Live life to the full
HEALTH, LONGEVITY AND SELF-ESTEEM ARE JUST SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY.
It is a well-known fact that the vast majority of people who qualify and who will obtain major health benefits with weight-loss surgery do not seek it out. Only about two percent of people who qualify in Australia get weight-loss surgery. A lot of the reason for this is the stigma associated with having an operation to lose weight. About a half of people randomly surveyed said they believed weightloss surgery was usually done for cosmetic rather than health reasons. Unfortunately, this is still a perception among some doctors as well, often they give advice to patients to lose weight but are not confident to suggest weight-loss surgery. There is very strong evidence demonstrating that people who are obese have an extremely low chance of getting their weight down to a healthy range with diets and exercise and keeping it there for 12 months. In contrast the overwhelming majority of people after weight-loss surgery obtain a healthy weight after just a few months, with very little impact to their life.
A common misperception about weightloss surgery especially in men is that they don’t really need it, and if they felt like it, they could easily lose the weight on their own. Many people can lose some weight with dieting and exercise, the problem is they always regain the weight and get into a cycle of yo-yo dieting. Almost everyone I see for weight-loss surgery tells a story of how many times they’ve been able to lose a certain number of kilos, however it all regains at some stage. For example, a typical middle-aged male who weighs about 110-120kg who may have high blood pressure or high cholesterol is an ideal candidate. This patient could expect to lose about 2530kg with surgery and easily get off their medications. People need to become aware of the health dangers linked with obesity. Obesity is a public health epidemic that contributes to mortality and many health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and worsening arthritis. Weight-loss surgery has very low rates of complications and has excellent long-term success, outweighing any potential side effects. 38 slim magazine autumn 2021
DR JASON FREE SPECIALIST BARIATRIC SURGEON MBBS BVSc (HONS) FRACS Laparoscopic, General, Weight-loss, & Hepatobiliary Surgeon Suite 2, Pindara Professional Centre 8-10 Carrara Street, Benowa QLD Tel: 07 5564 6501 surgerygoldcoast.com.au Research shows that people who are significantly obese have a much shorter life-span than people with a healthy weight. Obesity is currently classified as a chronic disease, rather than a character flaw. It is a complex disease of metabolism, with a lot of individual genetic and hormonal traits
