The true process of weight loss is a lot more complex than people give it credit for; it’s not as simple as “calories in=calories out.” If it were that simple, a person could simply skip a few meals and the weight would drop off. Anyone who has struggled with weight can tell you it doesn’t work that way. The science behind real weight loss involves our own hormones which is heavily influenced by our genetics (this is why weight problems run in families). Your own insulin (the hormone that the body releases after you eat) tells your body to stop burning energy and store away all the food. Our family’s genetics can cause some people to develop a higher level of resistance to insulin, making insulin levels routinely more elevated and longer laster than other people. This “Insulin Resistance” is the basis for weight problems, plain and simple. It makes extra weight near impossible to lose because your own body is instructing your body to hold on to the weight despite nearly every action tries to take. This extra weight is also the main cause for almost all chronic diseases we see in our society (blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, heart and lung disease, and even cancer). The good news is treating this insulin resistance and thereby the extra weight can treat most all health issues a patient has all at the same time. This is the reason I have dedicated my life towards weight loss medicine; it is the most effective way to truly cure so many health problems patients have rather than just trying to clean up the consequences of longer term chronic diseases. Some people without a lot of genetics working against them can lose weight with some dietary changes and lifestyle modifications. But most people with an excessive amount of weight to lose have a genetic basis for their weight and will require a more intensive approach.
The weight loss industry has no vested interest in you actually losing weight. If you notice all their taglines include rapid weight loss over a short period of time (Lose 30 lbs in 30 days!). Unfortunately, the majority of that weight is water weight and these programs know that. Your body also sees the weight that you currently are at as the “set point” and will fight tooth and nail to get your weight back to this set point; our biology has a lot of survival programs to protect against starvation, and unfortunately this programs are keeping us from losing weight. This is the biological reason for the “Yo-Yo diets” or the constant regaining of weight once the diet has ended. True sustained weight loss is rarely achieved through fad diets which is why 95% of these commercial diet programs fail.
Breaking through the insulin resistance and these biological set points is the only way to lose the excess weight that leads to a healthier more comfortable life. Our program focuses on all these components with dietary education that will allow you to see past the tricks and confusing food labels (the food industry is another billion dollar industry with no vested interest in your health). Surgery can be used in combination with this dietary training to break through the insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can created a vicious negative cycle in which weight continues to accumulate, chronic illnesses set in requiring more medicines and treatments which can cause even more weight gain, and so the negative cycle continues. Surgery, and it’s powerful hormonal effects, has been proven to be the most effective way to reverse this negative cycle and lead to substantial life changing weight loss.