Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t easy. That’s one reason many people turn to bariatric surgery, a proven treatment for substantial weight loss that can lead to improved health outcomes. However, even after surgery, some patients may regain weight or struggle to lose as much weight as they hoped. Emotional eating is one common reason for weight regain after surgery. Working to change your eating habits and improve your mental health before and after bariatric surgery can help many patients.

What Is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is just what it sounds like—when you eat to cope with your feelings, not because you are hungry. Almost everyone engages in some level of emotional eating at times, such as eating ice cream after a breakup or treating yourself to a cookie after finishing a big work project. But when you eat because you’re bored or lonely or sad every day, emotional eating can lead to weight gain as well as negative feelings about yourself. Some people will get trapped in a vicious cycle, where they emotionally eat, feel bad about doing so, then eat more to drown those feelings out, and then keep repeating it.

Emotional eating can be similar to binge eating, but it is not an eating disorder. Because emotional eating is a learned behavior, often from childhood, it can be hard to stop using food as a coping mechanism for life.

Managing Emotional Eating

Many emotional eaters can have successful weight loss with bariatric surgery or other methods. But if you haven’t learned to cope with your triggers before your weight loss, it can be easy to slide into old habits when life gets stressful. There are effective strategies to manage emotional eating, such as:

• Before snacking, ask yourself if you’re really hungry. If you’re not, do something to address whatever emotion you’re feeling. Lonely? Text a friend. Sad or stressed? Go for a short walk. Tired? Take a nap or go to bed early.

• Keep a food journal and start writing down what you ate and how you felt when eating it. This is not about counting calories. Instead, a food journal can help you see patterns in how you emotionally eat that you might not notice in the moment.

• Try mindful eating. This practice involves eating slowly so you can truly taste and savor the food, and it can help you notice when you feel full, so you won’t keep eating out of habit.

Why Behavioral Health Matters for Bariatric Surgery

If you’re considering bariatric surgery, you might be surprised to learn that a mental health assessment is part of the presurgical process. These assessments are not intended to weed out patients; they’re here to help you. Knowing and identifying any mental health challenges you might be facing prior to surgery will help your care providers come up with the best treatment plan to ensure a successful outcome.

Research shows that emotional eating is linked with depression and anxiety. Depressed patients may find adhering to postoperative instructions more challenging and need extra support. They may also turn to emotional eating for stress relief. All these factors can contribute to weight regain after bariatric surgery.

If you continue to struggle with eating patterns that aren’t helpful for you—or if you need coping strategies to deal with anxiety and depression—don’t hesitate to talk with a counselor. They can work with you both before and after bariatric surgery

Losing Weight Won’t Solve Everything

Losing a lot of weight with bariatric surgery can drastically improve many people’s physical health. But even if you finally get the body you’ve always dreamed about, your problems will still be there. If you struggle with low self-esteem, anxiety, stress or other issues that often go hand-in-hand with emotional eating, your brain isn’t going to magically change overnight to match your new body. Learning new, healthy coping skills and taking steps to address your mental health can help ensure you get the results and the life you want after surgery. St. Luke’s Health has the resources you need.

Explore weight loss options at St. Luke’s Health.