How to approach your weight loss resolution
Many of us have resolved to lose weight in the new year, but that’s not always a simple matter of eating less and exercising more. Obesity is a medical condition with many contributing factors, and the best treatment differs from person to person. That’s why Memorial Hermann’s weight loss specialists conduct in-depth assessments to determine what’s driving weight gain and provide personalized treatment plans for sustainable weight loss.
Dr. Jason Balette and Dr. Drew Howard discuss the steps that can help set people up for success when it comes to weight loss resolutions — and get them on a path to a healthier and more active life.
Q: What’s the best way to get started if you want to lose weight?
Dr. Howard: If you’ve struggled to lose weight through diet and exercise, it’s important to know
that this is not a failure. There are a lot of variables that go into weight loss — diet and exercise are only part of it, although they’re an important part.
Start by talking to your primary physician, who can make sure your weight isn’t a symptom of another underlying health issue, and who can recommend physician-assisted options. There are a wide variety of medical and surgical options that can help, including nutrition counseling and behavioral modification.
Q: When should you seek professional help?
Dr. Balette: Losing weight through diet and exercise and then regaining it can become a frustrating cycle for many people. That struggle, combined with weight-related conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, is often what drives people to seek help from a doctor. The end goal can vary from weight loss to overall health improvement to increased longevity. Some people want to improve their type 2 diabetes, regardless of their end weight — that on its own constitutes success for them. Working with a surgical weight loss and medical weight management program like Memorial Hermann NewStart™ means you’re not alone on your weight loss journey; you have a team to support you every step of the way.
Q: What is medical weight management, and how does it work?
Dr. Balette: A big part of it is education, and making dietary changes and behavioral changes. There are also a whole array of medications that can be really helpful for some people. Medical weight management programs are best suited for people who have not been able to effectively lose weight and keep it off through diet and exercise.
While these programs don’t involve surgery, they are sometimes used to help patients lose weight in preparation for surgery or for postoperative patients who have regained weight.
Q: How does surgical weight loss work? What treatment options are most common?
Dr. Howard: There are a number of surgical options, including gastric bypass surgery, the duodenal switch procedure and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, also called the gastric sleeve. The gastric sleeve reduces the size of the stomach by approximately 70% to 80%, creating a small, sleeve-shaped stomach that is about the size of a banana. This has become the dominant treatment option for many surgeons, due to its lower risk profile and greater effectiveness compared to other options.
The gastric band or Lap Band, a silicone ring placed around the top of the stomach, isn’t used as much anymore. Gastric bypass surgery is still around and still effective, but the sleeve is often the preferred option.
Q: What kind of long-term results can people expect from these programs?
Dr. Howard: With the gastric sleeve, as well as gastric bypass and the duodenal switch, there are metabolic changes that affect how your body responds to and processes food. It’s not just the smaller amount of food you’re eating, but these hormonal changes that affect your ability to keep weight off.
Dr. Balette: Weight loss is not as simple as telling someone to put down the fork — it doesn’t work that way, from a physiological standpoint. Your body is acting in a way in which losing weight is not an easy endeavor. When you change those hormonal signals, it makes it more achievable. But surgery is just part of it. The key to keeping the weight off is understanding that it’s not a replacement for diet and exercise. The most successful patients typically see it as a systemic approach. They’re willing to make the change in terms of diet and exercise, and surgery is incorporated into that system. Memorial Hermann’s NewStart™ Surgical and Medical Weight Management Programs are designed around your needs and can help with conditions including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and infertility.