Weight-Loss Surgeries Skyrocketing
Found an interesting article at Forbes.com regarding weight-loss surgeries. As you can tell by the headline, they are on the uprise.
The number of Americans who had weight-loss surgery quadrupled between 1998 and 2002, new research shows.
This isn’t too suprising, but what suprised me is the cost of such procedures. Forbes mentioned these surgeries costing on average $13,215, up from $11,705 a year ago. Jesus I could think of much better ways to spend that money. I only hope that the people getting these weight-loss surgeries are changing the way they eat and excercise as well. Just because you have lost 50 pounds doesn’t mean you are healthy (yet!).
Here’s a sad fact from the article:
The current obesity epidemic has left almost one-third of the U.S. population obese (with a body mass index or BMI of 30 or greater), and close to 5 percent are morbidly obese (with a BMI of 40 or higher).
We need to change our lifestyles fellow Americans! Stop with the fast food! Stop with the lazyness!
I’m not strictly against weight-loss surgeries, I just think that you still need to change the way you live after surgery. For some people though, it’s a great kick start.
Studies of people who have had surgery for obesity, on the other hand, found that, with gastric bypass, patients lost 61.6 percent to 70.1 percent of their excess weight. As a result, 76.8 percent of individuals saw their diabetes disappear.
