Before & After, Second - Living and Eating Well After Weight-Loss Surgery

The support you need to be successful with weight-loss surgery

If you're considering weight-loss surgery, or have already had it, you're probably filled with expectations, concerns--and a million questions. Author Melissa deBin-Parish knows what you're going through. She and her husband, Dan, lost a combined 300 pounds after their surgeries in 2003. Melissa went from a size 24 to a size 4, dramatically improved her life, and started her own support group to help other patients find the same success. Today, her website is one of the most popular and informed support groups available for patients. And now, with this comprehensive guide, she's combined the firsthand experiences of other weight-loss surgery patients with the latest medical information to help you:

• Decide if surgery is right for you
• Choose the best surgeon and procedure
• Overcome “emotional eating”
• Get the support you need
• And keep the weight off for life!

You'll also find invaluable insider's tips, delicious recipes, and journal pages to make your journey positive, successful, and rewarding. And, with the right guidance, you'll see just how wonderful it can be to transform your body, your health, your attitude, and your life.

Gastric Band and Beyond: Maximise your weight loss is a unique book designed to be a motivator, a comforter and an inspiration for those struggling with their weight. It is a modern-day survival guide that will allow you to shed the pounds and maintain your weight loss, giving you energy and a new lease of life.

There is a wealth of literature out there in the medical world about the details and outcomes of weight loss surgery but actually the operation is only a small junction on the long, tortuous road to successful weight loss. The complication rates, excess percentage weight loss and various techniques may be of interest to you but are actually less important than the questions like, ?how will I cope without comfort eating??, ?what will my partner think of me when I physically change??, ?how will I cope with increased interest from the opposite sex?? and ?what do I do about excess skin post operatively??. These are the questions that you probably want to know but are too afraid to ask your busy doctors.

How do we know this? Well, the main author is a patient, has received a gastric band, has battled with the ups and downs of post operative life and is a full time obesity nurse specialist and counsellor. She is uniquely placed to give an insight into the thoughts and feelings of patients from her own experiences and from the wealth of information from her clients that she has built up over the years. This approach and writing style is synergized with the experience of the second author who is a surgical registrar with a specialist interest in weight loss surgery. The two writing styles and approaches compliment each other and provide an excellent balance between empathy, compassion and fact.

The book takes the reader on a well sign-posted journey. The book begins with a chapter that will be of enormous comfort to anyone who has battled with the social isolation and emotional turmoil that goes hand- in- hand with being overweight. The feelings of self-loathing, guilt and fear are all explored in an empathic way and Sharon recalls her own very personal experience. The book then proceeds to explore the processes of seeking help and the trials and tribulations that this brings. Preparation for surgery is then explored. Surgery is demystified and this should relax any potential candidate. The very important long term post-operative guide to living with a band is detailed and this is where Sharon's experience shines through. The band is a tool to aid weight loss not the solution but with this book and its advice, excellent sustainable weight loss can be achieved.

In summary, this book is a must for anyone considering weight loss surgery and will be essential reading for those who have already had surgery.