How much did you eat today?

Snacking throughout the day can turn into overeating pretty easily. It can be hard to watch what you eat when you’ve got your head in your business or are just plain focused on something else. Finding time to exercise can be stressful if you have a full schedule at work. Obesity in the workplace, and out of the workplace, is unfortunately becoming a popular trend in the United States.

Along with millions of others, I am also one of the people currently searching for the best way to lose weight for me. I think by now, we all know that one weight loss program isn’t going to work for everyone. If that were true, there wouldn’t be such an obesity problem in the country. The tried and true “Diet & Exercise” route, if properly followed, has had the biggest success rate with the majority of people. However, it’s hard to stay on track. There are also some who cannot exercise due to medical reasons.

So, what do those who are left do for weight loss? The popular Fen/Phen cocktail has long been outlawed. The new miracle for severely overweight individuals seems to be weight loss surgery. Don’t take weight loss surgery lightly though, as it is definitely not for everyone. I would suggest that anyone thinking about surgery as an option should thoroughly do their research and meet with their doctor to find out as much information as they can. I can say that I have met with a surgeon and discussed my options. There are currently three main weight loss surgeries out there as options for severely obese people:

Gastric Bypass surgery is the first option. This is where your stomache is essentially “bypassed” and your food goes directly to your colon. I was told this surgery is really for people who need to lose weight immediately because they might suffer complications from their size that could lead to death. I was not in that category so I quickly ruled out this surgery. I was also told that in the event you need to reverse the surgery, the mortality rate was very high on reversals and was not recommended.

Gastric Sleeve surgery is the second option. Similar to the Gastric Bypass, except instead of “bypassing” your entire stomach, the surgeon staples off a small sleeve for the food to be able to digest a bit before hitting the colon. Again, this surgery was meant as a life-saving method and less for weight loss. So, again, I did not fall into this category.

Lap-Band surgery was the last option I was told about. To me, this actually seems like a pretty good choice. A band is placed around the top of your stomach which creates a smaller stomach bubble that the food you eat gets trapped in and slowly filters down into the rest of your stomach to digest. The band gets filled with water when you want to tighten it, and the water can be removed if you want to losen it. This is also a reversible procedure, which intrigued me.

Keep in mind that these surgeries are very expense. I was quoted between $15,000 and $20,000 at the surgeon’s offices I visited. Not all insurance companies cover these surgeries because some insurance companies still see these as elective surgeries. If this is something you might be interested in, there is an Obesity Help Forum where you can chat with others who have gone through the process.

Another wonderful site I’ve found is The Daily Plate. You can enter everything you eat as you eat it on this site and it calculates the calories you are consuming and how many calories you should be consuming - for you. This is a great individualized way to help you stay on track, and stay honest – as you can be the only one who can see your profile. If your doctor has asked you to keep a food diary, this is an exceptionally great way to do that too.

I’m off to eat sensibly, good luck with your nutritional battle, at work and at home!

Comments

[Cyber Rainbow]

there is no minimum daily requirement for refined sugar.

[Burgers and Beer]

I think I will stick to the Burgers and Beer diet