Weight-Loss-Surgery Books

I bought this book to read before surgery. The book was very informative and has some good recipes in it too. The recipes can be made with stuff you already have in your kitchen and they taste great.

I'd recommend this book to any one.

Alicia
North Carolina

The book is an easy to read comprehensive review of everything a person needs to know if they are looking into having the surgery, preparing for surgery, going through the after effects of the surgery, or having a loved one go through the surgery. Points are presented in a simple format with lists, recipies and other resources to refer back to even after you read the book.

This is by far the best book I have ever read that describes the different types of Weight loss surgery and what one can expect. It details clearly from the preparation to the post- op process all that you will ever want to to know. Anyone who is considering weight loss surgery cannot afford to not have this book in their library.

This is a book that gives both sides of bariatric surgery. It is a helpful tool and is highly recommended.

This was the first of 2 books I read as I prepared for WLS. As my surgery date approaches (10 days) I feel confident about my outcome because I researced my doctors and made myself knowledgeable of what to expect. This book did the last part. It is easy to refer to and after finishing, I went back and high-lighted parts I felt I would need to refer to later. The part I liked best was the way the chapters were outlined at the beginning of each. If you needed information later and couldn't remember where you read it, you could look on the first page of the chapter and see what it contained. Written like a information book should!!!!

I purchased the first edition of this book when I had RNY 5 years ago and learned so much from it! When I found myself struggling with a 20 pound regain 4 years later, I took the book off the shelf and re-read it. I was reminded of so many things that I had forgotten along the way. With the help of this book, I got back to the basics and cut out the bad habits that I allowed back in my life. My reclaimed weight is now gone and so are 25 additional pounds that I didn't lose in the first place!! This book helped me to remember that I have a tool but it doesn't work on it's own. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone considering weight loss surgery as well as anyone that is already post-op and needing to remember where they came from. Additionally, it's a wonderful book to share with friends and family members that have questions or concerns with your choice for surgery. Read it and pass it around the family!

This book is packed full of FACTS on how to loose and keep those pounds off for good. This is a must have for the long-term success of all weight loss surgery patients.

Colleen Cook's book is an excellent resource for people who are either considering weight loss surgery or who have already had the surgery. As the director of the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery (www.nawls.com), I talk to people every day who are struggling with long-term WLS success. This is one of the best books I've read on how to be successful. I found the information to be practical and very useful. I apply Colleen's lessons to my WLS recovery every day.

The book is actually geared towards those that have had any form of restrictive gastric surgery, but I found it very helpful in making the final decision to have the surgery. It's straight forward and reads quickly. Can be read start to finish or just the area you're struggling with.

I had only planned on buying one WLS book because I only had a few questions left unanswered. Well, the first book told me everything I already knew and did not answer one of my questions. So one book became two and I ended up with 4 books when I finally decided to buy this book. Let me tell you, if you only want to buy one book then this is the book. You can find all the basic information about WLS on the internet and the surgeon will tell you all the basics too. But this book tells you things no other book talks in-depth about. This book is a must have for anyone who has had the surgery, is planning on having it, or is even considering it. You will read it again and again...I have.

If you're looking for an authoritative review of weight loss surgery, including how it could actually save your life, this is the book for you.

Morbid obesity is usually diagnosed when someone is 100 pounds overweight or 150% of one's ideal body weight. Dr. Flancbaum refers to this condition throughout the book as a chronic disease and offers a range of surgical solutions, along with the risks and possible complications. For anyone contemplating this route to losing weight, realize that the book leans toward the more invasive Roux-en-y (RNY) gastric bypass surgery. In my opinion, it reflects the 2003 copyright date as well as the experience base of most surgeons, who tend to favor what they know best.

However, RNY surgery is documented as more effective, usually resulting in more weight loss than the less invasive gastric banding (GB) surgery. This is due primarily to the dumping syndrome that causes patients to vomit high fat or sugary foods and the malabsorptive nature of the RNY procedure, which reroutes the small intestine to the new stomach pouch and prevents the normal absorption of nutrients. The book terms this surgery as "more radical," since it involves opening the body cavity and re-plumbing the patient's innards.

Compare this to GB surgery, which is generally performed laproscopically with thin instruments and a tiny tv camera to guide the surgeon through four or five small incisions in the abdomen. The plastic band is inserted around the upper part of the stomach, forming a small pouch that helps the patient feel full on much less food. The band permits a trickle of food through the small opening, which is adjustable to expand or contract for more or less food to pass through according to the patient's weight-loss progress. The book cites some negative issues that occurred early on with this procedure, and tends to write it off. But since the book's publication, GB surgery is gaining popularity primarily because it is adjustable, is reversible (rarely done), is far less invasive, does not cause the dumping syndrome, does not affect the absorption of nutrients and has many other advantages.

Regarding food choices and diet recommendations -- Dr. A. Hawasli, one of the most experienced laproscopic GB surgeons in the U.S. -- makes one diet book a mandatory requirement for his patients. Written by registered dietitian Theresa Malysz, The Duct Tape Diet includes a comprehensive listing of 6200 foods from the USDA database of branded items along with their content of saturated fat, protein, carbohydrates and calories. The book also contains a simple, easy to understand regimen for GB patients to follow so their food selections don't interfere with the intent of the surgery. The title originates from her husband's use of duct tape to wrap up those "diet villains" that often cause people to fall off the wagon -- an amusing technique from a book that employs humor to help those afflicted with curse of dangerous excess weight.

Current estimates of 10 million morbidly obese adults in the U.S. (BMI of 40 or more) constitute about 5% of the population and could reach as high as 23 million if the BMI range extends to 35 or more. Although other books on the subject reflect a lower estimate, the problem is all too common for any western society. The Doctor's Guide to Weight Loss Surgery is one of the best guides to help you make this decision, which is not a magic solution to the problem, but is effective for anyone who can't do it any other way.

I have read this book several times and it is the only book on this subject that you will need. I have read the others but this book has EVERYTHING you will need to know INCLUDING how to select a surgeon, and even how to get approval for your surgery. A MUST HAVE ITEM IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING WLS.

If you are considering WLS and need to compare operations and get a basic overview, then this is the book for you. It covers pre-surgery questions as well as post-op concerns. I would recommend giving this book to your surgeon or primary care physician to inform them of the surgery. I work as a library assistant and recommend this book to my patrons. It has been the only book I have found that gives good basic coverage of the subject.

I depended on Dr. Flancbaum before and after my weight loss surgery in the same way that I depended upon Dr. Spock when my children were small. His book became a dog earred companion on my nightstand--well read and well loved. I would recommend it to anyone considering this surgery!

I am the father of a highly overweight adolescent girl, whose furure may include weight loss surgery (WLS). This book explained the many issues involved not only about the surgery itself, but, importantly, about many basic concepts about obesity (including very useful definitions and formulas about what constitutes obesity). The book also clearly discussed the critically important subject of the co-morbid conditions (diabetes II, high blood pressure, e.g.)that can be caused by obesity. The danger of obesity, as mainifested by the presence of these co-morbid conditions, was dramatically described. These issues, as well as the more technical description of the various types of WLS surgeries, was set forth in a manner that was easily understood by this lay person. I felt as if I was involved with a personal consultation with the physician/author, where the surgery was described, and the potential risks and side effects, and benefits, were being explained to me in a very understandable way. The book also contains an ending chapter of Frequently Asked Questions which provided an excellent review of the entire book's contents, and could serve as a condensed version of the book should a reader just wish to address a certain issue, and have the answers presented quickly and directly. The book greatly advanced my understanding of the meaning and problems of obesity, and placed me (and ultimately my daughter)in a substantially more enlightened and informed position to make a potential decision about whether or not my daughter should undergo this surgery.

I just finished this book and have a couple thoughts. This author is incredibly insightful and the reader is given so many jewels of wisdom about parenting and the outcome. For instance she says: "The immature mother subconsciously believes that the magical trick is working and that the sacrifice of the child is appropriate to history and circumstances. It seemed to provide my mother with some sense of justice, of payback, "of now it's time to get mine." Profound and original stuff, and there is a lot of it in this book. Alexis Morgan has reached incredible insight and understanding here, but at what a cost to her life... it was simply horrific to read.The physical-mental-emotional torment this author went through was not only life-threatening but also stole her happiness and rippled through her family disaffecting the health and happiness of her daughter and it could not have been good for her husband and others. Ripple negative impact from a deliberately destructive individual. It made you want to reach through the pages of the book, go back in time and make the author a ward of the state at age four.

Yet, through it all... 60 years... the author's mother took pretty good care of herself.

What's kind of disturbing is the pride with which this author describes her mother's career accomplishments and "good moments" of non-abusive interaction.

While the book is intensely personal and the author's analyses brilliant on many relational points, I was concerned for this author on one important point. When it is obvious that this author's mother is pathologically competitive, jealous and cruel, I just don't know why anyone would keep going back to the well for more... it just cannot be worth it. Ms Morgan speaks of geographical distancing and gradually setting boundaries, but clearly that wasn't enough because as she points out you cannot control what other people say and do and her mother continued to sucker-punch her with abject mean-spiritedness even when the author was in her 60s. She left the house at 19; why blow four more decades on trying to make her mother into someone she couldn't be?

It seems obvious to this reader that that the sooner this author walked away the better for her. She was destroyed over and over by this mother and the mother's influence on her brother... what's the point? I understand the time frame the thinking on this took place; the author is in her 60s. I think a more enlightened point of view nowadays would be to cut it off with someone this overtly cruel, even if he/she be a parent. The author repeatedly references the Fourth Commandment, to honor thy parents, as a guide to her behavior but it is the book's bad message. If the parent is narcisstic bully with no empathy or regard for her daughter, then how is honor the proper response? It just isn't. Unconditional love in return for deliberate life long cruelty/deprivation/neglect is not reasonable. Period.

And this point is easy to make in two quick arguments. While pretty much everyone can reproduce, not everyone is psychologically healthy/mentally balanced.Clearly, in the innumerable permutations of the human personality there are people who cannot wish for better for their children or even wish them well. And, there are those, like this author's mother, who actively wish to destroy them when they have power over their lives. I see total avoidance and self-protectiveness more than forgiveness and continuing interaction as the solutions here.

Secondly, what does "honor" mean? Refusing to deal with someone that uses every opportunity to do you harm, and/or historically has basically destroyed you over and over is not the opposite of honor. And there is one more point that the author seems to miss: this author's mother functioned better, even normally, in areas of her life like her civil service job, but not with her daughter. Her daughter, this author, consistenly triggered vicious jealously, competition and vengefulness. Evidently, this narcissitic mother saw her darling four year old daughter and felt mostly rage and resentment and retaliation and then with a sense of entitlement acted on those emotions... for a lifetime, refusing to recognize or be grateful to this child for all she was forced to do. Heartless. Nefarious. Unforgivable.

I would defer to Alice Miller's point of view on the "honor thy parents" commandment when dealing with a sadistic parent. When a parent is this destructive it is a pathology and that person needs to be cut out of your life. Go to the book by Alice Miller: "The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effect of Cruel Parenting," in regards to the Fourth Commandment, Page 130: "... as soon as we opt out of this value system it would be absurd for an adult woman to be expected to honor her parents for either being brutally cruel to her, or for looking on and failing to intervene." Exactly. She goes on to say that the idea of most therapists is that success of therapy is forgiveness of the errant parent by the person in therapy and goes on to explain the ridiculousness of that position. I would hope that this is changing in therapy-world.

Page 53 of the same Miller book: "People who have done you such harm do not deserve your love or respect, even if they are your parents. The price you pay for such filial devotion is appalling, the terrible physical torments you repeatedly go through. You can free yourself from the Fourth Commandment."

Other than the constant trying to make a relationship work with her mother the book had some outstanding analyses. I wish Ms. Morgan the absolute best.

While ultimately I found the book inspiring, it was difficult to read in a continuous sitting. I found that I had to "digest" one chapter at a time. The writer's story made me feel uncomfortable at times. Perhaps because it reminded me of things I had experienced and would rather forget. I do believe her personal discovery has important messages for the reader. And the exercises or meditations at the end of each chapter are very helpful to someone on the road to recovery/discovery. However, this is not a book for someone who is not ready to seriously examine why they have used fatness as a source of protection. It can be quite painful to do the work the author has done. It was well written and well organized.

This is a courageous account of one person's journey to authenticity. The writter's struggle was with obesity but the concepts can be interchanged to apply to anyone suffering from any addiction. I would recommend this to anyone who is tired of living with the emptiness of trying to please everyone but herself and is ready for self-awakening.

This is one of the most powerful and beautiful books I've ever read. Ms. Morgan relates her issues with food addiction back to her often traumatic childhood. I have had problems in my own life with obsessive eating and always wondered why. The questions to the reader at the end of each chapter were so helpful to me in my own discovery of this question. This book is for everyone seeking an understanding into their addiction or a loved one's addiction. It is thought provoking and so beautifully written. You won't be able to put this one down!

This book details one woman's attempt to overcome both her health problems and her traumatic past. It is useful not just for those seeking to lose weight or overcome abuse but for those looking for their internal strength to overcome obstacles in their lives. This book is more than an autobiography, it is more than therapy. It is a journey of spiritual and personal growth for readers and how one woman found the courage to overcome the haunting memories of an abusive childhood and use that experience to help others.

This is a great book if you are thinking about any kind of body plastic surgery. It has great descriptions and pictures. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great overview of total body lift surgery. Dr. Hurwitz is a pioneer in this field and the book gives you a complete explanation of what can be done to reshape your body after massive weight loss. The personal case histories and photos are amazing stories in and of themselves. Most importantly, it educates the reader about the key questions you need to ask yourself and your doctor before you go ahead with any procedure described in the book. Highly recommend it!

The book is only superceded by it's author! Dr. Hurwitz is a genius, and truly cares about his patients. I have many health problems and see many physicians, but none seem to care about or love what they do as he does. He is a perfectionist, and studies his finished work carefully. I am from Pittsburgh, and he repaired work i had done by another surgeon here. You have no idea the work he had to do! Yet he performed the surgery beautifully and was extremely fair cost wise. It has only been a month since my abdominoplasty/liposuction, and I am healing beautifully and ready for my cruise next month.
Sincerely,
K A Bridge

A must read for anyone considering plastic surgery. Dr. Hurwitz has written a book for those of us wanting and needing comprehensive knowledge of what to expect before, during and after such an extensive, life changing procedure. This book also captures the heart of this surgeon, giving the reader the pleasure of an introduction to, if they're lucky enough, the Doctor who will sculpture their body......and change their life forever, as Dr. Hurwitz has done for me.

The TOTAL BODY LIFT by Dr. Dennis Hurwitz is a must read by anyone who is considering having gastric bypass and for those doctors who treat the obese. It not only gives in great detail all the procedures done in the Total Body Lift but also give excellent information on gastric bypass. There are very detailed drawings of the procedures with before and after photo's. I personally have had the Total Body Lift done by Dr. Hurwitz after losing 175 pounds. It is a most amazing transformation. After being overweight since I was 7 years old and continued to gain after each child, I have never been an average weight. After that extreme weight loss there was a lot of hanging skin, though pleased that I looked better and was the healthiest I have ever been; still I was not happy with how my body looked. After the Total Body Lift, the skin was tight and I had a figure, now fitting into a size 10 jean was just incredible. Dr. Hurwitz is a brilliant surgeon that combines plastic surgery with art. To be able to transform all the hanging skin into a nice looking figure after so many years of obesity is truly amazing. In addition to his skill, his wonderful bedside manner, warm personality and his wonderful staff I feel like I am part of the family. He is truly a unique individual that we (the ex-obese) are so fortunate to have. Thank you Dr. Hurwitz for my amazing transformation.

The book arrived quickly and was in perfect condition. I have never used amazon.com before and am very impressed by the quality of the books and how quickly they arrive at your doorstep.

This is an excellent book about the AGB before and after surgery. Very easy to read with lots of personal stories from AGB patients. Highly recommended!

Great book! Helps answer any questions you may have about the band. I love this book!

This book tells it all. Everything you need to know, whether a patient, a prospective patient, a family member, or a professional, is covered here. It provides an easy to read, well-written, comprehensive look at the realities of these life-or-death decisions. The book covers the subject tactfully, without watering down important information. Anyone who needs information on this subject should get it here.

Go to any public area and it's difficult to ignore the fact that as a nation we have more and more people who are substantially overweight. It's equally true that huge numbers of diets have not worked for large numbers of people, and that in a growing number of cases significant weight is a potent health issue. For those without other options, surgery is increasingly within the realm of consideration.

Any surgery is risky and not something to be advised without extensive, individual and qualified medical consultation. The Goldberg book at least explains the issues involved and then raises the core questions and cautions that can be discussed with physicians.

Surgery is a big deal and it makes sense to get as much information as possible. Goldberg's book, co-authored with two physicians, is useful, helpful but not judgmental. For many readers, that will be the right combination. I, for one, very much liked what I saw.

I love this book! Not only are the calorie counts LOW, but the recipes are easy to follow and the outcome is beautiful and delicious. I made a huge meal for company using 8 of the recipes, and the total calorie count was under 500. The meal was so beautiful and bountiful that no one would have thought we were eating a low calorie meal! Chef Dave knows when adding just the right compliment to a dish is worth the investment...and the product will make you just want to try more from this book!

Whether you are overweight or just know someone who is, this book offers a personal point of view from a physician who has been there and tried all sorts of dieting solutions, etc before deciding that surgery was the appropriate solution for her.

She deals with the emotional issues of being overweight, the various attempts at dieting and exercise and combines this emotional roller coaster with the understanding of a physician.

Finally, she discusses objectively the decision process toward solving her overweight problem, why she made the decisions she made, how to determine what is best for the individual, and finally what to expect before , during and after varoius surgeries if that route is chosen.

What an intimate and often painful look at a person whose life revolves around a scale! Lee has me, a lifetime thin person, feel an empathy for people with a weight problem. I think he's very brave in baring his soul the way he does in his memoirs. I found myself routing for Lee and his goals, both personal and professional.