If your children and your spouse’s needs consistently come before yours, then you need to step back and think about what you put off in your life in order to meet their needs. Granted, some things are important and must be taken care of immediately, such as medical and educational issues. However, if their needs are things that can wait, then that is the time when you need to put yourself first. You need to make time for yourself, for your emotional well-being, and make time for activities you might have decided to participate in for your health and fitness.

Before and after patients undergo obesity surgery in Dallas it is often recommended that they attend certain group sessions that are set up to teach them about setting boundaries, among other things. In nearly every part of the country there are obesity surgery support groups that help patients along their weight loss journey. If you think you have boundary issues, other patients who are in the same position may be the key to helping you overcome those issues.

Hypoventilation: Obese individuals often breathe shallow and slow. This creates a situation that deprives the bloodstream of necessary oxygen. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood. Symptoms vary, but generally include leg swelling, heart failure, sleep disruptions and sleepiness during waking hours.

Carpal Tunnel: This syndrome occurs when nerves in the wrist become compressed. It causes numbness and muscular weakness. It feels like your hand and arm continuously fall asleep. Obese individuals are more than twice as likely to suffer with this ailment.

Hirsutism: This condition causes an increase of terminal hair where it doesn’t typically grow. Terminal hair is the thick, dark hair that grows as you enter puberty such as leg hair, underarm hair, or the hair on your face. This hair is controlled by hormones, so obese women with insulin resistance are more likely to experience the problem.

Incontinence: Incontinence occurs when an individual cannot control urine leakage. It’s highly associated with obesity.

Dementia: This term describes those who experience diminished cognitive abilities such as memory, problem-solving skills, attention deficits and language problems. Obesity is often responsible for increased risk of dementia.

Gout: More common in those who are obese, gout occurs when uric acid crystals become elevated in the bloodstream. The result can be swollen joints and skin deposits that become aggravated if a strict, healthy diet is not followed.

Heart Disease

When an individual is obese their cholesterol levels are also likely high. When cholesterol is high there are fatty deposits in the blood that form as plaque on the sides of artery walls. This accumulation can reduce the blood flow to the heart and brain which can result not only in heart disease but in stroke or a heart attack.

High Blood Pressure

As people gain weight their heart is forced to pump harder to get the blood to circulate properly through their larger bodies. High blood pressure is a result of this increased effort of pushing blood through the arteries.

Sleep Apnea

Extra fatty deposits around the obese person’s neck can lead to a narrowing of their airway. This can make it difficult for them to breathe and at night while sleeping their airflow can be repeatedly restricted and can even briefly stop.

Gallstones

Gallstones are made up of cholesterol. Obesity increases the levels of bad cholesterol in a person’s body, which in turn puts obese patients at a higher risk for the development of gallstones. Gallstones can form and can cause intense back and abdominal pain.

Type 2 Diabetes

80 percent or more of all type 2 diabetics are overweight. When a person is overweight they have more blood sugar in their system than the insulin can handle. Bariatric surgery is one way to lose weight and prevent the onset of diabetes.

The health risks of obesity are serious, but unfortunately many overweight individuals don’t do anything about their health until something serious happens. Fortunately, you can prevent or hinder the onset of any of these conditions simply by losing weight or having weight loss surgery in Dallas or Ft. Worth and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The Positives:

• People with preexisting conditions, including obesity and obesity-related illnesses, will be able to purchase insurance.
• Preventive services will be provided, including intensive behavioral counseling for obesity.
• Insurance companies will be prohibited from rescinding coverage for illnesses such as obesity.
• People who participate in behavior modification plans will qualify for incentives.
• Restaurants will have to disclose the caloric value of every item on their menus.
• The standards for medical diagnostic equipment will be developed to make equipment accessible and usable for obese patients.
• A national strategy will be developed that will create healthier school environments, increase access to nutrition and physical activity, and focus primarily on the prevention of obesity.

The Negatives:

• The threshold for deducting medical expenses that are not reimbursed will rise from 7.5% to 10% of your adjusted gross income. This could impact bariatric surgery patients who pay for their surgery out of pocket.
• Employers can institute wellness programs that reward employees 30 to 50% of the cost of their health insurance premium if they meet employer-specified health conditions. This means that people who cannot meet employer-set targets could be burdened with higher healthcare expenses.

Your body burns calories in three ways: metabolism, thermogenesis, and physical activity.

Metabolism
Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into the energy it needs to function. It’s often said that your metabolism is how many calories you burn when you’re “at rest,” because your body is always using energy for things like breathing, circulation, and cell repair. Your basal metabolic rate—or how many calories your body burns through the process of metabolism—is a naturally regulated function and is fairly difficult to change. Your basal metabolic rate is determined by your sex, age, and your body size and composition. The larger your body is and the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be. Women, who tend to have less muscle and more body fat, usually have a lower metabolic rate than men. Older people, who tend to have less muscle mass than younger people, usually notice their metabolic rate slows down as they age.

In rare cases, a medical disorder may result in an abnormally low metabolism that can cause weight gain.

Thermogenesis
Thermogenesis involves the process of digesting, absorbing, transporting, and storing the food you eat. About 10% of the calories your body burns each day are a result of thermogenesis. In most cases, the amount of energy and calories that your body needs for food processing will remain steady and is not easily changed.

Physical activity
The rest of the calories your body burns are a result of physical activity. Everything you do, from fidgeting to walking or running, burns calories. The more physical activity you engage in, the more calories you’ll burn. Unlike metabolism and thermogenesis, you can easily increase how many calories you burn through physical activity if you’re looking to lose weight or maintain your existing weight.

As the obesity epidemic continues to grow, more than half of American adults are now overweight or obese.

According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which conducted telephone interviews with 673,000 adults between January 2008 and December 2009, 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009. That’s a slight increase from the previous year, which recorded 62.2% of adults as overweight or obese.

The survey gave an indication of behaviors that may be contributing to the rise of obesity. Only 58.3% of people who were obese reported exercising at least one day a week, compared to 73.8% of normal weight people who exercised every week. Obese people were also less likely to have eaten five servings of fruits and vegetables on at least three days of the past seven and were least likely to agree that they ate healthy “all day yesterday.”

In addition to helping to pinpoint behaviors that may contribute to obesity, the interviews also confirmed that people who were overweight and obese were more likely to have certain health problems. Of the surveyed people with high blood pressure, 46.2% were obese, 31.1% were overweight, 19.3% were of normal weight, and 17.2% underweight. In addition, 36.8% of the people with high cholesterol were obese, 30.1% were overweight, and only 19.2% normal weight. People who were obese or overweight were also more likely to have suffered a heart attack, have diabetes, and suffer from depression.

People who have a BMI between 18 and 25 but still have enough excess body fat to be considered obese suffer from a condition known as normal weight obesity. While your body mass index may indicate that your weight is normal, BMI only takes into account your height and weight; it doesn’t factor in your actual body fat. Obesity is actually defined as having an excess of body fat, which is not necessarily linked to how much you weigh.

Some guidelines suggest that a woman should have a body-fat percentage of less than 30%. Men’s bodies, on the other hand, should only consist of 20 or 25% fat. Anything over those percentages, regardless of your actual weight, would be classified as obese.

People who have normal weight obesity are at risk for the same health complications as people with classic obesity. An excess of body fat puts you at increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and metabolic disorders.

How prevalent is normal weight obesity?

If your body-fat percentage is higher than healthy limits, you could be considered obese, even if your weight or body mass index falls within normal ranges. Women with a body fat percentage above 30% and men with a body fat percentage above 25% are generally considered obese. If you’re obese but manage to have a body mass index between 18 and 25, you’re considered to have normal weight obesity.

One study estimated that more than half of American adults considered to be of a normal body weight have high body-fat percentages that would constitute normal weight obesity. The danger is that a focus on “normal weight” as a protective measure against heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic disorders may be lulling many of these people into a false sense of security.

Are you at risk for normal weight obesity?

The most accurate way to assess your risk for obesity-related health complications is to have your body-fat percentage tested. Your doctor should be able to conduct this test in the office. If you are found to have normal weight obesity, your doctor will likely recommend that you get more physical activity and change your diet to include less fat and calories.

Dr. Mikolich and colleagues at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine studied 50 patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery. Before surgery, all subjects had a body mass index (BMI) of at least 40, or a BMI of 35 to 40 along with at least two obesity-related health complications.

Two years after surgery, the average BMI of the group decreased from 47 to 29.5. In addition to the expected weight loss, subjects showed reduced risk factors for coronary artery disease.

Mean carotid intima-media thickness fell from 0.84 to 0.50 mm and mean flow-mediated dilation improved from 6.0 percent to 14.9 percent. Mean high-sensitivity C-reactive protein decreased from 1.23 to 0.65 mg/dL at 6 months and to 0.35 mg/dL at 2 years. These numbers indicate that patients were less at risk for coronary atherosclerosis after undergoing bariatric surgery.

Dr. Mikolich also noted a decrease in the use of anti-hypertension and lipid-lowering medications after the weight loss procedures. Researchers concluded that decreasing the risk for coronary atherosclerosis, the most common cause of death in the United States, may encourage insurance companies to expand their coverage of weight loss surgeries.