Bariatric Support

Course Overview
Start with Your Personal Bariatric Journey whether you are preparing for surgery, recently post-operative, several years into your journey, or returning after a setback. Continue sequentially or choose the modules most relevant to your current needs. Use the DGBB Bariatric Success Challenge as your ongoing daily practice and revisit assessments and your Bariatric Success Blueprint as your needs change.

Learn

Work through each module and lesson at your own pace.

Module 1Your Personal Bariatric Journey3 lessons planned

Understand where you are, why this matters, and what you want to build from here.

Explore why you chose or are considering bariatric surgery, what you hope will change, what surgery can and cannot do by itself, and the behavioral, emotional, relationship, and lifestyle factors that may matter most in your journey. This Foundation Journey provides meaningful value on its own while helping you choose what to explore next.

  • Clarify your personal reasons for pursuing or continuing the bariatric journey.
  • Identify realistic hopes, expectations, concerns, and questions.
  • Explore current eating patterns, coping strategies, habits, self-image, and support.
  • Recognize what surgery may change and what still requires ongoing personal development.
  • Choose a practical next focus and create an initial Bariatric Growth Plan.
Where Are You in Your Bariatric Journey?
LESSON

Identify whether you are preparing for surgery, recovering, building new habits, maintaining long-term progress, or recommitting after challenges.

  • Pre-surgery
  • Early recovery
  • Post-surgery adjustment
  • Long-term maintenance
  • Recommitment
  • Your current priorities

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Know Your Why
LESSON

Clarify the life, health, relationships, experiences, freedoms, and possibilities you hope this journey will support.

  • Personal motivation
  • Desired life
  • Health goals
  • Relationships
  • Freedom and participation
  • Meaning beyond a number on the scale

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Surgery Changes Your Body — You Still Build the Life
LESSON

Develop realistic expectations about how bariatric surgery can support change while beliefs, coping strategies, relationships, habits, and identity continue to require intentional attention.

  • Tool versus complete solution
  • Behavior change
  • Emotional adjustment
  • Habits
  • Support
  • Lifelong learning

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Module 2Prepare Your Mind for Change4 lessons planned

A changed body works best with a mind prepared for change.

Prepare psychologically and behaviorally for a major life transition by examining expectations, beliefs, fear, motivation, perfectionism, shame, and the mental patterns that influence long-term change.

  • Develop realistic expectations about bariatric surgery and life afterward.
  • Recognize unhelpful all-or-nothing thinking, perfectionism, and shame.
  • Strengthen commitment beyond temporary motivation.
  • Practice constructive self-talk and mental rehearsal.
  • Build a support and preparation plan.
Expectations Matter
LESSON

Explore hopes and assumptions about surgery, weight change, health, confidence, relationships, eating, and life after surgery.

  • Realistic expectations
  • Unrealistic expectations
  • Health versus appearance
  • Relationships
  • Emotional adjustment
  • Long-term work

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Move Beyond All-or-Nothing Thinking
LESSON

Recognize perfectionism, shame, harsh self-judgment, and the belief that one difficult choice means the entire plan has failed.

  • Perfectionism
  • All-or-nothing thinking
  • Shame
  • Self-talk
  • Progress over perfection
  • Returning quickly after a difficult choice

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Motivation Changes — Commitment Can Continue
LESSON

Learn how values, planning, routines, support, and small actions can sustain progress when motivation is low.

  • Motivation
  • Commitment
  • Values
  • Planning
  • Small actions
  • Support

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Module 4Build a Healthier Relationship with Food3 lessons planned

The goal is not to fear food — it is to relate to it with greater awareness and intention.

Develop more intentional eating behavior through mindfulness, awareness, planning, flexible thinking, and collaboration with your bariatric nutrition team.

  • Practice mindful and intentional eating.
  • Reduce shame-based thinking about food and eating.
  • Follow individualized nutrition recommendations from qualified providers.
  • Prepare for social situations, eating out, holidays, and travel.
  • Recover constructively after difficult eating experiences.
Practice Mindful Eating
LESSON

Slow down and increase awareness of thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, choices, satisfaction, and your bariatric care plan during eating experiences.

  • Slow down
  • Pay attention
  • Reduce distractions
  • Notice internal experience
  • Follow your care plan
  • Reflect without judgment

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Move Away from Food Shame
LESSON

Challenge the idea that eating choices determine your worth and replace shame with responsibility, curiosity, and constructive adjustment.

  • Food is not a moral score
  • Self-worth
  • Responsibility without shame
  • Curiosity
  • Learning
  • Recommitment

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Module 9Plateaus, Setbacks, Weight Recurrence & Recommitment3 lessons planned

A setback is information — not your identity and not the end of your journey.

Respond to plateaus, setbacks, returning habits, avoidance, or weight recurrence with curiosity, appropriate clinical follow-up, renewed support, and practical recommitment rather than shame.

  • Recognize common forms of habit drift.
  • Reduce shame and avoidance after setbacks.
  • Identify changes that may have contributed to current difficulty.
  • Reconnect with appropriate professional and social support.
  • Rebuild progress through small, realistic recommitment steps.
Recognize Drift Before It Becomes a Crisis
LESSON

Identify subtle changes in routines, eating patterns, coping, follow-up, planning, movement, sleep, or support that may signal a need for attention.

  • Routine drift
  • Eating-pattern changes
  • Reduced follow-up
  • Stress
  • Avoidance
  • Isolation
  • Early awareness

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Weight Recurrence Is a Reason to Respond, Not Hide
LESSON

Approach weight recurrence or other difficult outcomes as reasons for compassionate assessment, medical follow-up, behavioral review, and renewed support rather than secrecy or self-condemnation.

  • Avoid shame
  • Return to follow-up
  • Review contributing factors
  • Medical evaluation when appropriate
  • Behavioral support
  • Recommitment

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Rebuild One Behavior at a Time
LESSON

Choose the smallest high-value action that helps restore direction instead of trying to fix everything in a single burst of effort.

  • Choose one priority
  • Small actions
  • Consistency
  • Track progress
  • Use support
  • Add complexity gradually

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Module 10Create Your Lifelong Bariatric Success Blueprint4 lessons planned

The goal is not simply losing weight — it is building a life you know how to keep supporting.

Bring your learning together into a living plan for eating awareness, habits, coping, body image, relationships, professional support, follow-up care, recommitment, and the life you want bariatric treatment to help you build.

  • Review progress and recognize meaningful changes beyond the scale.
  • Clarify long-term values, priorities, supports, and behavioral commitments.
  • Identify personal triggers and healthy coping strategies.
  • Define warning signs that indicate a need for adjustment or professional support.
  • Create practical 30-day, 90-day, and longer-term priorities.
  • Complete and maintain a Personal Bariatric Success Blueprint.
Recognize How Far You Have Come
LESSON

Review behavioral, emotional, relationship, health, confidence, mobility, coping, and quality-of-life changes that deserve recognition.

  • Non-scale victories
  • Behavior change
  • Coping
  • Relationships
  • Confidence
  • Quality of life
  • Lessons learned

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Know What Keeps You Well
LESSON

Identify the habits, relationships, professional care, coping strategies, environments, and routines that most strongly support you.

  • Core habits
  • Clinical follow-up
  • Support
  • Coping
  • Environment
  • Relationships
  • Reflection

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Know Your Warning Signs and Reset Plan
LESSON

Identify early signs of drift and decide in advance how you will respond, who you will contact, and which habits you will restart first.

  • Warning signs
  • Behavior drift
  • Emotional warning signs
  • Support contacts
  • Clinical follow-up
  • First reset actions
  • DGBB recommitment focus

Planned lesson · Coming soon

Create Your Personal Bariatric Success Blueprint
LESSON

Bring your why, habits, triggers, coping strategies, support team, clinical commitments, body-image priorities, reset plan, and future goals into one living roadmap.

  • My why
  • My desired life
  • Eating insights
  • Triggers
  • Healthy coping
  • Clinical commitments
  • Nutrition-plan commitments
  • Hydration
  • Movement
  • Sleep
  • Support network
  • Body image
  • Relationships
  • Warning signs
  • Reset plan
  • 30-day priorities
  • 90-day goals
  • One-year vision

Planned lesson · Coming soon

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