Losing Weight With Your Spouse

Remember the day you got married? You promised to love each other in sickness and in health. And, you may not have realized it, but you also promised to gain weight… together.

A Canadian study showed that people who live together, or spouses, tend to have similar body mass indexes (BMIs). Also, if a shared environment is conducive to weight gain, like having a full stocked pantry of unhealthy foods, risk of obesity increases.(1) 

So what can you do to combat the inevitable? Here are some ways to lose weight with your spouse.

Be an Example

Sometimes, to initiate change, one person needs to take the first step. If you are ready to change, but your spouse is not, start leading by example. Carve out time in your day to work out, and choose to make recipes that are healthy for the whole family. If you do the grocery shopping, make some small changes by adding more fruit and vegetables to your cart. By having healthier options in the house, you – and your spouse – may be more likely to choose healthier foods.

…But Don’t Nag

There is a fine line between leading by example, and expecting your spouse to pick up on your new-found good habits instantly. Ask her to join you for a walk, or offer him a healthier option for a snack, but don’t point out all the wrong he or she is doing to his or her own diet. In the end, they could come to resent your healthy ways, and insist on sticking to their routine habits anyway.

Set Goals Together

Be honest with each other about expectations and set goals so the both of you have something to work towards.

Some weight –loss goals might be taking a vacation together, registering for a local 5K race together, purchasing a piece or workout equipment, or trying a new restaurant for a healthy dinner out.

Meal Plan Together

Choose recipes both of you enjoy, and offer to try something new once a week.

Plant a Garden Together

There’s something about growing your own garden of fruits and vegetables that can inspire you to eat healthier. Challenge yourself with new recipes from your garden, or plant your favorites so you know you’ll always have things you like fresh from your backyard.

Work Out Together

Work out together while adding a healthy dose of competition and you have a winning team! You and your spouse promised to support each other the day you married, but you can also bring those vows into your workouts. Challenge each other to increase the intensity and duration of your work outs.

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.

(1)Katzmarzyk PT, Perusse L, Rao DC, Bouchard, C. Spousal resemblance and risk of 7-year increases in obesity and central adiposity in the Canadian population. Obes Res. 1999; 7: 545-51.

Fast Food – A Real Addiction?

While jury is still out on the existence of a real addiction to fast food, some scientists suggest that the high fat, salt and sugar content of fast food may increase the addictive potential (1).

And fast food tastes good, which makes people want it even more.

Conquer Your Fast Food Addiction

If you find yourself pulling up to the take out window at a fast food restaurant more often than you’d like, here are some tips to help control your fast food addiction.

1. Keep healthy non-perishable snacks on hand all the time so when you are hungry, you don’t need to resort to fast food. Good options include 100-calorie pack unsalted almonds, protein bars, or fresh fruit.
2. Limit fast food to emergencies, when you are out on a road trip, for example, and need to stop for something quick to eat.
3. If you must eat fast foods, eat healthier options. Choose salads with light dressings, grilled chicken sandwiches on whole wheat bread, open faced sandwiches, chili, and unsweetened beverages. Skip the fries and avoid super-sized portions.
4. Feel comfortable making special requests. Ask for light dressings on the side, whole wheat bun, grilled not fried, extra vegetables on sandwiches, hold the cheese and sauce.
5. Know what you’re eating. Read up on the nutritional value of the fast food you enjoy- once you see the caloric content you may think twice before indulging.

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.

(1)Is Fast Food Addictive?; Garber AK, Lustig RH. Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2011 Sep;4(3):146-62.

Can You Be a Vegetarian and Have Weight-loss Surgery?

Cara Stewart, RD, LDN, is a member of the Penn Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery team. In this blog post, she discusses vegetarianism, and why being a vegetarian isn’t a roadblock to weight-loss surgery.

Well-planned vegetarian or vegan diets are appropriate for the weight-loss surgery patient. A recent study at the University of Oxford in England reveals that the risk of hospitalization and death from heart disease is 32 percent lower in vegetarians than in people who eat meat and fish.

Researchers say that the health benefit is likely related to having lower blood pressure and cholesterol. While following a vegetarian diet is likely not enough to prevent heart disease, choosing more meatless meals can decrease your intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, as well as increase your intake of heart-healthy unsaturated fats and fiber.

What’s the Difference Between a Vegetarian and Vegan Diet?

A vegetarian diet excludes meat, poultry and seafood. A vegan diet additionally excludes eggs and dairy. While these foods are staple protein sources for people who have had weight-loss surgery, there are a wide variety of plant-based protein sources from which to choose. It is important to carefully plan a post-op vegetarian or vegan diet with a registered dietitian to ensure adequate protein intake. Since plant-based foods are less protein-dense, vegetarian, and especially vegan patients, may need to use protein supplements for a longer period of time to meet the daily goal of 60 to 80 grams of protein per day.

If you are a vegetarian or vegan and are pursuing or have had weight-loss surgery, talk to one of the program dietitians about how to maintain a healthful diet and consume nutritionally balanced diet after bariatric surgery.

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.

Tips to Cut Sugar Out of Your Diet

The average American consumes about 34 teaspoons of sugar a day – more than three times the recommended daily amount! If you’d like to make a healthier lifestyle change, consider cutting down on your sugar intake.

Why We Eat Sugar

We may not be aware of it directly, but when we are tired or feeling sluggish, our body craves carbohydrates for energy. Sugar is – you guessed it – a carbohydrate.

Carbohydrates aren’t the enemy though. It’s the refined added sugars that can be dangerous. There is a long list of “added sugars” include high fructose corn syrup, white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, raw sugar, malt syrup, maple syrup, fructose sweetener, liquid fructose, honey, molasses, anhydrous dextrose, crystal dextrose. .

Foods containing simple sugars may offer a quick burst of energy, but when the body metabolizes sugar quickly, blood sugar levels may dip suddenly, and cause the body to want(or crave) more carbohydrate to increase the blood sugar.

Sugar Hides Everywhere

It’s hard to believe, but sugar – and its aliases – hides in all food from bread and mustard to yogurt and juice. While it may be difficult to remove all sugar from your diet, it’s easier to focus on the sugars you can control, such as using less table sugar in coffee or tea, drinking fewer sodas, sports drinks, or sugar sweetened juice drinks, and consuming fewer or smaller portions of desserts, ice cream and candy. Also use the “Nutrition Facts” label on food to identify just how much sugar is in a serving of food or beverage. The ingredient list will tell you what type of sugar the product contains.

Cutting Out the Sweet

If you want to cut out the sugar in your diet, first start slowly. Lower the amount you add in your coffee, trade your soda for a glass of water, and switch to a lower-sugar cereal for breakfast. Try adding more protein to your diet to keep up energy levels, and if you must have something sweet, reach for a healthier snack like a banana or apple with peanut butter.

Cutting sugar out of your diet can be challenging because so many of us are used to adding sugar to our diet. But, once you break yourself of your sugar habit, you will probably find you have more energy, and may even see the numbers on your scale go down.

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.

Lisa Speaks! Motherhood Before and After Losing 166 Pounds

Lisa Harris of Clementon, NJ, was a self-proclaimed “yo-yo” dieter her whole life. Moved by her father’s dying request to get healthy, Harris had gastric bypass surgery at Penn Medicine with Alan Schuricht, MD, FACS.

Springtime is a reminder of new beginnings. Dormant trees wake up, migrating birds return, and we begin celebrating important things, such as honoring special women on Mother’s Day.

In August, 2010, shortly after my father passed away, I took my two teenagers on an impromptu vacation to an amusement park about three hours away. I didn’t realize the physical toll it would take on me. I made sure that we left the hotel extra early each morning so we could get to the park well before it opened. My reason was simple: Get the best parking spot possible so I didn’t have to walk so far.

Unfortunately, the walking inside the park was worse than any parking lot. At least the parking lots were flat. In the park I had to deal with hills and steps. Day one was exhausting. By day two, I’d pulled my dad’s cane out of my car and was using that for assistance. I watched as my kids rode roller coasters and other thrill rides. Many of the rides had a “test seat” near the entrance, so people of questionable size could try before they waited in the long lines. I tried one seat with dismal results, and decided that I would try no others. I could feel people staring at me.

Lisa, 3 weeks post-op.

My obesity was embarrassing to me, and though they never said it, I’m sure it was embarrassing to my children. I purposely avoided activities at their schools so their friends wouldn’t see me. As a mother who wanted to be very involved in her children’s lives, my self-imposed exile hurt all of us in one way or another.

Less than nine months later, I was on an operating table in Pennsylvania Hospital, in the skilled hands of Dr. Alan Schuricht. My gastric bypass was done a couple weeks before Mother’s Day in 2011. I was three weeks post-op when my daughter attended her senior prom. When we took pictures before the prom, I half hid behind her. Less than two years later, I was able to fit into her prom gown!

Lisa - in her daughter's dress!

Since then, I’ve adopted a new, healthier lifestyle. Just last weekend, I accompanied my son’s high school percussion team on a trip to Wildwood, NJ. On Saturday morning, I decided to go to a local convenience store to get fruit for my breakfast. My smart phone told me it was .4 miles from the motel. Drive or walk? No brainer! I walked it. My car remained parked from the time I arrived in Wildwood until the trip was over. I walked everywhere I needed to go.

I recently passed the two-year mark from my surgery. Since then, I’ve lost 166 lbs. I look back on years past and sometimes it saddens me, realizing how much of my kids’ childhoods that I purposely missed. Now that I’ve entered a new phase of my life, I’m determined to never again let my weight be an issue. I’m finally able to keep up with my kids. Sometimes they can’t keep up with me! I’m trying to influence them to lead healthier lives too, with less processed foods and a LOT less fast food, and more fruit and vegetables. Together, we’re a healthier, more active family.

My new life means that I’ll be around for many more Mother’s Days. Every weight-related health issue I had is now gone. Best of all, I’m not afraid to be out in public anymore!

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

When Lisa decided to gain her health for good, she took the first step by joining an information session about weight-loss surgery at Penn.

You, too, can learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.

Does Hypnosis for Weight Loss Work?

Have you ever seen hypnosis for weight loss advertised as a surefire way to lose weight for good? Some people are putting their minds in the hands of hypnotists in the hopes hypnosis for weight loss will help them shed pounds.

In fact, some hypnotists are using hypnosis to walk patients through a weight-loss surgery procedure in hopes the sessions will trick the mind into thinking they’ve had the surgery and, thus, need to eat much less.

But does it really work?

“Unfortunately, there is very little evidence to suggest that hypnosis can help people lose a significant amount of weight or maintain those weight losses in the long term,” said Dr. David Sarwer, member of the Penn Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Team and Director of the Stunkard Weight Management Program.

Bottom line: Hypnosis for weight loss may help in the short term, but for long-term success, an overall lifestyle change through diet and exercise is the only way to lose weight for good.

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.

150 Pounds Gone with Penn Medicine

It was a day that was supposed to be filled with joy and excitement for her granddaughter, who was graduating from Junior high school. For Robyn Irving, it was a joyous day, but it was also one that was filled with embarrassment.

“I was in the auditorium, looking for a place to sit that would accommodate my 397-pound body,” remembers Robyn. “I attempted to squeeze into one of the seats, but was unable to fit. I felt so embarrassed. A member of the school staff placed an armless chair in the back of the auditorium for me. There I sat far away from the graduation program barely able to see and hear my granddaughter at such a proud moment in her life."

A week later at a routine check-up, Robyn’s family physician told her she was borderline diabetic, and that her blood pressure was extremely high.

“That diagnosis scared me,” she says. “I knew I needed help. I wanted to live.”

Advice From A Friend

Robyn’s co-worker had gastric bypass surgery at Penn Medicine, and offered her advice and support when Robyn asked her about her experience.

“After that conversation, I made an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Williams, who felt I was a good candidate for gastric bypass surgery,” she says.

Robyn struggled with her weight most of her life. She tried popular weight-loss programs and even diet pills. “I would always get off to a great start,” she notes, “but then I would just gain the weight back plus more.”

With the support of her primary care physician, Robyn began her journey to heath.

Bypass: Before and After

At 58, Robyn was 397 pounds and was wearing a size 6X in scrubs that were specially ordered for her at her job at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

But it wasn’t the size of her clothing or number on a scale she set her sights on, it was the seat belt in her car.

“At almost 400 pounds, I couldn’t fasten it,” she says. “It was a daily reminder that my weight was not only a health concern, but a safety one as well.”

Robyn had gastric bypass surgery on January 9, 2012, and since that date, she has seen many milestones.

"I am so grateful to have had a wonderful team of nurse practitioners, and nutritionist who helped me through every milestone that waited ahead of me," says Robyn.

“So far, I have lost 150 pounds, my pre-diabetes status is gone, and my blood pressure is normal,” she says. “I take great delight at being able to buckle my seat belt in my car now.”

Robyn also enjoys taking Zumba classes, walking, line dancing and working out at the gym with her daughter.

“I’ve discovered new foods too,” she says. “Spaghetti squash is one of my favorite things to make. I just cut up some chicken breast to have with it, and throw some low sodium tomato sauce on top for a great meal. Learning to shop and read labels at the supermarket has been a great experience also.”

Everyone is proud of Robyn, including her granddaughter whose graduation ceremony inspired the healthy lifestyle change.

“I had great support teams from my family, friends and church family who encouraged me and cheered me on when I needed that extra push to stay in it to win it. I shared my story in church and was able to show them my journey from the 6X scrubs,” says Robyn.

“Thank You Penn Medicine. I am blessed to have had the chance to change my life and find health again.”

Lose Weight at Penn Medicine

Penn can help you lose weight for good. 

Learn about medical weight loss in Philadelphia, and the Penn Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Program at a free information session about weight-loss surgery in Philadelphia.

There, you will hear about your weight-loss surgery options, and how Penn can help you lose weight and get healthy for good.

Register for a free information session today.