Self-Regulation of Weight After Sleeve Gastrectomy.
Help patients find their own reason to lose weight; outside pressure leads to poorer results.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Teresa et al. (2018) asked adults who had sleeve gastrectomy how they felt about losing weight. Some said they did it for themselves. Others said they did it because doctors or family pushed them.
The team tracked weight loss for a short time. They looked at who kept more weight off.
What they found
People who felt "I chose this for me" lost more weight. People who felt pushed by outside pressure lost less.
In plain words, your own reason matters more than someone else's reason.
How this fits with other research
Vismara et al. (2010) showed adults with Prader-Willi could keep exercising at home after brief hospital training. Both papers say: give the person the keys, not just the rules.
Michael (1988) found that adding outside cues helped diabetics guess blood sugar better. Teresa's team found outside pressure hurt weight loss. The two studies seem to clash, but they look at different things. Cues are tools; pressure is control. Tools help, control hurts.
Andrés-Gárriz et al. (2025) tried to boost self-determination in autistic young adults. The gain was small, but the idea is the same: when people feel the choice is theirs, they try harder.
Why it matters
If you coach adults after weight-loss surgery, spend time on why they want the change. Ask, "What will life look like for you?" instead of telling them what to do. A five-minute talk about personal goals can beat a long lecture on diet rules.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Bariatric surgery is recognized as the most effective method for achieving relevant weight loss in subjects with severe obesity. However, there is insufficient knowledge about weight self-regulation and quality of motivation in these patients. The main goal of this study was to characterize the association between the percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL) and the motivation to manage weight, at least 1 year after sleeve gastrectomy (SG). This is an observational longitudinal retrospective study. All patients corresponding to predefined inclusion criteria who underwent SG from January 2008 to July 2010 at a main general hospital were invited. A version of the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire (TSRQ) was used to assess patients' quality of motivation: TSRQ concerning continuing the weight self-management program. Clinical data were collected from patients' records. Overall, 81 patients participated (16 men and 65 women, 25-64 years old). The average body mass index was significantly reduced from 45.3 ± 7.0 kg/m2 preoperatively to 32.7 ± 6.9 kg/m2 postoperatively. Autonomous self-regulation was higher than externally controlled self-regulation, regarding motives to keep managing weight after SG. Postoperatively, %EWL correlated negatively with external self-regulation. SG was found to be associated with the quality of motivation for losing weight. External motivations were associated with worse results. These findings support the importance of multiprofessional teams in the assessment and treatment of patients, aiming for the promotion of weight self-regulation after bariatric surgery.
Behavior modification, 2018 · doi:10.1177/0145445517724540