Surgeon's Life

Upon my arrival to my latest doctor's appointment, expecting my usual yearly physical results to be normal. I have always been active, that is until my last month of pregnancy through 6 weeks postpartum. During that time the most exercise I was getting was walking to the bathroom due to bed rest. Since then I have been walking and doing yoga every morning along with my dance class on Tuesdays. I have experienced all levels of weight: underweight, normal, slightly overweight, and apparently obese. Once my doctor came into the room he sat silent on his little black stool. He stated the obvious, that I am the heaviest I've ever been. Along with that he added that he'd like for me to consider getting a gastrointestinal surgery. He felt that I cannot lose the weight on my own. He said that being at my age, 27, that it would take too long through diet and exercise to stop irreparable harm to my body. I am over 100lbs overweight according to the BMI standards. I should be weighing between 95 to 120lbs. I am a whopping 230 lbs as of this moment in time. Yet I feel healthy. How can I feel healthy at 230lbs? I am very active. Besides being a fulltime stay at home mom with a new baby I scrapbook and craft, paint, dance, play DDR Extreme 2, play soccer and football with my younger nephews, clean all the time, do yoga, walk, and I am a board of director for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center as well as a volunteer. So I decided to mull over the idea of the surgery. Once I returned home I decided to do some research on gastrointestinal surgery. How healthy is a gastrointestinal surgery? Let us begin to examine whether or not gastrointestinal surgery is the healthiest option as opposed to diet and exercise.

Normally, as food moves along the digestive tract, digestive juices and enzymes digest and absorb calories and nutrients. After we chew and swallow our food, it moves down the esophagus to the stomach, where a strong...