Weight Loss Surgery, Not an Easy Way Out

Weight loss surgery, not an easy way out

The society we live in is obsessed with youth and thinness. For millions of overweight people in the United States who are riding nonstop on the rollercoaster of weight loss and weight gain, there comes a day when having weight loss surgery becomes a decision they are faced with. There are many prejudices associated with weight loss surgery, many of the “beautiful” people look at this procedure as a cop-out, a quick fix, fat people are just too lazy to exercise and too weak to put the fork down. In other words surgery is taking the “easy way out”.
Nothing could be further from the truth, for most individuals who are diagnosed as morbidly obese also called "clinically severe obesity" which is defined as being 100 lbs. or more over ideal body weight or having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or higher (Surgical Weight Loss Center), weight loss surgery is their only hope, their last resort. Morbidly obese people have been made to feel that their inability to lose weight and keep it off is their fault, and being overweight is strictly due to bad eating habits and lack of will power. This attitude leads to many of the social prejudices against obese people and contributes to the poor self-image many obese people have. It is important for obese people and society in general to recognize that morbid obesity is not a failure of will power---it is a disease based on physiological factors beyond the person’s control (Rationale for surgery). For the majority of morbidly obese individuals, weight loss surgery is the only proven method of achieving long-term weight loss. The decision to proceed with this type of surgery is a very difficult thing to do. All surgeries have their risks and benefits’ including death, weight loss surgery is no exception and post op recovering is no walk in the park.
With gastric bypass surgery, a person can lose 50 to 90 percent of their unhealthy extra weight in about one year (Kline). There are three...