Every year over 30% of Americans resolve that they are going to lose weight in the coming year. Unfortunately only about 9% of them feel that they have succeeded by the end of the year.
Carrying extra weight around can negatively impact your health. If you’re carrying extra pounds, you face a higher-than-average risk of over 50 different health problems. These health conditions include the nation’s leading causes of death—heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers—as well as less common ailments such as gout and gallstones.
Lose Weight to Feel Better
Losing excess weight can make you feel better both physically and emotionally and can help you live a longer, healthier life. Especially encouraging is the fact that you don’t have to lose a tremendous amount of weight to become healthier. Even a weight loss of 5% to 10% of your starting weight can lead to significant health benefits. Some examples:
- People with high blood pressure who lost 10 pounds over six months reduced their systolic blood pressure by 2.8 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure by 2.5 mm Hg. These reductions in blood pressure were equivalent to the reductions brought about by treatment with some blood pressure medications.
- Weight loss is so effective that many people with high blood pressure can stop taking blood pressure medicine after they lose weight, for as long as they are able to keep it off.
- In a study of people who were at risk for type 2 diabetes, those who lost 7% of their weight and exercised about 30 minutes a day cut their risk of diabetes by nearly 60%.
How Hunterdon Gastroenterology Can Help
Hunterdon Gastroenterology is the first in Hunterdon County to offer The ReShape Procedure; a new, FDA approved, non-surgical approach to weight loss that is proven to help people achieve and maintain weight loss. It is completely different from any diet, program, or procedure you may have tried or considered before. The ReShape Procedure was specifically designed for patients with a BMI between 30–40. ReShape may be a good weight loss option for people who do not qualify for or want surgery.
With ReShape, two connected balloons filled with saline (salt water) are placed temporarily inside your stomach in an outpatient medical setting. The balloon placement is completed endoscopically, without surgery. There are no incisions, scars, or permanent changes to your digestive system.
The procedure lasts about 20 minutes* while you are comfortably sedated under conscious sedation. An endoscope is used to insert the balloons into the stomach, and saline is used to inflate the balloons when they are properly positioned. Once the balloons are inflated, the endoscope is removed and the insertion procedure is complete. When filled with saline, the balloons help you lose weight and encourage healthy eating habits by taking up room in your stomach, so there is less space for food. You can still eat the healthy foods you enjoy, but the balloons acts to control portions, helping you feel full and less hungry.
After six months, the balloons are deflated and removed during a similar endoscopic procedure.
One Year of Comprehensive Coaching and Support
ReShape combines the portion-controlling benefits of the balloons with comprehensive coaching to change your eating habits, enhance your physical fitness, and help you adopt a healthy lifestyle that supports long-term success. While the balloons are inside your stomach, you will meet (monthly) with coaches and receive personalized nutrition, fitness, and behavior guidance to help maximize your success. After the balloons are removed, you will continue to meet with your coaching team to make sure that you maintain your healthy lifestyle to reach your goals. With ongoing coaching support, most patients maintain their weight loss or continue to lose weight.
Is this the year you will keep your New Year’s Resolution? Call Hunterdon Gastroenterology and let us help you to be your best, healthiest you for 2018!
*Individual results may vary.
References:
https://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/
https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-excess-weight-affects-your-health.htm
