Slice and dice weight-loss surgeries are becoming more common nowadays. I attended a seminar over the holidays and was amazed by the presenting doctor’s statement, “You cannot lose weight dieting.” OK, perhaps most of the people in the room might have agreed with that statement but the audacity of that doctor. I do not mean to say the doctor was a bad doctor or he was peddling snake oil. I believe the surgery probably would have a net positive affect if a person did not ever get a grip. What I object to is the doctor as part of his sales pitch, saying an untruth… that you cannot lose weight on your own! Here is a picture of the Lap-Band.
Picture from: http://www.core.monash.org/placement.html
Of the surgery alternatives, I think the Lap-Band would be the one I like because it is reversible. How it works is first you have to go on a liquid diet to make the surgery safer. After the doctor thinks you are ready, you have the placement surgery and continue the stringent diet. After a few weeks pass the doctor starts the initial filling of the band. The theory is with a smaller portion of your stomach usable – you won’t be as hungry. The Lap-Band also depends on a person not cheating by drinking high calorie liquids or such. One downside of the surgeries is you have to be on a diet for life to have lasting weight loss. You might as well try and find a way of dieting that will work for you with out paying for a major surgery.
Other surgeries are not reversible because the doctors either staple the stomach smaller or reattach the intestines so less food is absorbed. The main argument I have heard is health. A person can only live morbidly obese so long before his or her health is negatively affected. If a person is 100 pounds or more over weight or has many risk factors, the doctors can make the decision that the surgery is medically necessary. Here is an article from CNN.com that goes over some of the reasons why this type of surgery might be good to cure diabetes here.
Here is what I think – I do not want to totally say I think this is a poor choice to have one of these types of surgeries but I do think that anyone can learn how to moderately diet to decrease their weight over time. If a person cannot seemingly successfully diet, first try and figure out why! There must be some reason for not sticking with some program. I would like to think that the person in this situation has not done the research yet to find a workable plan (for them!).
There are many diets out there so start woking on finding one that will work for you! I put a free low-fat type of diet for your perusal here. Best of luck to you and please before you consider surgery – do some more research because there is no magic… if you do the surgery – you will still have to limit you food intake.
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