CSI: Bariatrics

When it comes to finally getting that weight off and keeping it off for a lifetime, CSI does not stand for Crime Scene Investigation (although it could if you need to examine why you're not losing the weight or why it's coming back later down the road). In this instance CSI stands for Commitment, Support, Immersion. If you can remember these three things and practice them everyday for the rest of your life, then you're on your way to a happier, healthier, and slimmer new you.

Commitment: It all starts with commitment. You have to commit yourself to understanding that you have a disease - obesity- and that it is attacking, disabling, and damaging every system and cell in your body. It is slowly, or not so slowly, killing you. You must commit to understanding that this fight is not over and you can win. Although it cannot yet be cured, and it will never fully go away, you can keep this disease in check and reclaim your health and your life. You have to commit to doing this, to asking for and accepting help, to following protocols (including taking your Celebrate Vitamins every day), to valuing yourself enough to give yourself nourishing food in appropriate amounts, to giving your body the movement and activity it needs, to making time for yourself every day of the rest of your life in order to accomplish these things. As we have said many times in our books and in our presentations, this is the most selfish thing you'll ever do, but as they say on the airlines, put on your own oxygen mask first and then assist others. Being good to yourself and being healthier allows you to be around much longer to help those you love most. Once you truly embrace commitment to this new way of life and to valuing yourself enough to deserve this new healthy life, you are well on your way.

Support: Although this is the most selfish thing you will ever do, the reality is you can't do it alone. It sounds like those two things kind of contradict each other, but they don't. You have to have support, and it has to come from several different areas of your life. First and foremost, you have to have the support of a great medical team, so value yourself enough to make sure you have a great team, and if you don't have one now, go out and find a new team that gives you all the medical and emotional support you need. Second, you need the support of others who have walked a mile in your wide-width shoes. That means you need to attend support groups in whatever manner you can. The best method is, of course, to attend a live support group, but if that isn't a possibility, then make sure you find some type of positive, supportive, informed group to help you in dealing with the bumps and potholes that will appear in your path. Remember, it's support, not therapy! Get over your issues and get on with it. And, don't forget to pay it forward. Others were there to help you when you couldn't think of protein sources other than chicken and cottage cheese, so you must be there to share your experience, wisdom, knowledge, and insights with them. It will also help to keep you on track later down the road when the disease of obesity reorganizes it troops and springs a sneak attack on you trying to regain lost ground. It's a war on obesity for the rest of your life, so don't leave your allies behind. Finally, you need the support of family and friends. They need to fully understand that you are fighting a disease that is ravaging your body and your health, and they need to learn about it in order to support you in your fight against it. You all have to know the enemy. Include them, inform them, and if they simply won't support you, invest yourself further in your team and in your fellow warriors.

Immersion: This is where it gets interesting. Really successful weight loss patients (surgical or not), immerse themselves in the culture. The most effective way to learn a new language is to just jump in with both feet, go to the country, and stay there until you learn the language, the customs, the habits, the gestures, and the way of life. That's basically what you are doing in this process. You are learning a whole new way of life and a whole new language. Immerse yourself in it. Learn everything you can about it from credible sources. If you are given a protocol or a plan, ask why, why, why. If you want to know why you need to take vitamins when you feel fine, ask why. If you want to know why Celebrate Vitamins formulated their vitamins the way they did to support weight loss surgery patients, go ahead, ask why! Learn why you don't want to eat fried foods (fat, calories, acrylamides - go look it up!). Learn why you need to lift light weights or use resistance bands (calorie burn, increased energy, increased lypolisis - go look it up!). Learn why you need to know the difference between a complex carb and a simple carb, and why you need to know that high fructose corn syrup and aspartame are two of the most damaging and virtually poisonous substances we can ingest. This knowledge translates into new skills for us in things like reading all your food labels and actually knowing what they say, like knowing what a shoulder girdle is and why and how we need to move it, or knowing how to order and dismantle food to meet your needs when you are out eating in a restaurant with others. It's all about learning what we need to know to develop new skills that we will practice for a lifetime to make us successful. After all, if we had all this knowledge and these skills we wouldn't have this problem in the first place.

So, remember CSI and everything else will fall into place. For more information, lots more tips, and a pretty good start on your CSI, pick up a copy of our book - The REAL Skinny on Weight Loss Surgery: An Indispensable Guide to What You Can REALLY Expect! - the number one patient education book in the world! Our own experiences in the weight loss journey and the concept of "CSI" is why we wrote it, and we tirelessly update it with the most credible and respected research to make sure that it remains current and brings you cutting edge information. Also, if your support group wants to learn more, talk to your practice about having us come and speak at an event. We'll even bring a Celebrate Vitamins rep with us to explain the importance of vitamin therapy and give out free samples! Little Victories Medical/Legal Consulting & Training and Celebrate Vitamins are committed to the success of every weight loss surgery patient in the world. We do the research so you don't have to! Remember: Every great success is a series of Little Victories!™ Celebrate every day!!


For more information on having Little Victories™ and/or Celebrate Vitamins speak at your event, contact your Celebrate Vitamins representative or email them through their web site: celebratevitamins.com, or contact Little Victories Medical/Legal Consulting & Training™ through their web site: LVbariatrics.com.