General Post Bariatric Travel Tips! Travel Series: part 4

Having bariatric surgery such a gastric bypass like I did changes pretty much everything about your life. It’s not just that you eat a lot less than everyone else you need to change your lifestyle to ensure your surgery’s ongoing success. Post bariatric travel was interesting and it certainly had a few obstacles that I wouldn’t have had prior to surgery.

I wrote a whole blog post about the plane food which you can check out here. Because we had 26 hours of straight travelling to London and back I was going to be out of my new food comfort zone and out of control of what I was served for quite a while. I made sure I had enough protein bars and shakes to meet my requirements for two days worth of protein just in case and recommend you prepare for the worst (not being able to find ANYTHING you can eat) and take some things with you to keep you going.

With this new lifestyle brings great change and that’s for the better. Unlike previously when I went on holiday lots of the holiday would be from food rules and/or diet and I would eat up large and have whatever, whenever. This was a large part of what made holidays so enjoyable.

This time I couldn’t go on holiday from what I know my body needs. I had a few days where I didn’t get enough protein in and I started getting really tired. I did have a few things I wouldn’t normally eat but I didn’t make a habit of doing it the whole time I was away because I know it would have been so hard to break bad habits when I got home. Basically now a holiday does not mean a break from my normal eating habits and what I know my body needs.

One thing I struggled with was eating slowly and I especially struggle with this when we go out and I’m surrounded by other people eating in restaurants. I find I still get carried away with being with people and digging in and forgetting to eat slowly. Just remember your basic rules eat slowly, chew lots, have breaks between mouthfuls and you will be fine. This is the thing I struggled with most because we were eating out so much more often than we do when we are at home.

I found it was easy to forget to drink water being out of my normal routine so whenever I got somewhere new (such as through airport security) I would go and get a bottle of water straight away. I carried a bottle of water around with me all the time and tried to drink as much water as I could. This still wasn’t enough though and because we were seeing and doing do much I still forgot. I made an effort though right?

Going away on holiday after losing so much weight really brought home to me how far I have come and how much more I am able to do now that I’m at a normal weight. I enjoyed the heck out of this and if the price I have to pay is still needing to pay attention to what I need to eat and still observing my basic food rules while I’m away then honestly it’s a really small price to pay.

Have you been on holiday since bariatric surgery or are you planning a trip post surgery? What things are you anticipating to find hard or what did you struggle with while you were away? What bits are you looking forward to being easier? Comment below and let me know I’d love to know how different your post weight loss surgery holiday was!