Newspaper Article: "Weight Loss is Never Easy"

My mother sent me an article from her local newspaper, the Courier Post (South Jersey). The headline read, "'Weight loss is never easy': Bariatric surgery is a tool to shed pounds, but requires long-term lifestyle changes." You can read the article in its entirety here: http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013304010010.

I am glad she found it, and hoped she and my father read it. They have been worried about the procedure, and doubtful of my commitment and forethought. However, with reading this article, it emphasizes a lot of the things I've told them with all truth and earnestness. One of the most startling statistics (if true), to me, is: "Fewer than 5 percent of morbidly obese people can lose excess weight and keep it off without weight loss surgery." If my parents read this, I wonder if it hits home for them as well. My father was/is? morbidly obese, and last year went on the Nutri-System diet and lost around 70 lbs I believe. However, he is steadily gaining it back. I worry about his health because he has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I know with the weight loss he was able to drop some of those numbers. However, I don't know if they have gone away completely. Part of the reason he went on the diet was because his younger brother, also overweight, had a heart attack, and was found to have 90% blockages in his arteries. My dad decided to make a drastic dietary change to lose weight and save his life. While some of the things he learned in the diet have stuck, many of his old habits have returned and he is gaining weight. I don't know if he would go under the knife, considering he is turning 60 this year, but he would have my unconditional support and love if he did.

I'm planning on bringing this newspaper clipping with me when I go to my next appointment, if it's something the office might want to share with people at their office, or people who want additional resources after the information session.