Guest guest Posted September 20, 2000 Report Share Posted September 20, 2000 Hey gang! I work for WebMD (they bought OnHealth.com) and this is from a bariatric specialist. I thought it was a concise and effective description of WHY we need surgery, rather than just " diet and exercise " : http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1700.50725 " We have to differentiate between obesity and morbid obesity. There is a big difference between obesity and morbid obesity which is a much more serious disease. Again, we define that as body mass index as greater than 40 or being 100 pounds over ideal body weight. That is more of a genetic, physiologic problem or disease. Obesity in and of itself is an epidemic because most people in the U.S. are 20 or 30 pounds over ideal body weight. Once you hit 100 pounds over ideal body weight, that makes all your co-morbidities and risks for early mortality increase. So, I wanted to make the distinction between being obese and morbidly obese. Again, surgery is limited now to only patients with morbid obesity. For patients that are obese, physical activity or exercise is definitely the only proven benefit to help lose weight. Dieting, in and of itself, is not very useful. Combining dieting with physical activity or exercise is very useful. But the physical exercise component has to be added. That is for patients who are obese. For patients who are morbidly obese, dieting plus exercise has been shown to be very ineffective in helping patients lose weight or, especially if they do lose weight, in keeping the weight loss maintenance. So, at this time surgery is considered the only real effective therapy for patients with morbid obesity. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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