Health & Family Lap Band Surgery

I used an 'impersonal' trainer. He didn't just focus on exercise or diet but habit changing. You need someone who #/$@'s with your mind not just pushes you physically and on diet but educates/changes your thinking.

It is a change of lifestyle and habits to better habits, incorporating exercise & healthy eating into your daily routine (I haven't eaten at Maccas/KFC/Jacks/Subway/Pizza **** etc for about 15 years) - my kids haven’t stepped foot into their shops for anything more than a slushy. We still enjoy take aways but not the low end, low nutritional value meals - even the kids can walk through the food court without calling out for nuggets, pizza or worse.

 

The chances of getting back to a healthy weight are very slim for someone who's obese. The linked article reports on a study:

For obese people (with a Body Mass Index of 30 to 35), the annual probability of slimming down was one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women.

This increased to one in 1,290 for men and one in 677 for women with morbid obesity (BMI 40 to 45).

@darlinghurstsboy's nephew almost certainly falls into the morbidly obese category, unless he's more than two metres tall, so the odds are very much against him.

Losing 5% of your bodyweight in a year is easier, with 1 in 12 men, and 1 in 10 women managing that. However the chances are that it'll be regained in the following five years.

In theory I think that a personal trainer, exercise and diet are the best solution, but in practice weight loss surgery might be the only feasible approach. But kudos to @Perthguy how achieved it.

I don't entirely agree with @pinkboy about BMI being useless.

There was a piece of research done a few years back that suggested that without the use of steroids there is a limit to the amount of muscle a man can hold in a lean condition. This is measured using the adjusted Fat Free Mass Index (FFMI), which is basically BMI for lean body weight, and the upper bound for someone without performance enhancing drugs is around 25.

So following the maths through, the chances are that if your BMI rates as obese then you're either carrying a lot more fat, or you're taking steroids, neither of which are entirely healthy pastimes. But being in the overweight category probably isn't too bad.

There is some research suggesting being slightly overweight is healthier than being at a normal weight, but that's disputed. The counterargument is that people who're suffering from a chronic disease are likely to have slimmed down substantially (putting them in the regular category), whilst having a marked propensity to die. And this group is sufficiently numerous to skew the results.

 

I definitely think that unless the person wants to actually approach life differently, then throwing money at the problem is a short term fix, if that.

Reminds me of the old joke: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?
Well, it depends if the light bulb really WANTS to change....

 

I was eating a lot of highly processed food and a lot of refined sugar, not fruit and virtually no fresh food (like salads and veggies). This left me feeling extremely hungry most of the time. Pretty much what I was eating made me so sick that I didn't really have a choice but change what I was eating. I did a lot of reading and picked a new set of foods that would actually give me nutrition and hopefully help me feel less hungry (less refined, more fruit, veggies, salads etc). I also hung around with people who also ate healthy and who would support and encourage me. It all worked and having more energy and feeling way less hungry was motivation to continue.

 

I think that there has to be motivation to change your lifestyle and not just go for the quick fix. Maybe if he can commit to exercising and eating healthier then look into the surgery. I have seen this pop up with friends in common every now and then. She had the surgery but in the process has changed her lifestyle and mindset. She was very determined and wasn't just looking for an easy fix. Might be worth looking at - Simone's Journey to Health

 

amazing transformation ..... great story, good on her

 

Even though I have proved this doesn't have to be the case, I actually agree with this. At my fattest, my BMI was 37.2. That is heading towards morbidly obese. I have "dieted" and exercised before to lose weight. It didn't work for me. I always put the fat back on with interest (I ended up heavier than before I went on a diet and exercise program). The problem with a "diet and exercise program" to "lose weight" is that we see it as a temporary thing and once we lose the weight, we go back to our "normal" eating and put all the weight back on plus more. I believe this is why most people can't keep the weight off that they lose.

This time around, before I did anything else, I worked on changing my mindset. I didn't set out to "lose weight" on a diet and exercise program. I set out to change my lifestyle, get fit and healthy and stay that way. I set out to make permanent lifestyle changes for a healthier life. I believe that is why I succeeded this time around when every other time I failed. I also think that is why the majority of people fail to keep off lost weight - they didn't change their mindset first.

With the right tools I believe an individual can overcome the odds. Especially at 23. That's much easier than trying the same thing at 40.

IMO, personal trainer, exercise and diet will only work if a person has the right mindset. Without that, it will ultimately fail. Likewise, weight loss surgery will only work with the right mindset. Or ultimately, that will fail too.

 

Awesome!

I think that the mindset of PC members is not usually akin to that of the general population.

PS. My grandmother smoked til she was 97 too, smoking still bad

 

I agree with this. While I was concerned that I was overweight, I was also concerned that my diet was pretty crappy - definitely not enough fresh vegies etc. The smoothies have helped big time with this - now I drink my vegies for breakfast and don't even notice them. It's just such an easy way to get more fresh food into your diet! I feel better in myself as well, diet definitely impacts on how you feel physically.

 

Love these threads! Quite the fisherman ol d.boy! Just reeling in the punters

 

As Bran said, technology has moved forward.

 

They're entertaining, though.

 

... but then there is always property.... variety is the spice of life

 

Surgery is the latest technology, and the most likely to have results.
The OP, and quite a few other posters worry about the 'motivation' of a quick fix, especially when its paid for by 'the rich uncle'. So he should start exercising himself first before the reward of the surgery? I think this suggestion is impracticable.


How about getting skin in the game another way?
Perhaps lending the $7,000, or only providing part of the money, or only agreeing to the gift with another contribution from the nephew?
$7,000 isn't a whole lot of money, especially to someone who has a 'sit down' job eating sugar all day.

if it were me, Id be telling my nephew to raise it on a credit card, and Id send him the minimum payment each month for the first year so, or better still show him how replacing his sugary snacks at work could save him $7,000 in a year (@$30 per weekday on junk). Perhaps Id agree to help financially with the skin removal surgery later, or helping financially with lite and easy or whatever diet is recommended. first and foremost Id be really supportive of his decision to do something about the problem, Id offer to be a training buddy as well.

 

With hunakkeh coming up, you really need to go easy with old mate on the dreidel (I do not condone gambling either) and the latkes, which sounds delicious but needs to be cut out this hunakkeh. Light a few extra candles instead

 

Does he have a car? Does he really need it? No? - get rid of it. You can easily walk a few ks a day if using PT and no more fast food runs on a whim.

 

Diet is 80% the solution. Exercise is great and necessary but the fast and sustained changes will come from cleaning up his diet.

 

High fructose unless refined as in HFCS isn't a bad thing.
High sucrose is what's destroying people.

I'm vegan and eat at a minimum 500g of fruit per day. Sometimes up to 1.5kgs over the day. (That's a bit excessive but if there's a bag of organic fruit next to me at work i can't stop over the day) I also know lots of fruitarian types that eat crazy amounts of fruit. But they don't touch sucrose. Or anything much refined really.

I'm a bit worried at the moment as there's a bit of bad press about fruit. But many people listening to that won't know a healthy alternative.

And we are slim. But I've been overweight so i know the feeling

 

Yep - agree. I meant high fructose corn syrup. I don't recall any fat people who eat loads of fruit.