There are several different weight loss surgery options in today's medical field. Some patients may prefer the new lap band procedure, while others are opting for the Roux en Y gastric bypass operation. If you are someone who is overweight and you need more information about the Roux en Y surgery, then you are in the right place. In order to have this procedure performed, specific criteria must be met.
In 1993, the very first laparoscopic Roux en Y surgery was performed. It was clearly an improvement over the typical Roux en Y gastric bypass operation. Whereas the RNY meant a longer incision and a lengthy hospital stay, the laparoscopic RNY involves smaller incisions and you are home much faster. The recovery time is shorter as well. It is a weight loss surgery that has completely changed how operations are performed by a bariatric surgeon. But there are some things that you must consider before you undergo any weight loss surgery.
Before you can have the laparoscopic Roux en Y procedure you must first meet some basic requirements. The first is that you have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of forty or higher. If you have medical conditions that necessitate weight loss surgery, then you can have a BMI of thirty-five. You must also meet with a physician, therapist and a nutritionist to determine if you have the fortitude to withstand the rigorous lifestyle changes that must be met in order to be successful with this type of weight loss method.
These changes mean that you will no longer be able to eat the way you did previously. For the first few weeks you will be on an all liquid diet, with protein shakes. Later, you can progress to certain low diet soft foods. But there will still be foods that you will be unable to eat. Some post-operative patients find that they cannot handle certain red meats or dairy products on the gastric bypass diet. How well you tolerate the diet will be determined after the procedure and through trial and error.
One hundred and forty thousand operations were performed in 2005 and the number continues to climb. Weight loss surgery options have become the salvation for many people. If you are one of the many overweight people who have tried numerous diets and exercise programs, then the Roux en Y gastric bypass operation may be just what you need in order to lose that excess weight.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Roux en Y Gastric Bypass Procedure
Friday, October 24, 2008
Obesity Help In A Thinning Society
Being overweight in a skinny world can be extremely frustrating and hard. As an overweight person, you are constantly aware of your size and your limitations. Airline seats turn into a major problem as you are jammed in with other passengers who may complain about the lack of room. Somehow, this translates into it being your fault because of your weight. You feel guilty about being overweight but it is a vicious cycle that keeps on going. There is obesity help out there if you know what to do.
If you have exhausted the top 10 diets without success and still require obesity help can come in the form of weight loss surgery options. One such option is the Lap Band procedure, which is made up of a ring, called a gastric Lap Band, which is tightened to restrict part of the stomach and shrink the overall size of the stomach. It is a system that has met with great success and is helping overweight people all around the world.
Once the lap band is in place, it is constricted to make a small pouch above the stomach at the end of the esophagus. This small pouch will limit how much food you will be able to take in. Lap Band complications are rare and the procedure is completely reversible. When you reach your weight loss goal the lap band can be adjusted to fit your specific weight maintenance plan. There is another thing that you will have to consider after the procedure and that is the need for plastic surgery after weight loss. You will lose so much weight at such an accelerated rate that your skin will not be able to shrink back to a normal size. Lap Band patients are willing to undergo plastic surgery just so that they can feel "normal" again. Is it worth the risk and the additional plastic surgery? Many people think so and the number of patients that this procedure is performed on is skyrocketing. It is a procedure that is saving many people's lives.
There is obesity help out there for those who have the initiative to grab it and hold on to it. With the Lap Band procedure you can lose all that excess weight and find a new you in the process. No one said it would be easy but with the right help and the right gastric bypass diet you can get rid of those excess pounds that are holding you back. It may not even be an issue about fitting into a skinny society but more about being healthy and feeling good about you. In the end that is what really counts.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Top Secret Fat Loss Secret Review
Top Secret Fat Loss Secret by Dr. Suzanne Gudankust differs in how it explains and tackles fat loss from other available progams. Simply put, she claims that the fact many people can't lose weight is that their bodies are full of parasites that prevent the body from properly breaking down and burning fat. The real secret is something else that we will mention later. So, on with the Top Secret Fat Loss Secret review.
First, where did the parasites come from? Toxic accumulation over the years from all the junk and low quality food that the average person stuffs inside them on a daily basis. This may hold some weight as industrial food production these days is so obviously not natural and fresh that you hardly ever know exactly what you are eating.
Your liver and colon are completely chocked with toxins that your body can no longer do the task of cleaning out your system. The rate of intake is just too high. The book describes in detail the way to detoxify and clear yourself of the parasites and to give your body nutrition that will allow it to burn fat and make you strong and healthy along the way.
The guide explains which foods and particularly herbs, will naturally flush away these bad organisms. Once you have done this you obviously have to maintain this new regime to some degre. Going back to the old days of low-quality food will not help you you at all. If nothing else the book will be a lesson for people to think on how they are damaging their bodies on a daily basis.
One thing the guide does not go into in a lot of detail is exercise. It is essential, if you want to lose fat effectively, that you do some exercise, particularly high intensity exercise. This raises your metabolism as it's short and furious and so is fantastic for burning fat.
So, the actual secret then. Aside from the parasites, the writer holds that there is some kind of a conspiracy in the global food industry. The big corporations are all too aware of the poor quality of their products that make us sick, but are happy as then they can sell more bad food. Hmmm.
Whatever you think about corporate conspiracies, it's worth checking out for its effective nutritional cleaning system and fat loss methods. After you buy Top Secret Fat Loss Secret you can download it right away as it is a PDF ebook.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The quickest way to shed fat is by following a focused diet
Many of the weight loss schemes that have hit the market over recent times have had a pretty low success rate. That is because they have not centered themselves around the correct ways to lose fat healthily. You do need to get a proper system you thus you ought to check the Strip That Fat review.
It is not just about dropping weight and that is what some people do not seem to get. The crucial factor is lowering your muscle to body fat ratio to a workable level.
A diet that from the start focuses on just losing weight rather than reducing your body fat percentage and eating nutritiously is only going to fail in the end.
The problem here is that by trying to lose weight by any method leads you to drop the percentage of muscle in your body. Lean muscle is a big factor in aiding the body to use up fat.
Muscle burns fat meaning when you have greater muscle you can use up more fat. So while a diet may for a little time allow you to lower your body weight it's reducing muscle at the same time. In the end it becomes tougher and tougher to improve your body fat percentage. The best way to lose fat is to have plenty of muscle on the body.
The other thing with many of these quick weight loss and diet programs is the fact that they reduce body weight so rapidly in the beginning that the body's defensive mechanisms are put into action.
It will then begin to store body fat to stop it from starving. The body needs to get the nutrition it wants and unless you give it that, you won't be able to keep the fat off that you dropped in quick time.
When you drop weight ultra fast you will likely regain it as rapidly and this will make it hard to lose weight again. Poor focus will make it difficult to lose fat quickly. It requires knowledge of course, but dedication has a lot to do with it too.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Strip That Fat Diet System
How does this Strip That Fat Review rank against others? What's in it and is it worth the the cash? Discover why it is the program of choice for the busy person.
Strip That Fat is a diet program that has been created with the everyday person in mind. The point here is that it's not really for people who want to compete in natural bodybuilding competitions or grace the front of Women's or Men's Health. This means anyone can do it.
It gives all the information you'll need in your mission to lose weight on eating properly and doing the right exercise. There is a lot of really good information on the reasons other types of diet aren't a complete solution for everybody and how some can perhaps be harmful. It describes how low-fat, low-carb or any other "regime" diets are nearly always doomed to failure from the outset. This is because they rely on unnatural and unsustainable initial weight loss that is often linked to water loss and therefore dangerous for your body.
So, the guide emphasises normal natural weight loss through changing your eating habits (not necessarily your food) and by doing the correct amount of the right sort of exercise. The right food means eating the right number of calories without feeling empty and for the exercise read high intensity workouts to boost your metabolism. The key to fat burning is a high metabolism as this burns fat all the time and high intensity workouts burn fat way after the end of the actual exercise.
The Strip That Fat diet system also contains a rather nifty piece of software that creates diets. A total of over 40,000 combinations of meals are possible. Also, it tells you precisely what you need to buy. Creating your own healthy diet plan is simple.
Essentially this diet system is for people who are busy who want to lose fat but don't want to think about the details a lot, just do as they are told. Of course you should expect alterations to your everyday habits but they are easy to accommodate when you realise the bigger picture.
The main Strip That Fat ebook is a downloadable PDF. Signing up will also give you access to the members area and unlimited upgrades in the future.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Basics of Soda Water For Weight Loss
Soda water is a alternative to boring drinks when losing weight. Because obese people often dislike plain water, it does not taste good enough when life circulate around eating. Carbonated soda water taste great and when tired of the plain water, one can add Aromhuset great tasting flavors that hold no calories sugars or carbohydrates.
Soda water is water that has been carbonated -- that is, carbon dioxide gas has been added to it; generally it is referred to as sparkling water. Most "soft drinks" and "pop" have It as the principal ingredient. Carbonation produces carbonic acid, which produces soda pop.
By using a seltzer bottle filled with water and then “charged” with carbon dioxide, soda water (also called club soda) can be produced right at home. Club soda can be the same as plain carbonated water; however, small amounts of table salts and/or sodium trace minerals might be present. Such additives could possibly make the taste of home made soda water slightly salty. This process -- naturally occuring in some areas -- produces carbonated mineral water.
Sparkling mineral water may sometimes cause a little dental decay. The potential problem of sparkling water is slightly greater than "still" water, but the problem remains low. A much higher rate of tooth decay is caused by regular soft drinks than by sparkling water. The rate is so low that one wonders if carbonated drinks may be little or no factor in causing dental decay.
Artesian wells can be the source for waters that filter among layers of minerals in the ground; the layers contain forms of carbonates, and the waters absorb the carbon dioxide gases produced by those carbonates. What's it called? Natural sparkling water. On occasions when the water picks up enough different minerals to add a flavor to the water, it becomes sparkling mineral water.
Basically, soda water = water + carbon dioxide. Carbonation produces naturally-occuring substances, such as sparkling mineral water. In 1794, a jeweler made a device to produce an artificial carbonated mineral water.
A taste test of several carbonated drinks was conducted; it was deemed that Perrier, a sparkling natural mineral water, kept its fizz the longest.
For consumers who believe seltzer to be a bit harsh, club soda offers an alternative, with a gentle fizz. As part of the tasting test, club soda seemed to be milder and a little sweeter tasting than standard carbonated water.
Because club soda, sparkling mineral water, seltzer, and carbonated water do not have any calories, this makes them a dieter’s choice over soda pop and tonic water.
Tonic water is a carbonated drink produced by mixing water, sugar, carbon dioxide and quinine. Originally, quinine was added to tonic water to help cure or prevent malaria. Today, to make a well-known alcoholic drink, it is often mixed with gin and lemon or lime.
Now you have a better understanding of soda water.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Ways to lose 10 pounds once and for all
There are people who struggle with keeping the pounds off for good. You get the weight off but then in a few months' time it all comes back and then some. There are many reasons for this. They may be on a yo-yo diet, too lazy to sweat it off or have medical conditions. Whatever is your situation now, the most important thing is your resolve to lose the remaining 10 pounds for good. Too many drastic weight changes puts too much stress on your body.
It's no secret. People who have successfully lost 10 pounds and kept it off have one thing to say: do it slowly and consistently. Set reasonable goals. To do that, check the ideal weight chart according to your height. Consult with your doctor before starting a physical fitness program. Then, do things accordingly. If you are interested in joining a health club, have a good assessment and see if it's workable. Some programs are just not the right fit for your lifestyle.
It's important to tell your trainer and nutritionist/dietician the amount of time you are willing to set aside for the program and work around that. A well-thought-of fitness/diet program is your guide to successful 10-pound weight loss. Take note that if you enjoy what you're doing, you're likely to stick with it for a long time so be specific right from the start.
Now for the expectations, in most cases, you won't see results in a week or two. Don't be discouraged. Just continue with your work out and diet. Losing two pounds a month is realistic and healthy. You can increase your weight loss as your body adjusts to your fitness and diet program.
There are ways to accelerate your weight loss. You can take up kettlebell training or you can workout with 7 Minute Muscle or you can try and lose 10 pounds free with proper diet and exercise.
5 Reasons For Not Delaying Obesity Surgery
For a lot of people gastric bypass surgery is very much a last resort and something to be put off as long a possible while they consider all of their options. In actual fact, in most cases people are assisted in this by their doctor who will normally insist on an extended program of diet and exercise before referring a patient for surgery. But is this the correct approach?
Apart from the fact that almost everybody agrees that diet and exercise programs do not work and are a total waste of time for the vast majority of patients, there is very good evidence to suggest that putting off surgery is putting patients at risk.
In a recent study the medical records of more than 2,000 people who had obesity surgery between 1995 and 2004 in one particular medical center were studies. The team carrying out the study wanted to see if there were any factors which could have been used to predict the risks faced by these patients before they underwent surgery and the team of researchers identified 5 things that they felt increased a patient's risk of surgery.
The factor was gender with women being at lower risk than men. The second factor was a body mass index of more than 50. The third factor was age with patients under 45 years of age being at lower risk. The fourth factor was the presence of high blood pressure (hypertension), frequently related to cardiovascular disease. The last factor was previous evidence of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolus) or a proclivity for this condition.
The researchers went on to award a point for the presence of each factor and split the study group into those at low, medium and high risk according to their scores. The then examined the death rate for each of these three groups and discovered that in the low risk group the death rate was 0.31%, in the medium risk group it was 1.9% and in the high risk group it was 7.56%.
Now there is not much you can do about your gender but, when it comes to the other factors, the effect as far as the risks of obesity surgery are concerned are obvious. Getting older, continuing to put on weight and developing health problems all raise the risks posed by surgery. So, if you are morbidly obese, then perhaps you ought to consider early surgery and balance the risks involved in waiting against the possibility of finding a successful alternative.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Lose Fat Quickly With Realistic Goals
No matter what you do in life you will always achieve greater results when you set some goals. Of course the same can be said of weight loss. This is how to lose belly fat.
Goals mean you have a target to aim for. And by giving your weight-loss program a reason you will be more likely to achieve the weight you want.
But you really need to make sure to set yourself realistic goals. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for disappointment and by doing this you won't maintain your fat loss program.
Longer term goals are fine but goals for the short-term are needed as well. These are when you are only looking to lose smaller amounts of weight within a particular time span.
As you achieve these intermediate targets on the way they will push you more on to your long-term goal. As you witness the small amounts of fat coming off and the improvements that it brings with it you will be able to see your body being at an ideal weight. And with that there will come a real self belief that you can do it.
Your intermediate period and thus your intermediate measure of success shouldn't mean standing on the scales daily. This is not how to lose stomach fat. A much better method is weighing yourself every 2 weeks as your real time weight rises and falls from day to day. This will give you a chance to make changes on a quite easy basis and give your body chance to get adjusted and to really see some differences.
A daily weighing system might show that you haven't lost any weight. It is possible too, that you are actually heavier on any given day than the previous day, due to natural fluctuations.
Do not stand on the scales for fourteen days and religiously stick to a diet program and you will achieve what you want. Do not kick yourself in the teeth by allowing normal weight changes overshadow the more important long-term goal.
You should have a comprehensive and reliable guide to help you so check this Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle review as the book has been written by an expert.
Overweight health problems
Quite apart from the fact that your body will be in be more attractive if you diet to lose fat, there are many other health issues that will benefit from reducing body fat.
Developing diabetes in adulthood is a grim possibility for those people who carry a lot of excess. A large proportion of the population are suffering with diabetes and the related health problems that this disease can bring with it.
A lot of people don't know that diabetes is a leading reason for blindness. Another major problem linked to diabetes is kidney disease.
Add to this the fact that you are four times as likely to get heart disease or suffer a stroke if you get diabetes and it doesn't look good.
In men being overweight can also mean erectile dysfunction.
Being overweight leads to higher cholesterol and higher blood pressure.
Losing just a little fat is a good thing and can very much aid your health. And by doing that you can seriously reduce the chances of health issues further down the line.
Being overweight can also mean you snore as when you are lying down fatty tissue in the throat can obstruct your breathing. So you won't sleep as well and the following day your energy is at a reduced level.
Losing even a small bit of body fat can lower your snoring quite considerably and the effect of getting better quality sleep at night is you will have a lot more energy.
If you are really tired it's tempting to want to get your energy back by eating a lot. In this way you just add to your health problems.
Exercise to lose fat isn't simply about improving your looks. It should just be an added bonus of actually being healthier. You do not have to be healthy to be attractive. There are ways you can do this like surgery or make-up. Although, think on this - Has anyone ever died from being unattractive?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
What Is Causing The Present Dramatic Increase In Child Obesity?
With rates for obesity continuing to climb in the West it is perhaps no surprise that we are seeing an increasing number of overweight and obese children. Of course the effects of childhood obesity are all too obvious, but precisely what is it that produces obesity in children?
As is frequently the case there is no single cause of child obesity and there are a number of different things which cause obesity in our children.
For example, it is often the case that a child with overweight or obese parents will be overweight or obese which suggests that there could well be an inherited or genetic factor to obesity. However, despite the fact that this is an area that is actively being looked at, no clear genetic link has yet been found and it is thought far more likely that it is the eating habits within the family that produce obesity rather than genetics.
In the past few years we have experienced a considerable change in eating habits with fast food restaurants springing up on every street corner, junk food available everywhere and the shelves of our supermarkets bulging with 'convenience' foods that are more often than not extremely high in sugar. The days when we sat down to home cooking are far behind us in the majority of households and have been superceded by microwave meals or take-away food. Indeed, many parents are now opting to take their children out for a pizza instead of preparing meals at home not just because it is easier than cooking a meal but also because it saves a lot of washing up!
We have also seen a dramatic drop in levels of activity for many groups of children, fuelled in no small degree by the arrival of computers, video gaming machines and now the ever present mobile phone. Of course, as activity levels have fallen so children have also lost their natural ability to burn off the calories gained from eating more and more junk food.
Television, the Internet, magazines and other forms of media also play a part as they dominate the lives of our kids and junk food, fast food and confectionary manufacturers are quick to jump onto this bandwagon and make full use of the advertising opportunity provided by the media. A lot of people would argue that advertising has done more to fuel the rise in childhood obesity than just about anything else in recent years.
There are also a variety of social factors at play in our modern world and many children nowadays will simply eat out of boredom. Additionally, they will turn to food whenever they are angry, stressed, anxious or depressed.
Nowadays a great deal of research is being directed towards the causes of childhood obesity and its treatment and most of this research is aimed at finding a solution to the problem using a combination of diet and exercise once confronted with an obese child. However, with child obesity continuing to increase at an alarming rate, and with the obvious dangers of childhood obesity, perhaps it is now time to tackle the roots of childhood obesity and to stop our children from suffering from obesity in the first place.
Discover The Facts You Should Completely Understand Prior To Having Liposuction
Liposuction can also be referred to as lipoplasty ("fat modeling"), liposculpture or suction lipectomy ("suction-assisted fat removal") and is a type of body contouring. In other words fat is removed from different parts of the body in an attempt to achieve a chosen shape. Liposuction has been used since the 1960's however it is only since the 1990's that it has become so popular. Prior to this the methods employed were less successful, and the results were mixed. It was during the 1990's that ultrasound was included in the liposuction technique, making it easier to extract more body fat. This was achieved by first liquefying the fat.
It is not uniquely women who book appointments with liposuction surgeons but also men. Two decades ago this rarely ever occurred, but in today's society men are often having the exact same beauty procedures as women. Men often like to have specific areas of the body contoured, for example, flanks, male breasts and abdomen, women commonly want to enhance such regions of the body as the thighs, hips and abdomen. Whatever part one chooses to have targeted it would be clever to keep in mind that all cosmetic surgery is not without an element of risk. Sadly there are negative aspects to having liposuction, if too much fat is removed, the area can often be lumpy, or appear to have rifts in the skin.
One important point concerning liposuction, that must never be ignored, is that it should not. under any circumstances, be used as a low-effort alternative to exercise and diet. There are a great deal of contraindications to liposuction and being severely overweight is one of them. An aesthetic surgeon will frequently refuse to perform liposuction on any person who is severely or morbidly obese. This is not an act of discrimination, but nothing more than a medical decision based on proven facts. People who are obese are usually rather unfit and not in general good health, both of which nullify one's eligibility for the procedure. There are also risks with anesthesia if you are overweight. The best candidates for liposuction are those patients who are in rather good shape and healthy, and who have not smoked for several months previously.
Liposuction is performed either; using local anesthesia, local anesthesia with sedation, or general anesthesia. At first the surgeon will cut carefully into the skin at the places where the extra fat is to be extracted. Often the fat is extracted using an aspirator (a hollow tube and a suction device) and a cannula During the surgery, several factors of importance are taken into consideration that limit the amount of fat that can removed without risk. The safety issues are not only relate to the amount of fat extracted, but also to the total health of the patient having liposuction, and the choice of anesthesia.
Lose Belly Fat By Eating More Slowly
Believe it or not, the speed at which you chomp your food can really make a change in your body weight. If your aim is to lose excess fat you really should hear this.
When you up the time you spend at meals, you do not have to eat as much in order to feel full. To follow are a number of tricks to get you eating slower and more importantly consuming less.
Make sure to chew the food further before you swallow it. When you have to spend longer chomping your food your tummy feels fuller but does not really need so much food. In doing this you also assist the food's digestion.
What until you have swallowed the load you are chewing before getting another ready. An easy way to do this is to put your fork on your plate and wait until you have eaten your current mouthful. It is is a good tactic to lose excess fat as it shows half the problem is in the mind.
It stops the habit of eating too much, from eating too quickly. French people illustrate this point well as they do not eat as much and they take longer to do that as well. They are doing two things that help them to be thin.
Also, Europeans have their food with the entire family all the time. The family together speak more and this helps in slowing down the rate. Also it's a time to enhance inter-family relations..
You will discover that once you start to eat a bit more slowly you will actually get to apprecitate the food much more. You have longer to actually appreciate your food.
It is extremely easy to have too much as the body is slow to react and to tell you it's full. People who eat quickly, overeat because they don't let the body have a chance to say it's full. Don't consume until you cannot eat any more.
How to Lose Weight From Your Midsection
Look around and you will take sight of the new species of human beings already stalking the face of the earth. They are an interesting species, extremely large around the mid section, but having ill developed feet and hands.
Consequently these people have a tendency to fall prey to obesity evils like diabetes, osteoporosis and heart attack.
Are you one of them?
Do you spend your precious time wondering how to lose that extra flab from your mid riff and acquire those killer six pack abs of your favorite celebrity.
Well, before, we delve into the secrets of acquiring that washboard flat ab, let me suggest how you can lose fat and gain muscle in the middle section.
Your diet makes a lot of difference in your ability to lose abdominal fat.
Do you know the four golden rules of a healthy existence?
1) drink at least 15 glasses of water every day
2) get adequate sleep, i.e, a minimum of 7-8 hours at night
3) proper exercise
4) and nutrition.
It has been proved scientifically that people who get inadequate sleep everyday tend to put on weight more easily than others.
It's necessary to drink enough water, since water forms the reaction medium for all sorts of metabolism inside your body. Dehydration leads to stiffening of body tissues and deposition of excess fat in your arteries and veins.
The quick ways to lose weight for you depends entirely on the type of metabolism you possess.
Generally, nutritionists recommend you cut down on excess carbohydrates and fat, increase your intake of protein, fibers, complex carbs, healthy fats like cod liver oil, and foods rich in minerals and vitamins.
Anything in excess acts like a poison in your body, slowing down your body’s metabolism and depositing excess fats in your mid section. Instead of eating three large meals in a day, try having your food in six small portions around the clock. That way your body’s metabolic system will be giving its best performance, providing you with the requisite energy and not allowing any calories to be stored up as fat.
Don’t miss breakfast, and make sure you have a small meal every 2-3 hours after that. Do not starve yourself! Losing your excess mid riff bulk doesn’t mean becoming anorexic. If you think that starving yourself will ensure that your body uses up the stored reserves of fat to provide you with energy, you are grossly mistaken! This will only cause acidity and other gastric problems leading to stomach ulcers.
Remove the impurities and toxins from your body by consuming fiber supplements and body wraps. Detoxification ensures that your body functions properly. Just as a machine with impurities in its engine cannot perform efficiently, so our body also cannot fight the battle to knock off mid riff weight with impurities wreaking havoc in your system.
Does your work involve sitting in front of the computer for long hours daily? While you are at work, maybe you can’t resist the temptation to enjoy a tasty hamburger or doughnut, these junk foods hasten your impending doom.
Why don’t you try yoga? Yoga encourages some amazing midriff breathing exercises which have been found to be very effective in losing midsection flab and lowering one’s blood sugar level. That means doing two things at once...
Intense cardiovascular exercises at least 2-3 times a week is necessary to keep up your heart rate. These exercises must be done using proper techniques in a controlled manner, so that every abdominal muscle (upper abs,lower abs and obliques) gets adequate exercise and in no time, you will possess a killer middle section!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Weight Loss Drugs
As the world's population continues to increase, the problem of obesity also increases and is now affecting a large number of children of school entry age. Some people go to extreme lengths to change this situation for example with surgery; the most productive method is by exercising more frequently and changing what you eat. Losing weight should be viewed as a long term health benefit and the use of weight loss drugs to help accelerate the process is not necessarily the best course of action.
The process is relatively simple as the drugs act upon the brain's own chemical, serotonin, fooling the brain into believing it's not hungry and at the same time increasing the body's metabolism. That was all well and good until the point where more research had concluded that there was an increased risk of heart valve disease and as a consequence the drugs were withdrawn. Of course the manufacturers did not give up that easily and new drugs were created, these drugs are still being prescribed even though the Federal Drug Administration has not yet approved them.
These weight loss pills have become popular and you can almost guarantee that you will know of someone who has tried them with success. It is a tempting proposition, to lose weight while still maintaining the same diet; who would say no? As a consequence, drug companies spend millions of dollars in research on weight loss drugs while consumers spend even more buying the pills.
Weight control pills can be purchased either over-the-counter or prescribed by a doctor but even with the advances in medical technology they can still cause a lot of health related problems which can be unpleasant such as diarrhea and vomiting. Other harmful side effects include tightness in the chest, urinary tract problems and stroke.
There are many factors that could contribute to any problems you experience and these do not necessarily stop when you cease taking the pills. These effects can be equally unpleasant as the side effects occurring as a result of taking weight control pills.
Although these weight loss drugs do work, an increase in beneficial effects occurs when regular exercise is undertaken along with a change in eating habits. Despite all the bad publicity, weight loss drugs do work but they are more successful if they are used in conjunction with a low calorie diet and regular exercise, preferably using a properly worked out exercise regime. This type of diet requires a balance of the food groups to ensure a proper intake of vitamins, minerals and fiber, almost all of which can be bought at your local supermarket but may require a little preparation.
As far as the exercise is concerned, this needs to be worked out in advance after a physical examination by your doctor. The best exercise plans should have cardiovascular and weight training exercises as this helps burn calories and increase the muscle to fat ratio that will increase a person's metabolism and assist with weight loss.
Gastric Bypass Complication Rates Need To Be Viewed Over A Reasonably Long Time Frame
Gastric bypass surgery (which is also known as bariatric or weight loss surgery) is assisting tens of thousands of morbidly obese people to reduce their risk from life-threatening conditions like diabetes and to get back much of their previous lifestyle. Problems arising from gastric bypass surgery can however be substantial and need to be considered carefully before opting for surgery.
Various studies have been conducted into gastric bypass complication rates in the short-term and these frequently follow the progress of patients for about 30 days after their procedure. However, a more recent study (looking at claims for hospital and outpatient care for more than 5,000,000 people who were members of employment health schemes across 49 states and including in excess of 2,500 weight loss patients) has now extended the results of previous studies to look in depth at complications experienced up to 6 months following surgery.
According to the study death occurred during surgery, or in the 6 months after the procedure, in just 0.2% of patients and that the commonest complications were dumping syndrome (diarrhea, vomiting and reflux) which happened in approximately 20% of cases, anastomosis problems (leakage or restriction at the join between the stomach and intestine) which occurred in roughly 12% of cases, abdominal hernias in roughly 7% of cases, infections in roughly 6% of cases and pneumonia which happened in roughly 4% of patients.
The study also revealed that in the region of 10% or patients who survived the first 30 days following surgery without complication went on to experience problems in the following 5 months. In the majority of cases these complications consisted of dumping, abdominal hernia, anastomosis problems, and marginal ulcers. In addition, although just less than 5% of patients needed be re-admitted during the 30 day period, this figure climbed to just over 7% when looking at the longer 6 month timeframe.
The cost of gastric bypass surgery was also increased considerably by problems and, although people who experienced surgery free from complication paid roughly $25,000, complications within the 6 month post-operative period increased this to roughly $36,500. Where patients had to be re-admitted for further treatment as a result of gastric bypass complications the cost rose to in excess of $65,000.
Weight loss surgery is very much the start of the weight loss process and, as opposed to many types of surgery which cure the problem more or less on the spot, the results of obesity surgery take time to appear. It is not surprising therefore that problems arise after surgery and this is something that must be considered carefully before you take the decision to embark on this particular journey.
Is There a Link Between Obesity and Infertility?
With so many more persons being overweight and out-and-out obese these days, many are wondering if there really is any truth to the rumor that obesity and infertility go hand-in-hand. How is it that being overweight can interfere with your reproductive abilities? How can a few extra pounds mean that much damage to your body? What about those that are obese that have been able to conceive? In order to examine these issues fully, let’s take a look at some of the suspected reasons that obesity and infertility seem to be related.
Reasons for Obesity
Regardless of what some people may assume, it’s generally accepted among the medical community that obesity does not just happen. Some would like to think that it’s all genetic, but many scientists know that when a person changes their eating habits and physical activity levels, they lose weight. So saying that obesity and infertility are two things that you can do nothing about is rather shortsighted – which also should be thought of as good news. If obesity and infertility were all a matter of genetics, then you would be trapped, with no choices or things you can do to fix the situation.
So, when studying the reasons for one’s obesity, we see the connection to infertility. High-fat diets add to elevated cholesterol levels in the body, and as we see cholesterol clinging to the arteries and areas around the heart, it does the same to the reproductive system. Cholesterol chokes out a man’s ability to produce healthy sperm and a woman’s ability to ovulate a healthy egg.
Additionally, another connection between obesity and infertility may have much to do with exercise and physical activity. Exercise gets the blood circulating properly and in a healthy way, and this oxygen-rich blood is necessary for all functions of the body, including the reproductive system. Without the antioxidants provided by blood that’s been freshly filtered through the lungs, any malformation or problems the body has is not going to be fixed or repaired the way it should be.
Extra Body Weight
Another connection between obesity and infertility seems to be the extra body weight itself. This extra weight on a man may block his sperm ducts, and blocked sperm ducts are one of the most common reasons for infertility in men. Additionally, a woman who has extra weight around her midsection may also have problems with ovulation, as this puts undue pressure on the fallopian tubes. It also puts this pressure on the uterus, causing it to contract unnaturally. When a woman’s uterus is compromised, a fertilized egg cannot attach itself, and she will miscarry it before she even knows she is pregnant.
So it seems as if there are some reasons to be concerned about the connection between obesity and infertility. Again, no one wants to be told that they need to lose weight, or to think that their own body weight may be interfering with their plans to have a baby, but at least they know that there is something they can do about the situation!