Managing Sugar Cravings After Bariatric Surgery

If you suffer from obesity, chances are that you’ve craved sugar for most of your life. But you’ve heard that after weight loss surgery you won’t be able to eat sugar anymore. You might be wondering how that’s going to work. How does bariatric surgery affect sugar cravings? What are the risks of giving into sugar cravings after surgery? And, when you do have sugar cravings after surgery, how can you handle those without giving in?

Let’s walk through these questions together.

How Does Bariatric Surgery Affect Sugar Cravings?

The good news is that after weight loss surgery, you’ll probably experience fewer sugar cravings, which makes managing sugar cravings easier. One reason is that eating sugar activates your brain’s reward system, which stimulates the release of a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is associated with feeling good. It’s also called the ‘want’ chemical; when your body releases dopamine, the release actually makes you crave more dopamine. That’s why when you eat a lot of sugar, it can just make you want more sugar.

But bariatric surgery can interrupt your dopaminergic system, which can reduce your cravings. After surgery, many people crave less sugar than you did before surgery. Additionally, up to 70% of patients will experience dumping syndrome after gastric bypass if they eat sugar. This is a very unpleasant experience with will also provide the benefit of negative feedback further reducing your sugar cravings.

Bariatric surgery can also help if you suffer from compulsive eating. A study published in Eating and Weight Disorders found that patients who suffered from a food addiction before surgery were no more likely to experience food cravings than were patients who never suffered from a food addiction. In order words, weight loss surgery can help you to experience a healthier relationship with food and to crave less unhealthy food, which is very helpful if your dream is to lose weight and get healthier.

(For more on how your life will change after surgery, see our page of post surgery information)

That said, it’s important to note that you may still crave sugar after surgery. Eating sugar is addictive: when you eat a piece of cake or pie, you’re actually reinforcing the neural pathways that lead to more sugar cravings. You may have been doing this for decades without realizing it. Those neural pathways aren’t going to be rewritten overnight. What this means is that you may still crave sugar after surgery, even though your cravings will probably be less intense and easier to handle than they were before surgery.

What Are the Risks of Giving Into Sugar Cravings After Bariatric Surgery?

Before weight loss surgery, your dietitian will work with you to develop a bariatric nutrition plan that will help you to maximize your weight loss; and after surgery, it is very important that you commit to consistently following this plan. When you do this you begin to rewrite your neuronal pathways which over time retains your habits and cravings. As part of this plan, you won’t be able to eat any refined sugary foods.

If you do slip up and eat processed sugar, the consequences could be severe. Gastric bypass patients can develop dumping syndrome, in which eating foods rich in carbohydrates or sugar can lead to cramping, vomiting, dizziness, or diarrhea. Processed sugar is also empty calories, and patients who consume processed sugar risk plateauing on their weight loss journey or even weight regain. Eating processed sugar can even make you crave more sugar, which has the potential to restart the kind of vicious cycle that many of our patients struggled with for years before surgery.

What Takes Away Sugar Cravings?

The best way to combat your cravings is to plan ahead. Don’t just try to manage sugar cravings in the moment. Instead, make a plan with your dietitian about what you’ll do when you crave a piece of cake or a large soda ahead of time, so that you’re not trying to figure out what to do while you’re also wrestling with the craving in the moment. That might look like eating some fresh fruit (maybe a small bowl of strawberries) or calling someone in your support network.

One powerful tip is to take advantage of the bariatric post-surgery support resources that we offer at the BMCC. Join a weight loss support group. Make sure to keep your regular post-bariatric-surgery appointments with your surgical team. No one is an island, and having people you trust to walk beside you on this journey can be a powerful source of strength.

We offer a variety of bariatric post-surgery support resources to our patients, and we consistently find that the patients who achieve the most success on their weight loss journey are the ones who utilize these resources.

Also, remember why you’re doing this. Get specific. Don’t just tell yourself that you want to lose weight. Think about why you want to lose weight: to fit into all the new clothes you want to buy, or to meet that special someone, or to be able to get on a plane and go have fun with your grandkids without it feeling like an ordeal. Really paint a picture in your head. Then, in moments when you feel a craving for sugar, remind yourself of why you’re doing this and draw strength from that picture in your head.

If nothing else, remember that the cravings will get less intense over time as your brain rewires itself. Today may be hard; but if you stick to your bariatric nutrition plan and don’t give in, tomorrow may be easier.

Taking the Next Step On Your Weight Loss Journey

If you know you’re ready to lose the weight and keep it off, don’t wait. Give our friendly office staff a call today.

Many of our patients say the decision to undergo weight loss surgery was the best decision they ever made.

“The best decision I have ever made was to have this surgery. Not only did I improve my health, I have my life back again with my family.” —Georgette Camacho, duodenal switch patient.

If you’re suffering, don’t wait. Contact our Denver office today.