Ep 85: Bariatric Surgery | Moving Out of the Overwhelm
This post is a companion to Episode 85 of the Bariatric Nutrition Coach Podcast. Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Feeling overwhelmed after bariatric surgery is incredibly common — and it is not a sign you are failing. It is a sign that things need to change. In this episode I want to walk you through exactly how to move from overwhelm back to confidence, step by step.
Why Overwhelm Happens
Bariatric surgery is life-altering. It impacts nearly every facet of your life — your relationship with food, your body, your social life, your family, your sense of identity. There are so many new behaviours to learn, so many guidelines to follow, and so much change happening at once. Add to that the tendency many people have to bring a dieting mindset into their post-surgery journey — one that demands perfection, punishes mistakes, and sets unrealistic expectations — and overwhelm is almost inevitable.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, please hear this: you are not alone. And it is not your fault.
Step 1: Name What You Are Struggling With
Get a pen and paper and write freely — everything that feels hard, unclear, or out of control. Do not judge it. Just get it out. This act alone can reduce the weight of it significantly. When it is in your head, it grows. When it is on paper, it becomes something you can actually look at and work with.
Step 2: Rank Your Struggles
Once you have your list, condense and rank it. What is having the biggest impact on you right now? What is the thing that, if it improved, everything else would feel more manageable? Put that at the top.
Step 3: Pick Just One or Two to Focus On
Not everything. One or two. This is where most people go wrong — they try to fix everything at once and achieve nothing. Behaviour change has a ripple effect: when one thing improves, others naturally follow. Choose the most impactful and most achievable, and focus there for the next few weeks.
Step 4: Identify What Support Would Help
For each of your top struggles, ask: what knowledge, guidance, or support would help me move forward? Is there a podcast episode, a book, a community, or a professional who could help? And then take one concrete action in the next seven days. Put it in the diary. Make it non-negotiable.
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