Obesity 101 - Houston Obesity Surgery
Obesity is caused by our genetics and a calorie rich environment. Two variables that are not easy to change. There is no study anywhere in the world where any significant group of patients have lost 70 or more pounds by diet and exercise and keep it off for 5 years. That tells you diet and exercise does not work. It does work for people trying to lose much smaller amounts of weight. If you consider the number of people that have tried to loose that much weight and the number that have been successful ….that number is nearly zero. SO…don’t blame yourself for lack of success at something that does not work. Finally we are starting to get better research work in the area of obesity. The chemicals involved keep getting more and more complex and any solution other than obesity surgery is not likely to surface anytime in the near future.
Obesity surgery is just a tool. And we use tools for everything complex in life. That is the way to get it done. That’s the way I would like you to think about WLS. Its natural to blame yourself for not being successful, but it is not productive. Obesity surgery may not be for everyone, but it is the only thing that works.
Who is morbidly obese? We use the body mass index (BMI) as a measurement tool. It is your weight in pounds divided by 2.2 to give you weight in kilograms divided by your height in inches times 2.54/100 squared. Most people just use a BMI calculator. Its probably not the most accurate measure of obesity, but it’s the one we have used for many years and the measurement we have used to collect obesity data. The data tells use that as our BMI rises above 35 that serious life threatening medical problems occur. Diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea, cardiac disease, infertility, stress incontinence, GERD, and cancer. And others. Obesity surgery resolves the majority of these issues. Something we have proven with a large amount of data. Diabetes is a serious disorder. We get the majority of patients off diabetic medications, even insulin, usually within weeks after gastric bypass. To me ...this is amazing... and the greatest advance in the treatment of diabetes since the discovery of insulin. We also cure most sleep apnea, most patients get off high blood pressure medication, most acid refux resolves, most cholesterol problems resolve, women often become fertile, and cardiac function improves. One of the common reasons patients finally decide to have surgery is because of severe knee pain. Generally their knees are worn out. But after surgery the majority of them feel pain free.
Use the BMI Calculator below to find out your BMI.
Learn more about your Houston obesity surgery options by requesting an appointment with one of the best Houston bariatric surgeons, Dr. Thomas!