Maybe It's Not So Bad

I went to a seminar my surgeon holds for newbies who are considering bariatric surgery. It was quite enlightening; not to mention validating and rather comforting. It seems he has a "tripod" structure for treating morbid obesity, of which surgery is just one foot of it. He covered all three areas of his treatment, surgery, nutrition and psychological counseling, at the seminar. He also covered a good deal of facts. For the purposes of this blog entry, I will just describe the tripod.

The first "foot" of the tripod is, of course, the surgery. More in depth descriptions of both Lap Band and gastric bypass can be found in the links provided at this blog, so I won't go into too much detail. I will tell you, however, that I think I'm going for the gastric bypass because it's the one we have the most long term data on.

The Lap Band has only been approved for general use within the last 5 years. Scientists can see some positive trends with the Lap Band, but those trends are still only theories at this point. Whereas gastric bypass has been around since the 1960's and has stood the test of time nicely. There are disadvantages to both forms of surgery, but when ISN'T there an exception to the rules when surgery is involved?

The second part of my doctor's tripod is nutrition. My nutrition will be monitored and evaluated regularly though most of my weight loss, and less frequently, throughout the rest of my life. Apparently, there are some foods that don't sit well with bariatric surgery. I'm told it's important to identify those foods (highly processed sugars, soda pop and even some cheeses and breads among others) so that we can know when to avoid them and when it's safe. Besides, this is a new lifestyle I will be adopting. Good nutrition is something I will be dealing with forever, even after I've achieved goal weight (approximately 130 pounds or so).

And last, but not least, is the psychological counseling. Again, this is a lifestyle change. Losing weight is just a part of it, so it's important to have all the tools, including the psychological tools, required to keep the weight off once it's lost. If you've been battling weight problems for as long as I have, there are going to be some pretty tough "tapes" you're going to need to record over. In my humble opinion, you cannot be 100 pounds or more over weight without developing some issues that should be cleared up.

I think my doctor is very clever to include all of that in his treatment plans. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking a lifestyle change is easy. It takes constant effort and learning to get it going. Support is super important when you get to surgical options for weight loss, and it's nice to know my doctor takes that into consideration.