Brooke is following Zing Wellbeing for support after having weight loss surgery

Zing Wellbeing member, Brooke, 34, shares with us her amazing weight loss surgery journey and why she now feels Zing Wellbeing is the best fit for her.

"This is me before surgery, and five months after, I am so excited to watch myself grow spiritually, mentally and physically using the Zing Wellbeing Health program and the NEW gastric band meal plan.

My advice is for anyone who feels alone after weight loss surgery come and join Zing Wellbeing and step into a new approach to your health journey you won't regret it.

Brooke shares, "5 months ago I was sliced and diced and chose the biggest life changing decision to have the mini gastric bypass surgery.

By all means it isn’t a mini surgery it is just the placements of the cuts that are performed from the bowels to the new stomach pouch and is a less invasive surgery compared to the Y gastric bypass. This was a chosen surgery for myself by my surgeon as I suffer reflux and was the better outcome long term for my health.

Weight loss surgery is a tool to help you with portion control but the main thing no one understands is that the weight doesn’t just fall off after surgery."

Day 1 Of Surgery 9th September 2024

Before Zing Wellbeing, I didn’t realise my health journey would be working on my mind, body and soul. I have goals of experiencing life, not sitting on the side lines enjoying good health and enjoying hikes and site seeing now my mobility is improving)

You only get out the surgery what you put in, if you eat just junk food the surgery simply won’t work. You can still gain weight after surgery.

You are asked to follow a high protein diet for long term success, and you can be at risk of been malnourished as your body won’t absorb all your nutrients from your food intake. And you will need to take gastric bypass patient vitamins for the rest of your life.

Hair loss is real after surgery and “YES! I am losing my hair”.

But over all My health is improving, I am no longer on diabetic medication I was on Ozempic, Jardiance and metformin daily and now my diabetes is diet controlled, and my health is so much better, but my thoughts and habits are in my brain and surgery isn’t a miracle cure for my hidden demons.

Once You have the surgery, you still wake up obese you are not skinny and once you wake up this is just the start of your journey.

All those bad habits and thoughts do not go and the first 6 weeks you need to learn how to eat all over again which is mentally challenging and some what exhausting.

No one prepares you just how BLUE weight loss surgery can make you feel at the beginning depression for me was a reality with how fast things changed.

Especially if food is your comfort, your way of dealing with anxiety & depression also for myself I realised I used food for sensory gains.

I am neurodivergent and I battle with a food addiction to cope with my emotions, from stress, needing to chew or crunch food this is my little BAD HABIT & is my ADDICTION I am battling with and here I am 5 months from surgery and dealing with the demons I never battled prior to surgery.

After surgery you are on a rollar coaster ride as you have 2 weeks of been on a liquid only diet, then you upgrade to the puree stage which I call the hybrid stage for two weeks then you transition on to soft foods for two weeks then after week six after clearance from your surgeon you can experiment with different foods.

You won't be able to tolerate the foods you are used to and even some foods can cause DUMPING SYNDROME, which is a nasty con from the surgery caused by foods that are high in sugar, too high in fat or your body just may not tolerate that kind of food anymore.

The symptoms all vary but a few can be headaches, severe fatigue, diarrhoea, nausea, cold and hot flushes and nasty stomach cramps. It can last minutes or hours. 

It isn’t a pretty experience from what I hear, but luckily, I have not experienced this yet. But something to consider as a con if you have the weight loss surgery.

I have been successful with my weight loss journey from surgery so far, I have lost nearly 40kg, but behind the scenes, I was struggling with my health journey and feeling lonely.

I can't go and eat meals like I used to with friends as I can't eat very much, each meal and mouthful counts towards your protein goals and I found myself battling with my old thoughts , habits wanting to creep back in, but secondly it was hard to work out meal plans, finding a program with a holistic approach to my over all health and goals.

It was so hard to map out all the pieces together for my journey and where I need to start. Surgery alone isn’t enough to keep me on track and work on things I want to succeed with for my over-all long-term health goals.

When I saw Rhian Allen all over social media and how she had a new program called Zing Wellbeing, I was excited to see her come back with what I call the biggest transformation for a health program yet.

A program that is a holistic approach to your own journey, what you want to work on, and it isn’t just focusing on weight loss like most programs are. It is covering everything for everyone that is unique for their own journey but the main excitement for me is the EDUCATION and knowledge you get out of the program.

Education is the key to success for a health journey. I like how the program is laid out, and when you choose your recipes, it explains what foods are in that recipe and the benefits you will get out from that meal.

I love learning about what each food does to nourish my body, and I don’t need to calculate how much protein is in a recipe as it is all calculated for me even on my weekly meal plan, I know how much protein each day I will be having as well as calories and I know what I am eating is enough.

As a gastric bypass patient already the stress and anxiety has been reduced as I know I can now reach my protein goals and am eating better foods for my body.

The work outs are a bonus, easy to follow and motivating & what I found to be the most helpful is the mindset programs for your own personal growth and goals.

Self-reflection and working on your mind, body and soul is just refreshing and something different to work on each week keeping it new, exciting and distracting me from just focusing on the scales.

Zing Wellbeing isn’t reflecting on scales or weight loss which I think has been the reason I have failed many times with my weight loss journey with other programs as I would be so caught up in that and hyper focused that I would focus just on the weight loss side of things but didn’t explore what my mind , body and soul truly deserved and has been craving.

My week 2 goal with Zing Wellbeing was to walk over 300 stairs on the Neck Look Out up Bruny Island also known as Truganini Look Out which I completed and felt proud I had completed this goal as my fitness is one key focus, I am aiming for so I can enjoy more adventures.

There is so much support from talking about habits, learning about gut health, hormone supports, menopause but one that stuck out to me was how Rhian had every one covered in Zing Wellbeing program and her meal plans are amazing.

So yes to my excitement there is a meal plan for us gastric bypass/lap band patients on the Zing wellbeing program to follow and it is amazing and this is what ticked all my boxes to make my 2025 journey so I signed up straight away and I am enjoying every minute of it.

There is also a high protein meal plan with lots of high protein recipes to choose from. 

I am not just focusing on weight loss, I am focusing on my habits, my soul, learning about food and how to nourish my body, enjoy moving my body and I am getting the best support from this program. All The Zing members are kind, they motivate me, and we are all on different journeys.

This program is refreshing, and I Think Zing Wellbeing is going to a MASSIVE HIT.

Rhian has created an amazing program & I like how she shares her journey and keeps it all real I love following her journey. Rhian has really motivated me for better health and looking at my health journey in a different light.

I highly suggest to add some ZING to your life. Thankyou Zing Wellbeing!! I will be a forever member.

Day 1 Before Photo Progress!!

I like how Zing Wellbeing is different and it's your own journey and what you want to work on for your health.

I had weightloss surgery 17 weeks ago and it sure isn't easy you only get out the surgery what you put in ♡♡♡ this is why I'm excited for Zing!!!

Meal plans for us who have had surgery and so many other amazing meal plans I will be doing the high protein and gastric meal plans over next couple weeks and adding recipes from other meal plans so much variety and really good value for $$$.