Every man has a right to his opinion, but no one has a right to be mistaken in his facts.
Bernadette Baruch
Let's be honest. Losing weight is difficult. You wouldn't be reading this book if it were easy, right? However, most of us find it extremely simple to put on weight. The causes of obesity are as numerous as they are diverse, but suffice it to say that easily accessible, high-calorie meals and a sedentary lifestyle are at the top of the list. Most of us consume excessive amounts of the incorrect foods and engage in little to no exercise. The obesity pandemic has an easy solution. You've probably heard the advice "Eat less, choose better foods, and exercise more" a million times.
I've never encountered an obese person who hasn't made an effort to heed that advise. Most people have tried every diet plan that is available, frequently more than once. They have discovered that achieving success requires extreme discipline, which must be upheld for a long time. This is especially valid for people who are trying to shed a lot of weight. It should come as no surprise that, despite their best efforts, the majority of people are unable to maintain such an effort for longer than a few weeks or possibly a few months.
Almost all diets advise its followers to limit the quantity of their meals in addition to the types of food they consume. Such food limits nearly always cause hunger, and eventually, extreme hunger causes the diet to fail. Willpower is simply insufficient when your stomach is growling and all you can think about is what you might discover in the cupboard or refrigerator. Not because they aren't seeing results, but because most people give up on their diet
feel like they need to eat. Once they "fall off the wagon," the outcome is very obvious. The lost weight is swiftly gained again along with a few extra pounds. The cycle of gaining and losing and regaining weight, known as "yo-yoing," tends to be repeated again. Eventually another diet comes along, another promise is made: "This time I know I can do it." It's interesting to note that "yo-yo" dieting also frequently results in a person's total metabolic rate slowing down, which makes future weight reduction extremely harder.
The Physical and Mental Effects of Obesity
psychologist G. Dick Miller
I discussed how people's attitudes on food have changed from seeing it as a necessity to seeing it as a part of our lives. However, there is also a physiological component, which has evolved with time. According to psychologist Carl Jung, humans have a collective unconscious made up of generations' worth of attitudes, actions, and ideas that have now permeated biology. It works like this when eating. We've consumed a lot of food, and as a result, our kids are now born with more fat cells. These cells are given special care since they produce desires. As a result, our brains always feel the need for additional food due to the interaction between our hypothalamus gland and fat cells.
I have witnessed its evolution and have felt helpless to halt it. I began working with people who wanted to lose weight early on. But after some time, I realized why I wasn't having any luck with the people who came to me for weight control. It was over once someone gained enough weight to alter their metabolism and had everything working against them. That explains why diets have a 95% failure rate. No matter how hard I tried to convince someone to shift their perspective and learn new coping mechanisms, I was never able to remove them from the situation long enough for them to make a difference. People need roughly nine months for their altered body chemistry and new way of thinking to take hold. And because I was aware of the gastric bypass patient's risk to their internal organs and mortality rate, I was unable to advocate it. I consequently stopped taking on new customers for weight loss.
Until I learned about the AGB, that is. I've never seen a better "library card" to get someone into a place where they can change than the band. According to Dr. Sewell, the band is a tool. However, it can be avoided. Patients with AGB can drink ice cream. And if they don't alter their perspective and pick up some new coping mechanisms, they'll actually do it.
Weight management only works when we alter our attitudes toward and relationships with food. If we alter our ways of thinking, we will also alter our behaviors and outcomes. The procedure starts with the AGB.
It is clear that dieting has grown to be a lucrative industry. Americans spend more than $30 billion annually on diets and dietary products, but dieting failures are the norm rather than the exception. This is despite the fact that every time someone on television shares their tale of how they lost 30 or 40 pounds in six to eight weeks, it is usually followed by the words "and so can you!" Such failures typically result in guilt-related emotions and even sadness, which can cause eating disorders and further weight gain. The detrimental impacts on self-esteem are frequently made worse by all the media attention given to the purported success stories. The truth is that some people simply give up dieting and accept a life of being uncomfortable overweight after experiencing multiple failures.
What about exercise, then? Without a question, the majority of Americans don't exercise enough. The abundance of modern amenities that we take for granted have significantly streamlined our daily lives. Many things that once required physical effort have been removed. Although some people still work in physically demanding professions, many others may now work from home, shop from home, and—this is crucial—even get their meals delivered. When we do leave the house, we usually start the car and drive, even if we are only traveling a few blocks. As a result, we burn comparatively little calories while performing our daily tasks. The recipe for fattening America is complete when you combine this lack of activity with readily available, high-calorie foods that can be delivered to your door or purchased at the convenient drive-through.
Nearly everyone intuitively realizes they must exercise if they hope to lose those extra pounds. As evidence, consider the unprecedented rate at which Americans have engaged personal trainers and joined health and fitness clubs during the past 30 years. In an effort to make exercising at home simpler and more convenient, we have bought many items of exercise equipment. But at the same time, our culture as a whole has grown more obese.
The issue is that physically taxing activities aren't typically a part of our daily routines. They stand for "extra" pursuits that don't directly advance the American Dream aspirants' financial or social standing. Exercise is a time-consuming pastime for many of us, time we don't have to spare. Exercise time cannot be utilized to do laundry or assist children with their homework. Making a sales call, organizing the paperwork that is accumulating on the desk, or responding to the mounting number of emails may all wait until another time. How often have you uttered the phrase "I don't have time; I'll start tomorrow"?
Don's Tale
Don, pre-op, 385 pounds (left).
(Right) Don, 182 two years after surgery
pounds.
I've always been a fatty. I had a 32-inch waist when I was a cub scout. Over the course of my adult life, I fluctuated between 300 and 400 pounds. I take a lot of first-class flights. I had to go to coach so I could raise the arm rest and use two seats when travelling first class internationally. The title of my weight reduction memoir, if I ever write one, will be "Too Fat for First Class."
I've gone through five distinct phases of losing 100 pounds or more. For instance, after joining Overeaters Anonymous (OA), I dropped from 320 to 156 pounds and lost 165 pounds. I lost 100 pounds when I tried a liquid protein diet. I lost 435 pounds and reached a weight of 280 thanks to Atkins and OA.
I work as a researcher. When Al Roker's gastric bypass made headlines, I began reading about weight-loss procedures. I looked at more than 500 websites. I attended six open forums and spoke with four surgeons.
Three factors influenced my choice: distance, recovery time (because to my busy schedule), and most significantly, the surgeon's reputation. After learning about Dr. Sewell from a member of my Rotary club, I started researching his standing among the other medical professionals I knew. Many individuals are unaware that Dr. Sewell receives cases from other surgeons that they deem to be too risky for them to handle. One physician advised me that an excellent cutter is what you need for laparoscopic surgery, and Dr. Sewell is a fantastic cutter.
As of February 3, 2003, I had my band. I weighed 385 before surgery. I've already shed more than 200 pounds. Along the road, there have been a few mishaps. Dr. Sewell has never been really pleased with me because I follow a calorie technique, which means I attempt to consume less calories. Therefore, it was four to five months before I had my first adjustment. I think of the band as a tool to prevent overeating. I've never actually felt hungry. Dr. Sewell, however, would probably prefer that I let the band handle some of the work and that I lose weight gradually.
According to statistics, 50 percent of patients who undergo weight-loss surgery also end up undergoing plastic surgery. I like to sculpt my body. On
On March 4, 2004, I underwent a nine-hour procedure in which a 12-inch-wide strip of skin was removed from my whole center. I expected to weigh much less than 200 pounds when I left than when I entered at 201 pounds. But because I was dehydrated, they ultimately gave me 14 liters of liquids, and I ended up weighing 225 pounds. I converted it into a size 38 pant, nevertheless, after losing 8 inches from my waist due to recovering. I was a size 48 before surgery. Since then, I've undergone less substantial plastic surgery, including procedures to address the various hanging skin patches on my legs, chest, neck, and other body parts. I anticipate undergoing a total of four plastic operations before I'm done.
I've made a few observations regarding my weight loss. One is that I'm constantly cold. This criticism is one that you frequently hear from people who have lost a lot of weight online. When I discussed it with a neurologist, she advised that my body would need a few years to get used to the new me. I also observe changes in my weight. My lowest weight was 182 pounds, but depending on how diligently I work on my dietary decisions, I often range from that to 210 pounds. I'm currently at 208.
Additionally, I believe that my personality was influenced by my weight and that it was the foundation of my interpersonal connections. I feel like I've spent my entire life making up for being a purely "Type A" personality. I had to justify myself because I was the overweight man. Everyone now claims that I'm simpler to live with. I'm more mellow and softer. I am aware that I enjoy myself more.
I also want to mention that since I lost weight, my income has more than doubled. There are bigots and prejudices towards obese people. I didn't have to put in any more effort once I reduced the weight to produce a lot of successful energy from partnerships. The burden of the weight is gone.
As a result, my income, which was already very good, is just absolutely exploding. With my improved salary, I have more than made up for the money I spent on the band and plastic surgery, proving that the procedures were worthwhile. Now that I appear like a typical corporate type, I can see how much the weight was restricting me. When I was banded, a significant roadblock to my professional growth was removed, and I feel
wonderful about that. Therefore, in my opinion, the band has a significant potential for financial success.
Exercise might provide a completely distinct set of issues for persons who are quite overweight. Physical exercise of any kind may be difficult or impossible for someone who is carrying an extra 75 pounds or more due to pain or immobility. That is especially true as fat individuals age. With even light exercise, the persistent weight of obesity on the back, hips, knees, ankles, and feet frequently causes severe pain. Even if their joints are pain-free, it can be quite difficult to even muster the motivation to begin a regular exercise regimen. For individuals who become out of breath merely going from the car into the house, exercising is not an option.
The outcomes for individuals who can engage in a regular fitness regimen are typically far less than what they anticipated. Increasing physical activity by itself frequently fails to produce long-term weight loss. It must be paired with a sensible eating schedule. Ironically, exercising may have the opposite consequence of making someone feel more hungry. After an exercise, hunger becomes an especially challenging issue, and it is simple to justify an extra snack or a large order of fries as a deserving reward. The truth is that most people cannot burn off the calories in a candy bar or milkshake in an hour of brisk walking.
Pat's Tale
After telling me that my diabetes had advanced to the point where he believed I had just a year to live, my internist, who had been my doctor since 1980, stated, "I'm going to fire you as a patient." Then he continued, "You haven't listened to me in 25 years, and I'm not going to sit here and watch myself lose you."
I felt stunned. We used to be pals, so I could tell he was also sad. He reiterated that he had already given me a quarter of a century when I pleaded for more time. So I requested an additional three months.
I knew I had to address my weight as soon as I walked out of his office. But what should I do? I saw a different physician for the cysts and tumors in my breasts, and I enquired about the gastric bypass procedure. I told him the internist was going to leave me, and he said it was a "abortion to your body." He mentioned Dr. Sewell and the band. I got Dr. Sewell's contact information via my daughter-in-law, who was a nursing student at Texas Christian University (TCU). I called, learned that he was hosting a free educational presentation, and then drove two hours with my spouse to go.
I made this decision at the seminar, and my husband supported it. There was a delightful patient of Dr. Sewell's who was young, charming, and energetic. Somebody asked her if she could have a big steak, and I thought she was extremely honest when she responded no. I asked her, "Can you have Coke°?" and she said, "Yes, if you let it go flat." However, I've discovered that while those things were significant to me at the time, they aren't now.
My insurance company denied me three times, but I persisted. I intended to purchase a band, and I would have covered the cost. It turns out that I did extremely well over the two months I spent on the pre-op diet, actually dropping weight. I asked myself, "Why am I having surgery if I'm losing on the pre-op diet," to which I replied, "Because I'll put a cracker in my mouth and gain it back." I visited my internist on the pre-op diet, and since I had dropped weight, he agreed to continue monitoring me for another six months.
I started out at 265 pounds, and I'm 5 feet 4 inches tall. I now vary between 125 and 130 pounds, two years later. I feel fantastic. If I didn't eat, I used to get headaches, and I would take a lot of Advil. I have only used Tylenol® ten times in the past two years since the band surgery. I used to have leg issues, but they've mostly gone away. I injured my right leg ligaments in a fall over a year and a half ago, which required emergency department treatment. I don't even limp anymore, and I was in physical therapy for six weeks before my internist, who is still my doctor, said, "Do you realize with the fall you took, had you not lost weight, you'd be in a wheel chair for the rest of your life?"
It's as if I have too much to say. How would you describe the individuals who saved your life? I was questioned about when I would get the band taken off.
I'll tell everyone who'll listen to me talk about the band, and I said, "Never." In fact, I've been known to chase people down the hallway at work while yelling, "There's just one more thing."
Dieting and exercise remain the cornerstones of every long-term weight-loss strategy despite all the issues that surround them. To maintain proper nutrition and reduce overall weight, it is essential to regulate both the quantity and types of foods consumed. Similarly, consistent physical activity raises the body's basal metabolic rate while simultaneously enhancing heart and lung health. That means that regular exercisers burn more calories than non-exercisers do, even while they are at rest.
It would seem that everyone should be eager to participate given all the benefits that can result from a healthy diet and a regular exercise program—and the majority of us are—but only to a point. Whether it's right or immoral, our culture is based on instant pleasure and expanding creature comforts. When considered in that light, dieting is frequently perceived as just depriving ourselves of what we desire and deserve, and working out solely for the purpose of becoming sweaty is not enjoyable. As a result, many people just give dieting and exercise a half-hearted effort. What we truly want is a sure outcome, minimum inconvenience, and an immediate consequence. Although our body don't operate that way, that is the way we have been taught to think. We'll talk more about this "quick fix" idea for treating obesity in the next chapters and why such approaches frequently fall short.