weight loss

Weight Loss Surgeries Help Families Get Healthier, Too

January 20th, 2012 By Emory Bariatric Center

Weight Loss Surgery Online ChatA recent study found that family members living with patients who underwent weight loss surgery dropped significant amounts of weight and made more positive lifestyle changes.  In this study, 35 morbidly obese patients underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Overweight spouses and family members living with the patient attended three lifestyle counseling sessions before surgery and five sessions after surgery. At these sessions, patients and their family members learned about healthy eating habits (portion control and a healthy diet) and how to increase physical activity.

At one year after surgery, patients lost an average of 100 pounds and decreased their body mass index (BMI) from 48.7 to 33.3. In addition, their overweight spouses and family members lost an average of 10 pounds and decreased their BMIs from 38 to 36.3.Family members also watched less television, exercised more, and reported fewer instances of uncontrollable eating.

The result of this study reinforces the importance of social support as a motivator to maintain healthy changes. If we mimic the positive lifestyle changes of those around us, we might find ourselves making healthier decisions more often. You may not realize, but people may use you as an inspiration to change their lifestyles! It is important to remember that over time, small steps turn into large strides.

If you’re interested in learning more about weight loss surgery and the options that exist for you or someone you know, now is the perfect time to sign up for a free online chat with Dr. Edward Lin of the Emory Bariatric Center. You don’t be ready for surgery or live in Atlanta to attend, just sign up using this form, and you can ask Dr. Lin all of your questions on weight loss surgery during the chat on January 26th.

Related Resources:

 

 

Share|

Read More | (0)

Helping You Overcome the Exercise Shoulda, Coulda, Wouldas

November 9th, 2011 By Jennifer Popadiuk, Dietetic Intern

Exercise excusesReasons we are not Exercising and Strategies to Overcome all of the Excuses

Weight loss is not an easy task to accomplish.  Often times it involves a lifestyle change in which we are forced to change habits we have developed over a lifetime. Many of us have trouble incorporating physical activity into our daily routines and come up with a number of excuses as to why we are not going to do it.  It is time to combat these excuses with pre-contemplated strategies so these excuses cannot hold us back.

With that said, these are the top 5 excuses we hear most often for not exercising and tips to help you overcome excuses:

1) I’m Too Tired

  • Wake up 30 minutes early and work out.  It will increase your energy for the rest the day!
  • Choose to do an activity you enjoy instead of “working out.” Garden in the spring or ice-skate in the winter to burn away the calories.
  • Start small; exercise will increase your energy.  Try going on a 5-minute walk and see how you can progress each day!

2) I Don’t Have Time

  • Utilize your lunch break.  Walk outside, or try going up and down the stairs for a challenge!
  • While watching your favorite TV show, do crunches or push-ups during the commercials!
  • Schedule time to exercise in your calendar, phone, etc the same as you would for a meeting or your child’s play date.

3) I’m Too Sore from My Last Work Out

  • Exercise a different part of your body.  If your legs hurt from walking, focus on your upper body.
  • Stretch!  This can help to improve flexibility and reduce the tension in your muscles.

4) Exercise is Boring

  • Experiment! Try swimming or Zumba — find something you enjoy!
  • Bring a book, magazine, or iPod to entertain you while you exercise.
  • Bring a friend!  Ask someone to join you to chat and the time will fly by.

5) I Hate to Sweat

  • Exercise in the pool! Join a water aerobics class or just kick your feet while holding onto the side of the pool.
  • Walk indoors! Ladies try a walk around the mall, and men try a sporting good store to workout and cool off.
  • Try resistance exercises.  Not all exercise makes you sweat.  Try this website for some great strength training suggestions!

So now it is time to stop with all of the excuses, and get moving.  Incorporate one or all of these strategies into your workout routine to keep you focused and motivated on your long-term goals.  It is not always easy, but when you feel the excuses escape your lips, recall these strategies to keep active!

Looking for even more ways to incorporate effective weight management techniques into your daily life? Tomorrow, Meagan Mohammadione, Registered Dietitian from the Emory Bariatric Center, is hosting a free web chat to discuss healthy recipe modification tips to boost the nutrition of your Thanksgiving menu, while lessening the guilt! There’s still time to sign up and join her!

Share|

Read More | (0)

Time to Lose the Weight, “Your Weigh”

September 9th, 2011 By Emory Bariatric Center

Non-Surgical Weight Loss Your WeighLosing weight is something that seems to be high on the list of to-dos of most American adults. Whether you set a New Years resolution each year, or find yourself trying one diet after another, the ultimate goal is to lose weight and keep it off. Many of us don’t have enough weight to lose to justify weight loss surgery, but are looking for a long term solution. While diets can work for some people, most popular diets assume that everyone is overweight for the same reasons and can lose weight following the same plan. From years of experience, we know that this is not true. That’s why we’ve launched the Your Weigh program, which gives you the opportunity to work with a team of medical professionals to construct a tailored weight loss program that works for you.

Here are some real-world examples of how our different meal and weight loss plans have met the unique weight loss needs of our patients:

Elizabeth W. is a 54 year old woman who was recently diagnosed with diabetes by her doctor. She saw the diagnosis as a “wake up call” for her to start taking care of herself and her weight-related issues. Elizabeth knew that she needed to lose weight quickly, but also wanted to learn about how to eat healthy to help keep her blood sugar in control. When Elizabeth enrolled in Your Weigh, she met with a Registered Dietitian who suggested that she follow the partial meal replacement meal plan. In this plan, Elizabeth will use meal replacements in addition to healthy food choices that she prepares at home. This choice was best for her because it will ensure significant weight loss while practicing balanced meal planning and eating correct portion sizes of “regular” food.

Tony S. is a 33 year old man who started losing weight on his own by trying to eat better and exercising. Tony was losing a little weight, but not as much as he had hoped. Tony really liked working out, but needed help with food choices. He knew that his eating habits were keeping him from reaching his goals. When Tony signed up for the Your Weigh program he chose the full food meal plan, which consists of three balanced meals and two snacks throughout the day. Tony did very well on this plan and actually found that he had more energy for his workouts because he was eating more frequently. Tony has since reached his goal weight and continues to eat frequent, balanced meals and exercise to maintain his weight loss.

Christine H. is a 41 year old woman who has been on many diets in her lifetime. She feels like she has “tried them all”. She chose to follow the full meal replacement program because she wants to have a “temporary break from food.” After 12 weeks of eating only meal replacements, she is now aware of just how much food her body needs and uses that knowledge when she begins to eat food again. Christine continues to come to the clinic for on-going support, which she knows is the key to maintaining her weight loss.

For more information on our Your Weigh medical weight loss program, you can visit our Emory Bariatric Center site. If you have questions about our Your Weigh weight loss program, you can ask them using the comments section below.

Share|

Read More | (0)

Practical Goals for Weight Loss

July 14th, 2011 By Meagan Mohammadione, RD, LD

5 Tips for Practical Weight Loss

Weight-loss scams, crazed fashion diets, and countless pills have promised fast and simple ways to lose weight. In reality, the true foundation to successfully losing weight is developing a realistic and healthy program that fits your body and lifestyle. Here are five simple tips that can help you create practical weight loss goals for yourself.

1.   Commit to Your New Lifestyle

In order for you to successfully lose weight, you must be willing to devote your time as well as your effort. Changing your daily habits and sticking to a set plan takes a significant amount of energy, so make sure you are willing to commit yourself. Once you feel prepared and motivated, choose a date to start your program, and then begin!

2.   Establish Realistic Goals

One of the most important parts of dieting is to create attainable goals. First, determine a realistic target weight that you want to reach. According to Jennifer A. Linde, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Most clinicians would say goals of losing five to 10 percent [of your start weight] are achievable”. Second, be sensible about the frame of time you have given yourself. Linde states that, “A realistic goal is losing 1 to 2 pounds a week to stay healthy”. By planning to lose weight slowly and healthily, you will develop new lifestyle habits and be more likely to maintain them.

3.   Make Healthier Food Choices

Now that you have set realistic goals for yourself, you can begin your weight loss program. Start by evaluating your style of eating and determine what you can change. As you begin to alter your eating habits, keep in mind that you should lower your daily caloric intake, but still eat foods that you find satisfying. One tip is to increase your intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and make sure to eat a hearty breakfast every morning.

4.   Get Active!

Along with eating right, exercising is another key component to weight loss. In order to effectively shed pounds, you must burn more calories than you consume. While it is possible to lose weight without physical activity, exercising can burn some calories that simply can’t be dissolved by dieting. The amount of calories burned through exercise depends on the intensity, frequency and duration of the physical activity. Try thinking of new ways to be active rather than just hitting the gym. Creativity counts!

5.   Stay Motivated

Losing weight can be a long process, but the most important thing is to stick with your new lifestyle. Find different ways to motivate yourself, whether it is through a supportive group of friends or an exciting reward at weight loss checkpoints. Staying positive is essential, and having compassion for yourself is key. Tell yourself you can, and will, obtain your weight loss goals and create a new lifestyle for yourself through hard work and perseverance.

 

Share|

Read More | (0)

Life Since My Weight Loss Surgery – Part Three

June 15th, 2011 By Emory Bariatric Center

By Dustin Hartman

Through diet alone I lost half of my excess weight…and then I stopped. My insurance required I see a psychiatrist before the surgery (which now I am very thankful for) and the one thing Dr. Santavicca told me that I will never forget is that I wouldn’t be able to achieve my goals through diet alone. I would need to exercise.

Dustin Hartman & His Wife, Elizabeth (she also has had Gastric Bypass Surgery by Dr. Lin)

I remember thinking at the time “Yeah right, I don’t exercise, if I did I wouldn’t need the surgery,” so I didn’t exercise. Pre-surgery, I would join gyms but I would usually stop going after a month because it was hard work. When I hit a plateau, I remembered what Dr. Santavicca said and reluctantly started exercising. I was surprised by how much easier it was to exercise now that I had lost so much weight. Although exercising was still hard, I wasn’t as miserable as I was before surgery. In the beginning, I started slowly – just walking down the driveway and back a few times a week. I walked further and further each day and turned the walking into jogging. When I discovered cycling, I fell in love. Now I cycle at least six hours a week and recently completed a 100-mile ride.

Through Emory Bariatric’s monthly support group meeting as well through my personal interactions with other post-op patients, I have realized that the success of the surgery is 100% based on the commitment of the patient. The surgery itself is just a good kick-start to get you going in the right direction. Everyone who has weight loss surgery will lose weight during the first months because of the smaller stomach. After that, you get to the point where the weight loss becomes less dependent on the surgery and much more dependent on your behaviors.

I know that without the surgery, I would have never been able to lose the weight that I have, but keeping the weight off is going to be a daily choice for the rest of my life. I am able to keep on track through the support of my wife (who just had the surgery herself a few months ago) and with the knowledge that the Emory Bariatric’s program has provided and continues to do so in the monthly support group meetings. Having the surgery has meant a new level of discipline in my life regarding nutrition and exercise, but it has improved my life in so many ways that I wished I would have had the surgery years ago.

 

Share|

Read More | (0)

My Weight Loss Surgery Experience – Part Two

June 2nd, 2011 By Emory Bariatric Center

Dustin Hartman (post surgery)

By Dustin Hartman

I started the weight loss surgery process by attending the Emory Bariatric Seminar to learn more about my options. At the seminar, the leader told us to look around at the other people attending the seminar. He said that the majority of my peers would not follow through with weight loss surgery. At the time I thought that was ridiculous, but he was right – the majority of the people who attended the seminar didn’t complete the process. Between my insurance requirements, Emory’s requirements and my own personal life, the process of getting insurance approval and becoming mentally and physically prepared for surgery took a year.

The surgery itself was incredibly easy; I was in and out of the hospital in three days and back to work in three weeks.

Life after surgery is completely different, yet still the same as my life before surgery. I had thought that once I had the surgery, food wouldn’t be such a big part of my life anymore. I was wrong! Now it’s a bigger part of my life. I plan every meal ahead of time.

Before I go out to dinner, I look at the nutritional information and decide what I am going to eat.  I have to chew my food for what at first seemed like an eternity and I carry a measuring cup with me so that I can always measure out my one cup so that I know I won’t overeat. I set my iPhone timer for 30 minutes before and after meals so that I remember not to drink and I religiously log every calorie I eat. I can no longer go to a drive-through and order something or just get whatever I want at the grocery store. Now I have to know exactly what I’m eating and how it will affect me. Because I pay such close attention to nutritional information, I know how bad my eating habits were before I had surgery. I make better decisions based not solely on taste but also nutrition.  One of the dietitians at Emory suggests asking yourself “Will this help me reach my goals?” before eating something. That has really helped me determine which foods I choose to fuel my body.

Previous post: Life Before My Weight Loss Surgery

Next post: Life Since My Weight Loss Surgery


Share|

Read More | (0)

Life Before My Weight Loss Surgery – Part 1

May 26th, 2011 By Emory Bariatric Center

Dustin Hartman (before surgery)

By Dustin Hartman

My name is Dustin Hartman and I’m 28 years old. Dr. Edward Lin performed my gastric bypass surgery on December 1, 2009. Since my surgery, I have become (literally) half the man I used to be – I’m down 150 pounds from my top weight of 300.  Before gastric bypass surgery, I had several co-morbidities. Food was a comfort mechanism and brought real joy to my life, but at the expense of being physically unable to live the life I wanted. Now after the surgery and weight loss, I have no weight-related medical conditions and am so full of energy and life. My physical and emotional well-being has increased dramatically as I find happiness in activities other than eating.

My family history is fairly common; my entire family on both sides for several generations is morbidly obese. Growing up, I was proud that I was always the biggest kid in my class. I have several physical disabilities due to birth defects and as a result, I walk with a severe limp. Being the biggest kid during school was actually an advantage for me because the kids were afraid to pick on my disabilities since I was bigger than all of them. I weighed 225 pounds in the 9th grade. For me, my weight was never an issue – it was how I identified myself, and in some ways I was proud of being “the big kid.”

The way I felt about my weight slowly changed as I grew older. I became more aware of my physical limitations due to obesity: roller coasters were tight, people asked me why I was out of breath all the time, and I didn’t have any energy. When I was in my early twenties, I began having medical complications. I developed sleep apnea, which meant I had to wear a dreaded CPAP mask every night. Because weight loss surgery is such a serious decision, I tried more conventional weight loss methods, first. I did Weight Watchers, Atkins, low calorie diets, weight loss medication and even starvation diets. All of these diets worked while I was on them, but inevitably I would quit the diet and gain the weight back…usually more than what I started with.  After several years of yo-yo dieting, I decided I needed surgical intervention in order to manage my weight.

 

Next post: My weight loss surgery experience.

 

Share|

Read More | (0)

Emory University Hospital Midtown Receives Level 1 Reaccreditation for Bariatric Surgery

May 11th, 2011 By Pam Willoughby

Congratulations to Emory University Hospital Midtown for being granted “Full Approval” Level 1 Reaccreditation by The American College of Surgeons Bariatric Surgery Center Network (ACS BSCN)

Accreditation from The ACS BSCN is given to facilities in the United States that have undergone an independent, voluntary, and rigorous peer evaluation in accordance with nationally recognized bariatric surgical standards. Bariatric surgery accreditation symbolizes institutional commitment and accountability for safe, high-quality surgical care, proven by performance and the measurement of outcomes.

ACS BSCN would like to “again, commend the staff at (Emory University Hospital Midtown) for providing high-quality care to your patients undergoing bariatric surgery.”

 

Share|

Read More | (0)

Eat Right with Color!

March 15th, 2011 By Pam Willoughby

become a patientBy:  Laura Zenni and Larissa Myers, Emory Healthcare Dietetic Interns

When most people start a diet, elimination of certain foods is common. This can be a positive change (like eating less fried foods).  In addition to limiting certain food items, why not add healthy new foods as well? Eating a variety of colors will naturally incorporate many vitamins and minerals into your diet. Foods that have the most color and catch our eye are fruits and vegetables.

Aim for 2-4 fruit servings and 3-5 vegetable servings per day. This may seem like a large amount, but a serving of fruit or cooked vegetables is ½ cup and a serving of raw vegetables is 1 cup. Or, skip the measuring and try this simple trick: fill half your plate with fruits and/or vegetables at each meal.

Fruits and vegetables contain many vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, calcium and many more!  They can boost immune function, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Be sure to vary the color! Different colored fruits and vegetables have different health benefits. For instance, green produce promotes eye health while purple and blue fruits and vegetables help heal wounds and cuts and fight infections. Also, did you know that fruits and vegetables are also an excellent source of fiber? Fiber keeps our digestive system healthy and also fills us up so we are more satisfied at meals.

In summary, eating right involves not only eliminating, but incorporating new and healthy foods into your eating plan. Add color, through fruits and vegetables, to your meals and snacks for a healthier you!

Share|

Read More | (0)

Beware hCG Diets: Unproven and Dangerous

February 15th, 2011 By Meagan Mohammadione, RD, LD

If you have been keeping up with the fad diet scene in the past year, you no doubt have heard of the hCG Diet.  This diet uses a hormone called hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) which is created in the placenta during pregnancy.  Physicians have been using hCG on women with fertility issues for years with great success.  More recently, naturopathic doctors have been touting hCG as a “miracle” weight loss product that will burn fat and decrease appetite, often to the tune of $1,000 for six weeks of treatment.  The hormone is used along with a diet of only 500 calories per day.

A recent report by the FDA however, identified hCG weight loss pills, solutions and injections to be fraudulent with no sound scientific evidence that the hormone itself is causing the weight loss.  It is much more likely that the very low calorie intake is the reason for weight loss.  Eating only 500 calories a day does not provide enough nutrients to stay healthy, even if followed for a short amount of time.  People who follow the hCG diet run a risk of electrolyte imbalances and a decrease in muscle mass (not the kind of weight you want to lose!).  The American Society of Bariatric Physicians (i.e. the people you can trust for reliable weight loss information) has issued a statement saying that the hCG diet should not be used due to lack of evidence that it works and the associated risks.

So, yet another fad diet bites the dust, further proving that the best way to achieve healthy, sustainable weight loss is by eating well, moving more and making small positive changes to your life.  This kind of weight loss takes time, but what you gain is a lifetime of good health.

Share|

Read More | (0)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »