How to Successfully Navigate Self-Pay Surgery Options for Weight Loss Surgery
Researching self-pay weight loss surgery can be a bit overwhelming. Here are some guidelines to help you find an option that will work best for you.
Self-pay weight loss surgery is more common than you may think. Often, those that choose self-pay weight loss surgery are individuals who meet the criteria for surgery, yet discover weight loss surgery is not a covered benefit with their insurance provider. Some other frequently cited reasons include:
What Will Happen to My Skin After Weight Loss Surgery?
The idea of excess or hanging skin after bariatric surgery is a significant concern for many patients. It sometimes prevents them from moving forward with what can otherwise be a life-changing and even life-saving procedure. Excess skin, of course, is a fact of life and weight loss. It occurs when the skin has been stretched beyond its elastic limit and cannot snap back to what it was before. We commonly see this as stretch marks. Pregnant women and those who have gained and then lost a significant amount of weight are most susceptible to this sagging skin that can be unsightly and irritating.
Excess skin is a fact of life, and how obvious and concerning it is will vary between patients and their circumstances. The following is why some patients may experience more significant amounts of excess skin than others.
What Is Metabolic Adaptability and Why Is It So Hard to Lose Weight?
The concept of metabolic adaptation is relatively new and replaces previous theories about set points. Ultimately, as we’ve learned more about how the metabolism works, we are learning more about why it is difficult to lose weight and why we often lose weight quickly early on, but that weight loss begins to slow over time.
To fully understand the concept of metabolic adaptation, however, it is also important to discuss the flawed theory of a slowing metabolism as we age. To be sure, the metabolism does eventually slow as we age. However, when this slowdown begins, is far later than we once thought. A slow metabolism will be different in every patient. However, it is well into middle age before our metabolism slows to the degree that we have difficulty losing weight.
Is There Benefit to Drinking Higher-pH (Alkaline) Water After Bariatric Surgery?
In our quest to lose weight rapidly and safely, patients are well served to use their inherent curiosity in finding strategies to enhance that weight loss while maintaining essential habits for their long-term health, like hydration. If you’ve visited health-conscious grocery stores in the past few years, you would have undoubtedly seen the proliferation of Alkaline or higher pH waters that claim to offer systemic benefits. Today, these waters are everywhere. But are these claims accurate, and is there any place for alkaline water in the bariatric diet?
We should immediately address that the body is pH sensitive, and drinking waters of specific alkalinity will do very little systemically and even locally to change that. For example, the stomach has a relatively acidic composition, and an alkaline drink may neutralize some acids for a moment, but the stomach will likely increase acid production to compensate. In other words, the stomach knows what it needs to do and will adjust to handle its job.
Studies have shown various benefits and risks in drinking neutral pH water (7) versus more acidic water (3). Some have shown insulin resistance benefits of natural water while increasing the risk of proliferation of potentially harmful bacteria. In the end, there is a lot that remains to be understood.¹
Exercise Tips to Make Your Workouts More Effective
Several weeks after your bariatric procedure, you must take one of the essential lifelong lifestyle changes you’ll ever embark on to the next level – a proper exercise regimen. Why is this so important? Well, exercise is necessary for your overall health, but it also plays a crucial role in the success of your bariatric procedure.
Most of us think of what feels like hours running on the treadmill or doing the elliptical when the topic of exercise comes up, but it’s so much more than that. Sure, cardiovascular training is necessary, but strength training also plays a vital role. For one, strength training increases muscle mass, which can suffer, especially in the early days after bariatric surgery when you lose significant weight but haven’t yet ramped up to your full exercise regimen. Muscle mass is critical for several reasons.
Should You Pursue Bariatric Surgery if You Are Chronically Stressed
As bariatric surgeons, it’s incredible how we can often tell who has set themselves up for success, even from the first consultation. Making sure you are ready for bariatric surgery is one of our most important responsibilities as medical practitioners and bariatric surgeons. After all, you are entrusting us with a significant step in changing your life. If you are not ready for this change, you can’t fully take advantage of weight loss surgery’s incredible benefits. Or, possibly more frustrating, you will be successful for a time but ultimately may reverse some of those gains in the future if you are not in the right mindset for long-term weight maintenance.
Dealing With a Family Member That Is Unsupportive of Your Bariatric Surgery Decision
You’ve probably heard it said a lot. This is your life, and you should make the best decisions for your health. And while that sounds very good, and ultimately, yes, the decision to have bariatric surgery should be entirely yours, it ignores the realities of our relationships. In particular, you will occasionally find that those you thought might be the most supportive of your decision may waiver or be outright hostile when you tell them about your bariatric surgery decision.
This is something we come across quite a bit. Although the stigma associated with bariatric surgery has lessened with its popularity, far too often, we are reminded that it still exists.
Vitamin D and Its Role in the Body
Vitamin D plays a crucial role in our overall health and wellness. While most people are aware of its importance in maintaining bone health, this vitamin also acts as a powerful antioxidant, as well as helping support the immune system. New research also suggests vitamin D plays a role in supporting mental and emotional health. Because of its importance in so many ways, it’s essential to ensure we get enough of this vitamin daily. Though most of our vitamin D comes directly from the sun, fortified foods and supplements can fill any gaps.
Coffee: A Help or a Hindrance to Weight Loss?
For many of us, coffee is a lifeline in the morning on the way to work or dropping kids off at school. You may make your coffee at home or swing by your favorite coffee shop on your way. Either way, getting that dose of caffeine feels like the only way to get through the day. And since it gives you that shot of energy, some may wonder if it is actually helpful in reaching weight loss goals.
As With Most Nutritional Questions After Bariatric Surgery, There Are Nuances.
Research into coffee and one of its compounds, chlorogenic acid, has shown the possibility of promoting body fat reduction. This could be significant with up to a 4% decrease in body fat, according to 2020 research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Harvard University. Coffee is also full of antioxidants, and when enjoyed black and unsweetened, it adds only a few calories per cup.
Journaling After Bariatric Surgery
With all the motivational tips, tricks, and mantras, sometimes the simplest and most traditional things keep us motivated and remind us of where we need and want to be. Journaling is an essential part of weight loss surgery and valuable both before and after your procedure. Journaling serves many purposes, some of which include:
