Does it feel like you’ve stopped losing weight? This is because you’ve reached your first weight loss plateau. These happen on every weight loss journey. Reaching this plateau can be frustrating because it generally happens when you’re still doing all the right things. Here are the best ways to overcome weight loss plateaus.  Look at … Continue reading How to Move Past the Plateau

Having bariatric surgery is very stressful. As a bariatric success story, I know this to be true. I suppose the good news is we have become familiar with stress as obese people. Hopefully, we can utilize that training we’ve had in stress tolerance to our advantage. Maybe we have developed some emotional padding because of … Continue reading The Importance of Self-Care

              By Dr. Collins Hodges — Moving forward with bariatric surgery will be one of the most significant medical decisions of your life.  As a bariatric patient myself, I know it often follows decades of struggling with weight.  The majority of us have tried several diets and exercise programs, … Continue reading Create a Pathway to Success

        By Dr. Collins Hodges — As a psychologist working within a bariatric surgery clinic, my job is to assess a patient’s psychological ‘readiness’ for surgery. In other words, based on the clinical interview and diagnostic testing, what psychological factors help a psychologist determine whether or not a patient is ready to … Continue reading Which Psychological Variables Predict Good Surgical Outcomes

Collins Hodges, PsyD, LP As both a clinical psychologist and a bariatric patient, I am intimately familiar with the struggle to lose weight. We have spent hundreds of dollars on diets, only to end up right where we started. Unfortunately, we likely will wallow in the pit of self-doubt and self-criticism as we try to … Continue reading Why Do Patients Struggle With Maintaining Weight Loss Following Weight Loss Surgery

By: Collins Hodges, PsyD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist Managing problems Fortunately, obese patients are able to work through daily decision-making processes with very little or not subjective distress. Most situations requiring a solution demand a fairly straightforward and common-sense approach to problem solving. When not overly stressed, finding ways to deal with issues unfolds in a … Continue reading Managing Problems And Thoughts

By: Danielle Houston, RDN, LD Ask anyone in the United States–and possibly the world–and they will tell you that the month of January is associated with new beginnings and New Year’s resolutions. But when it comes to resolutions, there are things that are helpful as well as unhelpful. Additionally, people who have had bariatric surgery … Continue reading How To Make A New Year’s Resolution That Sticks

By: Collins Hodges, PsyD – Licensed Clinical Psychologist Have you ever looked down at a bag of chips you were eating and wondered where they went? Or, have you had the experience of driving to work only to notice later that you had already eaten a portion of your prepared lunch? Other familiar examples may … Continue reading What Does It Mean To Eat Mindfully?

By: Danielle Houston, RDN, LD Having worked as a Registered Dietitian for the past year and counseling pre and post op bariatric surgery patients, I have the following statement to make: all people deal with food cravings. There are scientific reasons for this such as hormonal changes and signals sent from the brain, but more … Continue reading Dealing with Food Cravings