Set healthy goals, celebrate your wins, and stay motivated after surgery with these 50 gastric sleeve non-scale victories!
Why You Need Gastric Sleeve Non-Scale Victories
As exciting as it can be to watch your weight go down after bariatric surgery, the scale is a fickle friend. Hormones, stress, loss of sleep, water retention, and your body’s natural weight set points all mean that the number on the scale is never 100% in your control. If you fixate on losing pounds, it’s easy to feel that you’ve failed when stalls inevitably hit. And a feeling a failure can easily cause a loss of motivation and difficulty sticking with healthy habits. That’s why you need to aim for and celebrate your non-scale victories too.
So What Are Gastric Sleeve Non-Scale Victories?
Non-scale victories are exactly what they sound like – small goals and successes you’ll achieve after gastric sleeve surgery that have nothing to do with the number you see on the scale. You’ll experience so many positive changes in your life as you make sustainable habit changes, and one of the keys to keeping habits long term is celebrating wins along the way. In addition to cheering yourself on each time you put a habit in action, be sure to celebrate big time when you reach one of the goals listed below.
You are more than what you weigh, and so is your body. Your body is your home for life. It’s a tool for action and a vehicle for achieving your dreams. Focusing on your non-scale victories can make that easier to remember. And when the scale just isn’t budging, try working toward one of these goals instead.
As you gradually and sustainably build new habits into your life after gastric sleeve surgery, expect to experience the following:
Health Non-Scale Victories
- Have more energy
- Have lower blood pressure
- Eliminate diabetes or your reduce risk for it
- Sleep more deeply
- Reduce doctor bias and feel more comfortable seeking medical care.
- Eliminate or improve sleep apnea
- Lower cholesterol and go off cholesterol meds
- Develop more effective emotional regulation tools
- Improve your mental clarity
- Wake up more easily
- Prevent future injuries
Comfort Non-Scale Victories
- Sit more comfortably in airplane seats
- Not need an airplane seatbelt extender
- Sit in a theater or concert venue comfortably
- Not worry about chairs breaking
- Not need to adjust chair arms to sit in office chairs
- Sleep on your back
- Find more relief from massages (since the therapist can reach knots and muscles more effectively)
- Have less back pain
- Have less knee pain
- Eliminate plantar fasciitis
- Snore less
- Sit with your legs crossed at knee
- Have better posture
Convenience Non-Scale Victories
- Find affordable clothing more easily
- Find pants that fit in the waist, hips, thighs, and calves more easily
- Wear rings
- Have more swimming suit options
- Walk in high heels
- Spend less on food
- Fit into work uniforms
- Find boots that fit
- Shop in all clothing stores
Ability Non-Scale Victories
- Touch your toes
- Walk up the stairs without becoming winded
- Bend at the waist to pick something up off the ground
- Go for hikes
- Ride horseback
- Climb ladders safely
- Run without pain
- Go zip-lining
- Rock climb
- Go rappelling
- Do yoga and pilates poses that were not possible or required modification before
- Lift weights
- Do a pull-up
- Be stronger
- Be able to run a mile, a 5k, or more
- Do traditional pushups
- Do sit ups
Isn’t it empowering to consider all the ways you’re taking your health, your comfort, and your quality of life into your hands after gastric sleeve surgery? The number on the scale doesn’t define your worth, and it doesn’t define your success. Victory comes in many forms.
If you’d like more help with developing and sticking with healthy habits, be sure to check out my Healthy, Sustainable Habit Change course. And if you’re looking for more personalized guidance, I’d love to work with you in one-on-one coaching sessions.
What have been some of your favorite non-scale victories? What are some of your non-scale goals? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
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