Miraculous Trick for Weight Loss

Got your attention, didn't I?  Do people really believe this crap?  I see advertisements for it everywhere so clearly someone is eating this stuff up.  I truly believe it was my frustration with patients and their intense desire for a quick fix that caused me to become burned out when I was still working full-time at the hospital.  They would come into my office for some diet education, but they weren't there to be educated, they wanted me to tell them the big secret.  That miracle food to eat... the secret exercise trick that could be done in 3 minutes without sweating or getting off the couch.  Couldn't I give them a pill?  They had, after all, tried "everything"!!  I mean why wasn't the weight coming off?  They were making at least 20 laps to the fridge every single night after eating dinner.  Doesn't that distance count for exercise?  Ooooh, I was right - some of my the bitterness still exists today.

So I would ask them what they ate on a typical day, and they would either lie to me, or be completely honest.  There was no in between.  Those that lied to me, were obviously smart enough to recognize what they were eating that I was going to tell them to modify, "I only eat a salad with light dressing for the whole day."??  Those that were completely honest had not yet come to understand how poor their choices were, and thus saw no issue with 3 ice cream sandwiches after their 16 ounce steak and loaded mashed potatoes.  So we would start talking about my recommendations, the first of which was always to avoid snacking between meals.  I would get looks of desperation.  What?  What did you say?  No snacking?  But the magazine I read at the grocery store said to eat 5-6 small meals and the lady on the cover has lost weight!  I believe I had one outpatient that actually followed this advice and reported back to me about it, because she had lost weight.  The rest were not strong enough to craft their meals to be satisfying nor could they avoid the temptation mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  Why no snacking?  Well, if we give our bodies and opportunity to use stored fat for energy... it will!  If we eat every time we have a little dip in our blood sugar, then it doesn't need to use the stored fat because you're shoveling more energy into your mouth.  Plus, we can only fit a certain amount of food in our bellies before we feel uncomfortable.  So if you filled up your stomach at your meal, the odds are you would be eating less total calories than if you ate some at your meal and then added in snacks. 

When did we become such weak individuals?  There are so many things that play into whether we gain, lose or maintain our weight.  Food and exercise are two of the primary things we do have some control over so why are we unable to make the right choices?  Why are we so quick to choose surgical procedures?  Liposuction?  Honestly, those that look at this as an option are typically too large to utilize this for the type of results they want.  You can only remove so much volume before you have major life-threatening issues.  Gastric bypass entered the scene a while back, and actually is a great option for those who were morbidly obese or with co-morbidities like Diabetes.  This has become one option that has improve life-expectancy and health for those patients - but not without huge lifestyle changes and occasional complications.  Gastric banding entered the scene afterwards. 

Now what is the difference?  Gastric bypass is cutting and stapling the stomach.  The intestine is then re-routed to a new outlet from the stomach.  The procedure creates a smaller stomach pouch, and also removes a portion of the small intestine from the digestion line.  It works because you can't eat as much at one time, and you have to think harder about eating methods and your food choices.  Eat too much?  You'll throw up.  Eat too much sugar?  It will dump from the stomach into the intestine and you'll start sweating and feel like you're going to pass out.  Manage your diet well?  You'll lose weight because you're eating less and you're missing that part of the intestine, thus causing some malabsorption.  Gastric banding?  Honestly, my least favorite.  Still a surgical procedure, where they essentially put a belt around your stomach.  Shrinks the available size of your stomach, but is completely reversible as no cuts are made.  No removal of part of the intestine, so no malabsorption.  With gastric banding, they have made it so you can't eat as much at one sitting, so weight loss occurs because you are eating less.  What?  What did I just say?  "Weight loss occurs because you are eating less."  Holy crap!  It's a miracle!  You are forced now, to eat less, and weight loss happens.  Imagine if we could toughen up and do it on our own?  Would we get the same results, without an expensive procedure?  YES!!!  What's the difference?  If you make the changes on your own, you'll stick to it.  If you have the procedure done yet don't make changes in your habits, you will lose weight initially, but the stapled stomach can stretch back out after a few years and the lap band can be removed, and then what are you going to do?

The rewards are sweeter when we toughen up and make those hard choices.  Is it a long road ahead of you.  Most definitely.  But so worth it.