Weight loss surgery involves major changes in physical, psychological, and social aspects of a person?s life. This project sought to identify and understand how gastric bypass patients interpret and use social resources in the period following surgery. The researcher analyzed verbatim transcripts from two, in-depth, qualitative interviews with each of six women who were at least 2 years past gastric bypass surgery. Participants ranged in age from 36 to 63 years, varied in household type, lived in Upstate New York, and varied in maintenance of weight loss achieved after surgery. Coding and analysis of transcripts led to the categorization of social resources as to source (close-personal, other gastric bypass patients, spouse, experts, others, mirror), type (prescriptions, examples, appraisals, facilitations, supports), and judgment by the patient (e.g. adequate, inadequate, absent, wanted, unwanted.). A functional social resource management model was developed to represent the patient as an active, self-regulator of social resources. The findings provide concepts and a framework that can be used to advance understanding about how social support is involved in dietary change and health promotion processes.