As I struggle every alternate day for an hour during a ‘forced break’ to work out, doing my ‘mirror, mirror on the wall’ the following day looking for the faintest hint that I’ve lost a little more weight, it beats me that fat people can pretend to be happy in uttering the words, “I’m fat and beautiful”.
Utter gibberish!
Now, if someone tells me that they are happy about taking twenty minutes to get into a chair, without a shred of self-consciousness (if not in complete embarrassment) while everyone around them have long gone about their business or perhaps even for a pre-lunch snack, that to me, is complete crap if not just a pathetic façade to cover up their apparent inability to follow through on the tri-syllabic word, exercise that should help with weight loss, and their 'behind' into that chair much sooner. And trust me, it's painful to watch…
As harsh as I sound here, I was one of them, about two years ago… and one day I just knew that something was terribly wrong, that something had to be done. And so began ‘Project Look Good in Anything’ with the help of Mike ’O Geary (and some encouragement from a personal study in Vedic astrology) that has become a passion to the complete astonishment of some of my pals.
But enough about that…
Losing weight through exercise is not the only method these days, as weight loss (bariatric) surgery is performed on people who are not just obese, but dangerously so. These are folks who have obesity disorders which has nothing to do with being lazy…
So what is weight loss surgery? Is it safe? These are perfectly natural questions to ask if you are planning to undergo such a procedure.
Weight Loss Surgery
This surgery achieves weight loss through three primary methods depending on the patient:
1) Reducing the size of the stomach with an implanted medical device (known as gastric banding or a Lap Band)
2) Removing a part of the stomach, followed by either method one or three. The procedure is known as sleeve gastrectomy.
3) Resecting and re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch, thus leading to several variations of this type of surgery. The medical term used to identify this surgery is called ‘gastric bypass surgery’.
And this brings me to the second question, “Is it safe?”
Out of the 105,000 patients who underwent bariatric surgery, about 212 of them died in the hospital, at a mortality rate of 0.2 %. So the stats speak for themselves…
Prior to undergoing surgery, patients are made aware of the lifestyle changes that will have to made once the procedure is completed, with respect to dieting, exercise, pharmacotherapy, behavioral therapy and so on and so forth.
Although complications are a part of the procedure, occurring anywhere while in the hospital to 180 days to six months, results have shown that people live longer as obesity is inversely proportional to the longevity of life.
If one must take such a procedure, you must understand that complications can occur while these complications can differ from case by case. The cons are as risky as taking any other form of surgery that involves a big lifestyle change on your part but the pros can show results as early as 36 months.
In Closing
And despite the fact that this procedure seems an extreme step to take, at least this is one instance where ‘bigger isn’t better’. A lot of these patients don’t necessarily know when enough is enough with food or make an attempt to exercise, so change in these areas bodes well for a healthier and happier future. Oh yes, and much to the chagrin of the Queen of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs…
