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Obesity & Surgical Treatments – Everything You Need To Know

Obesity has become a huge cause of concern in India in recent times. Being obese is completely different from being overweight. While there is a lot of awareness and written content of weight management, little is known about obesity and its treatment. The stigma associated with obesity has also shell-cased patients suffering from it from seeking medical help or knowing more about it.

This Anti Obesity Day (26th Nov) we start our fight against obesity with the awareness campaign #Indiafightsobesity. The main focus of this campaign is to make people aware of the health setbacks obesity can lead to and to eradicate the social stigma and taboo related to obesity and its treatment.

According to Dr Mohit Bhandari, Founder Director, Mohak Bariatrics and Robotics, Indore, obesity is a health hazard and requires immediate medical supervision and treatment.

Dr Bhandari is one of the first bariatric surgeons to perform a robot-assisted bariatric surgery and the first and the youngest to have performed a documented obesity surgery in Asia. He also features in the Limca Book of Records in 2015 for performing 25 bariatric procedures in an 11-hour span with the help of a team of 40 doctors.

Candidates for bariatric surgery had to have a BMI greater than 40 kg/m2 or greater than 35 kg/m2 with associated comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension or sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome.

Dr. Ashish Bajaj – M.B.B.S, M.D.

The Stigma Associated with Obesity in India

Treating obesity has always been surrounded by taboo and stigma majorly because it is still treated as a cosmetic procedure that is done to look toned and beautiful.

While you would be tempted to link the weight loss procedures with the actual obesity treatment, it is not the same. Although your weight might be due to water retention, muscle mass, bone weight and fat accumulation, obesity is linked only with the amount of fat in your body.

”People are not open to the idea of treatment for obesity because they don’t understand it. Obesity is considered cosmetic”

Some of the most common challenges associated with obesity treatment are as follows-

”In India, we have thousands of morbidly obese patients and we are only able to treat 1% of them”

How Has the Mindset of People Changed about Getting Treated for Obesity?

In the last five years, you can see a lot of change in the attitude of the patients with regards to obesity and its treatment. While our grandparents might have ignored their weight gain as overeating, we are more aware and concerned about our BMIs and are also aware of the various medical options available to treat obesity.

It is interesting to note that obesity might not just be due to an unhealthy lifestyle but can be associated with causes like genetic factors and hormonal imbalances which also need to be considered.

We now know that obesity within the BMI of 32 can be treated with lifestyle alterations and diet management and anything beyond that requires a different approach. Medical management and lifestyle modification cannot do much in the case of morbid obesity where surgery is the only option for sustained results.

Severe heart failure, unstable coronary artery disease, end-stage lung disease, active cancer treatment, and drug/alcohol dependency are some situations when bariatric surgery is not recommended.

Dr. Ashish Bajaj – M.B.B.S, M.D.

Treatments for Obesity

Bariatric surgeries are proven to have long-lasting and a significant impact on weight loss and have been practised by surgeons across the globe from around the 1960s. It can be divided into the Malabsorptive procedures (which involve the reduction of nutrient absorption), the Restrictive procedures (which decrease the food intake by adjusting the gastric band) and hybrid procedures which involve a bit of both.

”Surgeries which are done to manage obesity, are not cosmetic surgeries.”

Some of the health issues related to obesity are:

Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is a new weight loss procedure. It’s designed to reduce the volume of your stomach. It’s done by endoscope, which means there’s no cutting or scarring. Endoscopy has fewer side effects than surgery.

Dr. M.G. Kartheeka, MBBS, MD

Measuring Obesity

Measuring obesity varies as you age as your ideal weight and your overall body height changes with age. While you can find more bone and muscle mass in young, it is less in adults.

Hence, you should take into account the body composition analysis, basal metabolic rate and bone and muscle mass to determine how obese you are. You must also take into account the obesity-related diseases and health complications you have in order to treat them effectively.

Here are some tips to manage your weight:

In Summary

This Anti-Obesity Day, take a pledge to have an active lifestyle and manage your weight with the right attitude. While you do have a plethora of treatments available to treat obesity, only the right attitude and behaviour towards it would ensure longevity and a healthy body.

Also Read: How to Lose Butt Fat: Comprehensive Guide to a Toned Physique

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