Managing obesity isn't for the weak!

JECole2013

So, I've turned my thinking in a new direction ... tackling obesity like those who tackle diabetes or any other chronic illness.

Even though I lost 140 pounds with gastric bypass surgery 13 years ago, I still have the disease. That means that not all tips for weight loss and physical health work for me.

I respect those who want to tone up or drop baby weight or get physically fit. But their journey, though looks a lot like mine, isn't.

My body doesn't process food the same way. That is not to say that the general rule of calories in, calories burned, calories stored doesn't apply, but that is really where the similarities end.

So it is important that I learn the details of obesity, and apply them.

First, I have learned not to blame myself for my weight. Yes, I have some responsibility, but not all of it. Obesity isn't truly understood by the medical community. If it were, we wouldn't have the current crisis in the US.

Trying to fight my obesity is like trying to put together a puzzle without all the pieces and without the full picture. We have a lot more to learn.

In the meantime, I've learned that there is enough information available to manage my obesity.

First, I need to understand my problem. Where am I in my journey?

Obesity causes emotional trauma in a person's life. Trauma has steps to healing. Where am I on that journey?

Am I addicted to sugar? If so, I need to deal with that first. There is medical help for sugar addiction.

Next, how is my current physical health? Heart? Thyroid? Blood sugar? I need a clear picture.

Once I have a picture of the problem, the full problem. Then I can big to make a plan.

With a plan, I have the highest change of success at staying healthy and sending obesity into remission.

2000chances

J.
Lots of research on Obesity at


The Academy for Eating Disorders
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
America on the Move (tm)
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE)
American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists (ABPNS)
American Council for Fitness & Nutrition
American Diabetes Association
American Heart Association
American Institute for Cancer Research
American Physiological Society
American Society for Nutrition
Canadian Obesity Network
Centers for Disease Control
The Endocrine Society
European Association for the Study of Obesity
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
Harvard School of Public Health - The Obesity Prevention Source Website
Healthy People 2020
The Hormone Foundation
International Association for the Study of Obesity
International Obesity Task Force
Let’s Move
Kidney & Urology Foundation of America
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Obesity Action Coalition
Shaping America's Youth
Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior
S.T.O.P Obesity Alliance
Weight Control Information Network
Worldwide listing of Associations for the Study of Obesity (from the IOTF website)
Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity
Obesity Journals
Obesity —the leading journal on obesity
International Journal of Obesity
Research Centers
Aberdeen Centre for Energy Regulation and Obesity (ACERO)
The Merck Frosst / CIHR Research Chair in Obesity
Mayo Clinic & Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Medical University of South Carolina Weight Management Center
Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center
The Minnesota Obesity Center
Monell Chemical Senses Center
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health
The New York Obesity Research Center
Obesity Research Center, Boston Medical Center
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Nutrition Sciences (and Obesity Research Center)
University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Interdisciplinary Obesity Center (IDOC)
University of Pennsylvania Weight and Eating Disorder Program
Recruitment for Obesity Studies (See also Research Center listings above.)
Please Note: Researchers wishing to list their studies in this section must provide The Obesity Society with assurances regarding IRB approval, confidentiality mechanisms, types of information to be obtained, specifics of any intervention, and any other uses of the patient contact information. The Obesity Society also requires reciprocal linking.
ClinicalTrials.gov: -The National Institutes of Health, through its National Library of Medicine, developed ClinicalTrials.gov to provide patients and the general public with current information about clinical research studies.
Information on Obesity
Healthcare 411: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Solutions: Eradicating America's Obesity Epidemic
Association for Coordination and Research in Obesity and Nutrition (in French and English)
CDC: Healthy Youth
CDC: Overweight and Obesity
Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: Evidence Report
F is for Fat
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health
Patient Information Documents on Nutrition and Obesity (NIDDK)
Shape Up America
TOPS: Take Off Pounds Sensibly
Toward a National Action Plan on Overweight and Obesity: The Surgeon General's Initiative (December 7 & 8, 2000) (archived videocast)
US Department of Health and Human Services: Childhood Obesity
Information on Nutrition
Food and Nutrition Center (USDA)
Food Surveys Research Group (USDA)
Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA)
United States Department of Argiculture - MyPyramid

JECole2013

Thank you so much... this is great!