Understanding the Exceptions

By doing a simple Google search for “weight loss success,” those trying to lose weight will likely see numerous stories of obese people who were able to overcame obesity by sticking to a long term diet and exercise plan. While seeing these stories can be inspiring, they can also lower someone’s self-esteem by making them feel inferior to the success of another. While we should always admire and respect people able to achieve those results, Dr. Michael Feiz explains that it is important to remember that these stories are often the exception to the rule. Put simply, what we don’t see are the millions of stories about people trying to lose weight who struggle more than they succeed.

Yet, just because losing weight without help is incredibly difficult, that certainly doesn’t mean there isn’t hope. With bariatric surgery, thousands of patients around the country have been able to get rid of their excess weight and keep it off in the long term. It is important that patients remember that weight loss surgery isn’t a silver bullet cure, nor is it giving up. Weight loss surgery is simply the best, medically proven method for conquering obesity and achieving a healthy lifestyle.

Out of Sight, Not Completely Out of Mind

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we do a lot of thinking about the root causes of obesity. After all, it helps to understand what lies behind an issue like America's massive weight problem in order to do our small part in trying to defeat it. Also, if bariatric surgery is to work as well as it should, the medical professionals behind it need to understand exactly how it attacks the problem of severe obesity.

One idea that we've happened upon is that, for people battling obesity, our senses seem almost hardwired to encourage us to eat. Just today, we had a news items about a recent study which shows that the items people place on their kitchen counters actually play a role in their weight. Turns out, it appears to be helpful to keep healthy, low calorie foods like fruits and vegetables in plain site, while it's better to keep the sugary sodas and cereals and the like in a cupboard (assuming you want them in the house at all).

This is just another sign of how hardwired we all are to eat in excess, at least to some degree. After all, historically speaking, it wasn't all that terribly long ago when most of humanity rarely knew exactly where it's next meal was coming from. If we see food, smell food, or maybe even just hear about food, we're likely to want to eat it and, sadly, that's even more the case for those of us who are struggling with severe obesity.

The good news for people with serious weight issues, of course, is that the gastric sleeve and other procedures really can reduce those incessant food cravings and can make permanent weight loss much more possible. It might never be possible to keep fattening foods forever out of sight, but we can make them a lot easier to resist when we do see them.

The Obstacle of Time

When explaining their motivations for selecting weight loss surgery, most patients will tell Dr. Michael Feiz that it is not the simple act of losing weight that they find incredibly difficult, but rather the feat of keeping the weight off over time. Dr. Feiz explains that many of his patients are able to successfully diet in relatively short bursts, losing 10, 20, or even 30 pounds when they can commit to a healthy regimen for several months.

Yet, what happens after those several months are over is a completely different story. Where all of us are with our weight in the present is rarely a fluke, but rather an indication of our innate relationships with diet and exercise. And while it is possible for a strong willpower to overcome these innate behaviors and adopt a healthy lifestyle in the short term, it is often impossible to permanently change who we are on our own. 

Dr. Feiz explains that this is where weight loss surgery comes in. By permanently changing the capacity of a patient’s stomach with the gastric sleeve, it becomes much more feasible that patients will continue to eat less for years to come.  This is how so many of Dr. Feiz’s patients have found tremendous success losing the weight, and why they continue to keep the weight off years after their surgery.

Fear of an Open Door

Halloween is still a few weeks off, but we've been thinking about fear and the question of what it is that humans fear most of all. Well, while there have been polls indicating that some of us fear death slightly less than public speaking, we're willing to bet that mankind's greatest fear is of the unknown. It's what's behind our innate fear of the dark and the reason that creepy movies and TV shows slow down the pace and delay giving us information other productions would wack us over the heads with.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we're acutely aware of this because we see how many patients may take years to work up the nerve to finally take a serious look at a weight loss procedure. Of course, a certain amount of caution with a bariatric surgery, or any other surgery, is entirely warranted. However, we're not just talking about trepidation around getting a surgery, understandable as that is; we're also talking about the fear of what life will be like afterwards.

Losing weight is obviously a very good thing. However, if you've been obese for most of your life and have been looking at food as one of your greatest sources of recreation, the idea of changing your relationship with food once and for may be more than a little daunting. Of course, in return for getting to enjoy food only in much smaller quantities, a gastric sleeve or other procedure will also likely show us the way to a healthier and happier life with all kinds of personal benefits.

Weight loss doesn't solve all of problem, but it can open an awful lot of doors. Sometimes, it seems, walking through a door can take some courage. 

Choosing a Path

In this day and age, there is not likely anyone who is not aware that their obesity has a strong possibility of leading to long-term health problems. Dr. Feiz notes that the reason why people do not lose weight is not out of lack of knowledge, but because it is an extremely hard task to accomplish. Even when a person makes the commitment to lose weight, they are still faced with the decision of how they will go about doing this. While there are a seemingly infinite amount of fad diets out there, many of these have already been tried by obese patients, and are found to be insufficient in helping them lose weight. For those patients that cannot sustain a lower weight through traditional dieting, weight loss surgery is an outstanding option for a path to a healthy lifestyle.

Even when a patient has decided to choose weight loss surgery, they still have to have a conversation with their surgeon to determine what procedure is best for them. Recently, more and more patients of Dr. Feiz & Associates have been opting for the sleeve gastrectomy procedure because of its ability to deliver fantastic weight loss results with minimal complications. With most obese patients, the benefits of weight loss surgery far outweigh the risks, but it is still important to go to an experienced, board-certified surgeon like Dr. Michael Feiz.

The Insurance Question

Luckily, with more and more information coming to light about the advantages of weight loss surgery, both in terms of improving health and in saving money on healthcare costs down the line, insurance companies are becoming increasingly more amenable to providing bariatric surgery coverage.

Still, Dr. Feiz & Associates remind patients that there are still certain criteria that patients must meet before they are considered eligible by these insurance companies. While a patient’s BMI is the most widely used metric for determining weight loss surgery eligibility, these companies are learning more and more that providing coverage with patients that are suffering from co-morbidities is also incredibly important. In fact, new research has showed that, strictly from a financial standpoint, weight loss surgery is perhaps the best investment when performed on patients who are currently suffering from these obesity related diseases.

While achieving a healthy lifestyle should always be the primary goal for those considering weight loss surgery, it is understandable that insurance companies think about the financial aspect of providing coverage when making their decision. Regardless of their motivations, what remains true is that expanding coverage to more patients is a positive step forward in the worldwide fight against obesity.

We All Have Our Reasons

Contrary to the belief of some in the outside world, weight loss surgery patients never arrive at the the decision to obtain a bariatric surgery on the spur of the moment. Almost all weight loss patients have made a real attempt to lose weight simply by adopting a more healthy lifestyle but, as most of us know first hand, there's a lot more to defeating obesity than a little exercise, eating more vegetables and going easy on sugary sodas, doughnuts and french fries. At the same time, even though weight loss surgery has become extremely safe, it's still a surgery that, if everything goes well, will permanently alter your digestive system. Nobody undertakes something like that lightly.

Here at Dr. Feiz & Associates, we've noticed that, very often, it's one event -- big or small, that finally gets patients to take the big step of getting a weight loss surgery. Sometimes, it's simply a very real scare from another doctor, perhaps the cardiologist warns us that a heart attack might well be on the way, or an endocrinologist might let us know that, thanks to a combination of high blood pressure and diabetes, kidney failure and regular visits to a dialysis center are likely in our future. For others, having children and wanting to be able to keep up with them as they grow-up...and simply to be around for them as long as possible, might be the motivator.

Of course, there is no wrong reason or right reason to take a major step. It just needs to be right reason for you. Helping patients make these decisions, of course, is what those of us in the medical field are here for. If you're unsure of what to do, feel free to give us a call.