lesson — and now you’re asking for someone else to take on that responsibility, so you have time to hit the treadmill.

Whatever your circumstance, you will probably find that weight loss surgery requires you and your family to make a few adjustments. Fortunately though, everyone in your family can get involved in positive ways.

For the most part, your family’s involvement will be in two areas: fitness and nutrition. If being sedentary and living on all the wrong foods were the main reasons you became obese, it’s probably also true that those negative factors have affected your whole family. Also, the nature of family means that parents set examples for the children, not the other way around. If you and your spouse are traditionally sedentary, eating unhealthy food on a regular basis, then your kids will tend to see that as model behavior. These bad behaviors become bad habits. And like any habit, good or bad, breaking out of it gets only harder the longer it exists.

Weight loss surgery and the recommended lifestyle that follows can provide a change. The medical guidelines will be specific to you as a patient, such as your special vitamin needs after weight loss surgery. For these considerations, you should look to your doctor for counsel, not a website. But, when it comes to your family, everyone can develop the positive habits that will help them live a longer, healthier life. The following guidelines can be helpful in just about any case.

Eat Right – Or at Least Eat Better. It’s pretty simple: Keep as much of the garbage as you can out of the icebox and the shelves. You already know what these items are. Sugary processed foods and fattening meats are the worst. Of course, there are other foods you may find hard to digest after weight loss surgery, even if they are good for you, such as uncooked celery and brocolli. This varies by patient. But the major culprits for obesity – the junk that everyone finds hard to eat in moderation – should be avoided. This is better for you and your family.

Get Moving. Active families are happier families; no question about it. There is something nearly magical about the effect that physical activity can bring – especially compared to the long-term results of being sedentary. Combined with bad eating habits, being overweight and inactive is just about a perfect formula for depression. So, it follows that when a person or family becomes centered on staying busy with hobbies or activities that make good regular exercise, they’re better off. That includes you.

Mind you, that isn’t to say that the whole family should gather each morning and ride treadmills together. There’s no rule saying the road to fitness has to be a grind. But if that’s how it seems, keep these tips in mind:

• Look for ways to get active right in your own neighborhood. Take a walk with your kids every morning before school. Play frisbee at the local park. Have a jump-rope contest. Or, start a neighborhood softball league — you’ll not only get more exercise, but you’ll get to know the folks who live closest to you.
• Consider a local marathon or walk-a-thon, and get the whole family involved. Some of these events are carried out for good causes, including charities, and being a part of them can be a positive experience for everyone.
• Take advantage of the local YMCA or recreation center. It often doesn’t cost much to use these facilities — certainly less than a gym membership — and they usually have the same kind of fitness equipment and fun classes to get you moving.

Of course, you don’t want to become the resident drill instructor, insisting that everyone else in the family immediately get on board with your routine. The very best thing you can do is lead by example — not by nagging. As your spouse and kids begin to see the positive changes in your life, they’ll most likely want in on the action.

Based at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton, weight loss surgery specialist Dr. David Provost  offers gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding and revision bariatric surgery procedures for patients who struggle with clinical obesity and related health conditions. Dr. Provost also offers a weight loss surgery support group in Denton at his office on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. For details or to schedule a consultant, call 940-323-3450.