BOOK AN ASSESSMENT CALL Bariatric surgery will transform many areas of your life - eating, weight, work, relationships, social life, body image, self-esteem - so you will need plenty of support and guidance in the time before your procedure.
Weight loss and maintenance is often a prerequisite before bariatric surgery takes place. This can be a sensible time to introduce new eating patterns and behaviours.
Psychological support, food management and nutritional coaching can prepare you for the physical, psychological and emotional requirements of weight loss surgery.
Speak with our friendly assessment team, and let us answer any questions you have about weight loss surgery
An assessment of your psychological health is needed to ensure you will remain committed to the long term changes needed post-surgery. During your psychological assessment, we will address your expectation of what the weight loss surgery process will be like, what you want from the surgery, and assess the presence of any existing mental health conditions that may interfere with your surgery outcomes.
Research informs us that the presence of disordered eating behaviours before bariatric surgery, especially binge eating, is often associated with the development of eating disorders post-op, as well as, less weight loss or more weight regain.
In order for you to experience the best outcomes from your weight loss surgery, it is essential to identify any past or current eating behaviours, and potential emotional triggers, that might interfere with your adherence to the new diet and lifestyle changes needed following surgery.
During the psychological assessment, your therapist will look into the factors mentioned below in more detail:
Socio-Cultural Factors
You will explore adverse life events, family members with eating disorders, dysfunctional family structure, negative attitudes about body image.
Biological Factors
Family health history, previous or current health conditions, explore any genetic predisposition, unexplained health symptoms, sleep patterns, digestive disorders and food allergies.
Psychological Factors
Identify any psychological themes such as perfectionism, low self-esteem, mental health experiences such as anxiety or depression, your relationship with food (fearing eating / eating with others), body image concerns and emotional stress (trauma, abuse, relationships).
Our Specialist Bariatric Dietitian will assess your health, diet and readiness for change during your pre-surgery dietetic assessment. Your dietetic assessment will include the following:
Speak with our friendly assessment team, and let us answer any questions you have about weight loss surgery
Following your bariatric surgery with Mr Purkayastha, you may find it helpful to receive additional psychological and nutritional support with a member of the Surgical WeightMatters team to be able to fully adjust to the changes you need to make post-surgery.
If you struggle with other mental health issues, your therapist will support you in your transition to your new relationship with food and eating, teaching you skills and tips to make your journey of change smooth.
We have over 14 years experience supporting people in managing the transition that surgery brings, and supporting them in creating a new happier, healthier and more positive life.
Apart from the pre-surgery psychological assessment and dietary support you will receive, we will also provide you with ongoing long term care post-surgery to maximise the positive outcomes of your surgery and weight loss.
Our ‘Integrate Package’ is a personalised and targeted, psychological and nutritional programme to work with all aspects of your eating, health and psychology.
Below you can find more specific information on the psychological and nutritional interventions we offer at Surgical WeightMatters post-surgery.
Our team has received special training on how to work with people who have undergone bariatric surgery and struggling with disordered eating, eating disorders and body image issues.
Our therapists are here to support you in adapting to the changes in lifestyle, appearance, body image and self-identity that may occur as a result of the substantial weight loss following surgery.
We will show you how to navigate social situations and equip you with all the necessary tools to manage your emotions effectively without reaching for food to soothe yourself.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be very effective in helping you challenge your unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that maintain your unhealthy eating habits.
Interpersonal Therapy works more with managing emotions and feelings in relationships with others, and can help you to calm your eating, improve your mood and give you a sense of feeling more in control.
Your therapist will support you in developing a healthier mindset that can drive a change in eating and exercise behaviour, resulting in healthy and steady weight loss following surgery.
When psychological factors run much deeper, and have influenced how our personality has been structured, a deeper psychotherapy is needed that disconnects these early patterns. This allows a new system to be developed, where you can manage stress well, find balance with your eating and experience being in your body in a healthy way.
We believe psychological treatment is collaborative, so we work together in developing goals for therapy on areas that need focus and attention. We support you in acquiring new self-management skills, and between us work on updating aspects of your personality, so you can achieve the best outcomes from your weight loss surgery and find greater happiness and fulfillment in your life.
Our nutrition team will support you in your transition to your new relationship with food and eating, teaching you skills and tips to make your journey of change smooth. Nutrition coaching post-surgery will help you find a new rhythm with your eating and diet.
We know from experience that effective change, that is sustainable, requires small shifts in behaviour that feel achievable to you, and that work within your current life structure. We will coach and support you to implement a new way of managing food in your life to support weight loss.
Our focus will be to help you balance your diet to meet the ever-changing requirements of your shrinking body and weight. Understanding your activity levels and changes in body mass will enable us to continually update your dietary needs, which means your weight loss will be steady and safe.
We offer a range of functional testing options at Surgical WeightMatters. Functional testing provides valuable information about the way nutrition, environment and lifestyle factors impact your body, and your ability to manage your weight and your health.
Testing finds imbalances in your physiology before it reaches a stage of pathology or disease, and so is considered part of a preventative medicine approach.
Our nutrition team specialises in hormone imbalances, thyroid function and digestive dysfunction and their interaction with weight loss and optimal health.
Some people experience digestive issues, nutrient deficiencies or hormonal irregularities following bariatric surgery. Functional testing will allow you to gain a deeper understanding into your health status, and with expert support from your functional medicine practitioner help you manage your conditions before your symptoms develop into a more serious condition.
Together we will build a programme that allows us to address any imbalances that might be getting in your way of implementing the necessary dietary and lifestyle changes following your surgery.
To ensure the best surgery outcomes, it is essential to manage any dys-regulations in your body chemistry and prevent the development of any disordered eating behaviours or future health conditions.
We recommend functional testing investigations between three and six months post-surgery, to support you in achieving the best weight loss surgery outcomes, and optimal health and wellness.
Come in and meet one of the team for a Free 30 minute session.
Let us explain how we can help you.
Or simply get in touch with any questions you have.
Lindo Wing
St Mary’s Hospital
South Wharf Road
London W2 1B
1 Wellbeck Street
London
W1G 0AR
21 Wigmore Street
London
W1U 1PJ
23 Lombard Court
London
EC3V 9BJ
King Edward 7th Hospital,
5-10 Beaumont Street,
London W1G 6AA