The Morbid Me

Brookhaven Obesity Clinic Inspection Report

Thanks to our reader “Cheryl” for sharing the good find: “Brookhaven Obesity Clinic Inspection Report”. I just wanted to publish it here because so many people are debating and asking questions about this New York based Rehab & Health Care Center. This is an official New York State Department of Health report card, so, I guess you can’t go wrong. (Link here)

Lap-Band Success Story: Vicki

I often get emails from readers asking me to write more about the Lap-Band procedure, and sometimes you guys feel I talk too much about Gastric Bypass (Roux-en-Y). Yeah, you are right. So here is a nice little real life story about a 35 year old woman who decided to go with the Lap-Band. As you read along, I am pretty sure, you will discover that her motivations and her issues before the operation might be the same as yours.

Gastric Bypass Lowers Risk of Death

Two new studies in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) show another long-term benefit of Gastric Bypass Surgery and in my opinion the most important of all: a lower risk of death.

Researchers compiled data on 15,850 severely obese people, half of whom had undergone gastric bypass surgery between 1984 and 2002, and half who were from the general population and had had no surgical intervention for obesity. Overall, researchers found, the surgery patients were 40% less likely to die from any cause during a mean 7 years of follow-up, compared with the obese controls. What's more, the mortality rate attributable to obesity-related disease was 52% lower on the whole in the surgery group: after gastric bypass, patients were 92% less likely to die from diabetes, 59% less likely to die from coronary artery disease, and 60% less likely to be killed by cancer. (Read the full article here)

Does Sleeping after a Meal lead to Weight Gain?

Body weight depends on a multitude of factors, and, as you might imagine, both lifestyle and genetics play critical roles. The key to weight control is balancing energy intake with energy expenditure, a relationship that is often referred to as the energy balance equation.

This  article in Scientific American Magazine, perfectly explains how the energy expenditure process works in our body. This is such an interesting article, I think it’s a must for your to read, even after Gastric Bypass surgery.

Weight Loss Pills and Gastric Bypass: Shame on you!

(Before I start, yes the picture to your left makes sense... read on and you will know why....) :)

I am so confused… So many people ask me if it is ok to take weight loss pills like Alli or Xenical after they had their surgery. What in the world is going on?

The fact that they ask me this insane question is that something is totally wrong with their mind. And I am sorry to say, I don’t want to sound rude, I WANT to be rude!

If you had any weight loss surgery, you already took the ultimate trip, the last resource to lose weight. So, why do you need pills after that?

I know what the problem is, and if you are one of the ones, who asked me, shame on you! : You have not followed the 25% rule: Gastric bypass is just 1/4 of the way to permanent and healthy weight loss. The surgery itself is not like David Hasselhoff in Baywatch saving your life (oh! What was I thinking, I mean: Pamela Anderson saving your life… sorry!)

If you really want this to be a lifelong success, you also need to exercise, to change your lifestyle and to re-wire your brain. There you go… that’s it. Nothing else to it… And I do not remember writing “taking weight loss pills”

If you still want to devour some Xenical or Alli after you read this, then this is what David Hasselhoff would say to you: “America got Talent, baby!

(... did the picture on your left make sense after your read my post? ...)

Amazing Weight Loss pictures

It is impressive to see how people change after losing weight. The story of David E. Smith is not very clear (some say he had gastric bypass, others say he lost weight because of personal motivation). It is incredible to see his transformation in pictures. Regardless of what he did, he lost weight and this should be a motivation for all of us.

What does 120 Calories Look like?

If you are ready for your daily snack, but you are confused about grams and calories, or if you still think that one Apple has 100 calories, take a look at this amazing pictorial showcase of calories and grams.

A few months ago, I published a similar post showing what 300 calorie meals look like.

The way of displaying food and calories as images, is very effective, since we eat what we see, not what we read.

Gastric Bypass Surgery helps with Type 2 Diabetes

Before my surgery, I was a mess. Not only was I heavy, but at 34 years my health was horrible. I suffered from hypertension, sleep apnea, and Type 2 diabetes. Those comorbidities where the one and only reason for me to get the surgery.

Less than two months later, guess what? Not only did I lose weight but I lost all my comorbidities, and yes, including the infamous Type 2 diabetes. I was amazed by that, I had always heard that once you have diabetes, you will have it for life. But that is not true. This article with video is a good example of it.