To explore the dilemma of home diet management in patients after bariatric surgery using qualitative study.

A descriptive nature study was used to select patients who were revisited from January 2024 to October 2024 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University in Guangzhou using an objective sampling method for semi-structured interviews, and the data were analyzed by Colaizzi phenomenological data 7-step analysis method.

The study concluded that bariatric surgery led to passive changes in patients' eating patterns. There were 4 themes and 5 sub-themes: lack of subjective initiative, unrealistic expectations for bariatric surgery, patients' cognitive bias towards postoperative diet management (gradually decreasing emphasis on postoperative diet management, cognitive error of food, and cognitive bias of food quantity), and influencing factors (promoting factors and hindering factors) of postoperative diet management. Patients' subjective initiative, cognition of bariatric surgery, postoperative diet management, food selection, and food quantity play an important role in postoperative diet management. The factors influencing postoperative diet management included family accompaniment, weight sensitivity, external environment restriction, medical staff warning, and peer competition. Hindrance factors can be summarized as subjective and objective factors: subjective factors include lifestyle, food cravings, emotional adjustment difficulties, stress, and self-abandonment psychology; Objective factors include the patient's occupational and social pressure.

Medical staff should pay attention to the dietary experience of patients after bariatric surgery and formulate personalized dietary guidance for patients to improve their dietary compliance and maintain the long-term effects of surgery.