Life after gastric bypass surgery requires a lot of support. Furthermore, some studies have shown that patients with more support may lose more weight. With diet, exercise, and a strict vitamin regimen, it’s difficult to make and stick to so many significant lifestyle changes on your own. Fortunately, we have a lot of support available literally at our fingertips, thanks to smartphones.

Gastric bypass apps that feature diet and exercise tracking, motivation, and accountability can make a massive impact on your success after surgery. Here are some of the best gastric bypass apps and gastric sleeve apps to try if you are a weight loss surgery patient.

Baritastic

This app is the ultimate helper for gastric bypass patients. It helps you track everything, from food to weight loss, and even your mood. If you need help keeping track of your protein, vitamin supplements, or medications, you can set reminders for those things too.

In the Baritastic app, there are also timers to help keep your water and food intake separate, as well as to help you eat more slowly at meals.

One of the best parts about this gastric bypass app is all the ways it can help with your follow up care. It’s possible to connect this app to your bariatric program, so you have all of their resources at your fingertips. With this feature, you can access additional support and education specific to your weight loss journey.

Waterlogged

Proper hydration is crucial following gastric bypass. Only a small amount of fluid can comfortably fit in the little pouch that replaces the stomach, making it more challenging to drink enough water. Dehydration can lead to severe complications after surgery. One study found dehydration to be one of the top three causes for hospital readmission after surgery.

Waterlogged is a gastric bypass app that helps track hydration. It helps users see how much water they’ve taken in, and it helps with accountability if drinking things like coffee or pop is an issue. Tracking hydration with this app is as easy as snapping a photo!

Fooducate

It’s important to learn how to read nutrition and ingredient labels after gastric bypass. You may develop sensitivity or even intolerance to certain ingredients after surgery, and you ultimately want to choose the healthiest foods to meet your weight loss goals.

Fooducate does a lot of the work for you when it comes to reading labels. You can scan foods with this gastric bypass app while you grocery shop, and it will grade the food based on its nutrition. The app does a great job explaining any questionable ingredients and offering alternative products, so you can make the most educated decision on the foods you buy.

Happy Scale

This gastric bypass app may be simple, but it will provide a good amount of accountability. Happy Scale tracks your weight loss but helps you break down your big goals. Studies show that breaking up a goal into smaller, more achievable goals is the best way to meet the “big goal successfully.”  In other words, you’ll keep going if you break it down early.

Happy Scale also shows your weight trends and gives you other insight on your weight loss to help you along your journey.

MyFitnessPal

This popular app is a tried and true fitness app that is the perfect gastric bypass app for anyone who has undergone weight loss surgery and is looking to lose or maintain their weight. This app is also excellent even if they haven’t had gastric bypass surgery. MyFitnessPal is a food and fitness tracker. You can set calorie and activity goals based on your personal needs. Then, you can search for virtually any food to track calories, macros, and other nutrients. The same goes for exercise (although the calories burned may not be accurate - keep that in mind).

Overall, MyFitnessPal is an excellent app for tracking and accountability. Some patients even use this app as a food journal for follow up visits with their doctor and dietitian.

HealthyOut

Eating out can be risky after gastric bypass surgery, but it’s not realistic to avoid it altogether. The HealthyOut app helps you find healthy meals at your favorite restaurants. This gastric bypass app gives you information about calories and nutrition, and you can filter meals by several dietary preferences (gluten-free, dairy-free, etc.). That way, you can make the healthiest choices, and make going out to eat a little less stressful.

Fitness tracking apps

If you’ve had gastric bypass surgery, you need to make fitness a priority. Many patients choose to start walking and find that using a step goal is the most motivating way to get it done. Fitness trackers like Fitbit, Apple watch, and Aria are great tools to track steps, and the apps make it even easier for users to find the motivation they need. You can also challenge friends and family through the apps to amp up your motivation.

A lot of tracking and accountability goes into life after gastric bypass. If you could use a little extra support in your journey after gastric bypass, these gastric bypass apps may help. Try one or two to start, as trying to keep up with too many apps at once can be overwhelming and time-consuming.