Finding the Right Balance

Following the hubbug around "The Greatest Loser" reality show study some months back, many of us latched onto the fact that contestants exercised between four and eight hours a day. Of course, that much exercise is not only impractical for those of us with jobs, families, and other responsibilities, it's actually dangerous without serious medical supervision. Worse, as the contestants on the show have learned since, it's unsustainable on a number of levels because of lower metabolic rates following that kind of a weight loss.

At facilities like Dr. Feiz & Associates, we're learning every day about how effective weight loss procedures have been in helping severely obese patients to finally defeat obesity. While we've long since proven that these procedures work, we're still learning exactly why it is that a bariatric surgery seems so much more effective than traditional approaches. Of course, the issue is not that simply eating a great deal less and exercising more doesn't work, it's that the "eating a great deal less" part of the equation seems to be nearly undoable over the long term because of hormones that go into overdrive and push us to resume our old dietary ways.

What we've found, though, is that procedures such as the gastric sleeve fit in with a truly balanced and healthy lifestyle, particularly as they help patients deal with the incessant hunger pangs that sabotage the vast majority of traditional weight loss attempts. The good news is that, with a weight loss procedure, while a healthy amount of exercise is very strongly encouraged, you won't need to exercise an abnormal amount just to lose weight, because you'll be able to consume few enough calories to first lose and then maintain your weight while still living a happy and well-balanced life.