First things first. Let’s see what obesity is.
Obesity can be caused by 1) an eating disorder: a very small percentage of obese people have eating disorders (this leads to overeating, which translates to excess calories; and 2) complex disease: this type of obesity is seen in a vast majority of individuals and is caused by many factors.
Over time, your excess weight leads to problems like heart disease, foot pain, kidney disease, eye problems, and other health problems.
If we see eating as an addiction (the result of which is obesity), we should bear in mind that the treatment is not the same as other forms of addictions, like alcohol and drugs, for which the first solution and step is abstaining from consuming drugs or alcohol. In order to live, we need to eat, so we can’t avoid food.
Generally, the reason of obesity is energy imbalance or, in other words, we do not burn as many calories as we take in. This energy imbalance is usually triggered either by overeating or by not getting sufficient physical activity and exercise, or both.
Obesity is not an uncommon disease, and for every disease, one must seek a cure. On the other hand, the reason why one must try to cure this disease is that, obesity can lead to serious health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and even premature death.
A sound solution to cure obesity is to go through weight loss surgery or bariatric surgery. However, it’s not a simple decision to make. There are good things and bad ones about weight loss surgery. There are several myths about this kind of surgery that may make you question the usefulness and necessity or even rationality of the surgery as well.
Therefore, we advise you to read about its pros and cons beforehand. The following are 5 myths about weight loss surgery.
- Weight loss surgery is very dangerous
Risks are part of every single surgery, particularly when it involves general anesthesia. However, the risks of weight loss surgery are lower than many other surgeries. On the other hand, remaining obese and avoiding surgery may be riskier than the surgery itself. Obesity can cause Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and hypertension or increase the risk of cancer. These diseases threat your health a lot more than the complications of bariatric surgery.
Besides, when you look at the pros of weight loss surgery and the impact it will have on your life, see the improvement it made in your life quality and even your health conditions, it is worth it to have it.
According to studies comparing the results of weight loss through surgery with those of weight loss through exercise and diet, cases of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are less common in those who go through bariatric surgery, and they live longer.
If you’re considering to undergo weight loss surgery, you need to stop eating lots of fast foods!
- You will regain all the weight back
According to this myth, weight loss surgery is a waste of money. However, this is not the case in the majority of cases because the studies show that people who had surgery lose more weight and maintain their weight loss better than those who control their weight by exercise and/or diet. Normally, people who have undergone weight loss surgery regain a small amount of their weight after two years, but by and large, your weight is still significantly lower than your weight before having the surgery.
- Weight loss surgery is a permanent solution for obesity
The main reason for gaining weight, is normally bad eating habits. Therefore, if after the surgery you start overeating, not only you regain weight, but also you may endanger your health or inflict damage to the altered organ. For instance, “dumping syndrome” is the result of unhealthy eating after surgery; this happens when too much food enters the intestine too quickly. The symptoms of this syndrome are dizziness and vomiting.
Therefore, you must change your lifestyle and start to eat healthily, exercise regularly and sleep enough. You may need to change the type and amount of foods you eat for the benefit of your body.
- Weight loss surgery is a solution for lazy people
Weight loss surgery is a solution for obese people not the lazy ones. Sometimes you cross the red line in being overweight and therefore, you cannot control your weight by exercise and/or diet. In these cases, surgery is particularly necessary and a good method to lose weight.
By the way, as we mentioned above, after the surgery you should change your lifestyle. And it would not be easy for lazy people to change a lazy lifestyle.
- Weight loss surgery is the last-ditch attempt for obese people
Despite what we said in the previous section, we do not confirm that weight loss surgery is the last resort. On the contrary, you can use it as early as you have decided to lose weight. A BMI of 40 or above typically means that you should consider the surgery.The sooner you do it, the better because if you delay the surgery, you gain more weight, you give more time to diseases to develop and your general health to get worst.
On the other hand, the results of weight loss surgery in people with lower BMI would be greater.
If you have come to the conclusion that you need to do the surgery, do not postpone it, go through it right away!
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