Weight Loss

Nobody wants to be overweight, but for a lot of people loosing excess weight is extremely difficult.

Maintaining a healthy, balanced diet and exercising regularly is the healthiest, cheapest option for weight loss. However, for many people obesity cannot be overcome with lifestyle alone.

Weight loss surgery is known as bariatric surgery. The most popular method of weight loss surgery is gastric bypass as doctors believe it offers a safe, efficient method to put people on course to maintaining a healthy weight long-term. Doctors do not recommend surgery as a one-stop-treatment for obesity. Weight loss surgery should be considered a last resort after diets and exercise regimes have failed.

Why is weight loss important?

People who suffer from obesity have a lower quality of life than those of a healthy weight. Not only are there many health risks associated with obesity, but obesity can affect psychological and emotional well being.

When is weight loss necessary?

Feeling depressed about size is a big incentive for people to loose weight, but loosing weight becomes a priority if health begins to suffer. Being overweight can cause breathing problems, prevent sleeping, affect mental performance and can lead to more serious illnesses which require surgery. The risk of complications in routine surgeries for overweight patients is much higher then people with a healthy body weight.

Do I need to loose weight?

Scales alone cannot tell you the impact your weight is having on your health. Doctors have two guidelines to follow to determine if a persons’ weight is damaging their health: Body Mass Index and Waist Measurement.

Measuring your waist will tell you how much abdominal fat you are carrying. Increased amounts of fat around your stomach can increase your risk of the more serious illnesses associated with being overweight. For a male, the waist should measure less than 40 inches; for a woman, 35 inches. Generally speaking, the smaller your waist the better.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is the method most relied upon to check how overweight a person is. BMI calculates your weight with your height to measure the percentage of your body that is fat.