ObesityHelp

On Thursday, January 19th we released the new myJourney feature, one of the most powerful ways to spread awareness about obesity, the weight loss surgery process and outcomes. We're proud to see each of you stepping up to show the world just how much you care about ending stigma, discrimination and prejudice against the obese community.

Today, we've launched updates to make it faster and easier for you to browse myJourney!  Our biggest change is to the interface, we’ve made it a lot more visual.  You can see an entire page of journeys at one time. If there are more journeys available, you will see a "Show More" button at the bottom that will quickly push out more for you to view.   

We've also added filters.  Now you have a quick way to sort the myJourney feature, there are filters available based on surgical status, surgery type and gender. With a couple of clicks, you can drill down and find others that may share a similar history as you. 


 

If you like to browse through each journey one at a time, the Previous and Next buttons are still available for you to utilize.  Don’t forget that we only highlight 3 questions but many times people answer other questions too, look for the “show more answers” to see what else people are sharing!




We’re pleased to let you know that myJourney is our first mobile friendly section on the website! Keep an eye out for future updates, where we’ll be making more of ObesityHelp.com easier to access via your mobile.

This coming Monday, we will be releasing new changes that will make ObesityHelp more helpful and customized for you. We're making it easier for you to find the exact professionals you need, adding ways that you can quickly add all of your procedures and reviews, and we're also introducing a way for you to share your Health Tracker data with your trusted professionals (In Private Beta). We're bringing all the resources of support, tracking, and information together in one place.

Professional Profiles

• Reviews can now be rated and sorted on a star system and by helpfulness
• You can remove, update and add to your professional reviews
• View member insurance experience as well as insurance verified by the professional
• You can connect with your professional via Facebook and Twitter
• Professionals can be associated with multiple organizations

Organization Profiles

• Write your review for an organization (Center/Hospital)
• Check out connected professionals, upcoming support group meetings and seminars

Maps and Directories

• Search the directories by zip code, proximity, city or state
• Quickly write your review within the directory listing
• Sort and filter alphabetically, nearest to your location or by reviews within the last 30 days
• Additional ability to filter by "Surgery Types Performed"

Multiple Procedures

• You can list multiple procedures (i.e., revision, plastic surgery), surgeons and dates

Health Tracker Professional Sharing (In Beta)

• Share your Health Tracker information with trusted ObesityHelp professionals
• Control what information you share with each professional
• Extend invitations to your medical care team not yet on our website

Do you have or planning to have the Lap Band or Realize Band? Well, tracking gastric band adjustments just got easier. Whether you have Lap Band or REALIZE Band, in just THREE easy steps you can record your band fills with ObesityHelp's new Band Adjustment Tracker!

Result: #30 Powered by RANDOM.ORG Comment by ewes on May 15, 2010 at 09:42am I found this to be so motivating. I have often said to friends that after years of *dieting* I have screwed up my metabolism so badly that there would not be a way to get it working again. Thank you so much for reminding me that it's NEVER to late to do something good for yourself.

Result: #36 Powered by RANDOM.ORG Comment by JadasMom on May 15, 2010 at 05:20pm I'm 10 months out, 110 pounds down and 32 pounds to go! I've been doing protein shakes for breakfast for awhile now - should I not be? I think I'll mix it up and try this for breakfast for a few weeks and see where that gets me - thanks for the great recipe. And BTW - it's so nice to see a photo of you Annessa - I've heard you on WIBC, but it's nice to put a face with your name. And I didn't know anything about Flourish! I'll have to look for that!

Result: #82 Powered by RANDOM.ORG Comment by slthomas on May 17, 2010 at 08:16am I like the idea of comparing the fuel for your body to the fuel for your car. Thank you for the

And the 2 winners for the article entitled "Stir-Fry on the Fly!" are 
 

Result: #22 Powered by RANDOM.ORG Comment by nancyrisk on May 16, 2010 at 02:19pm My husband and I loved this recipe. The peanut butter really made it good.

Result: #9 Powered by RANDOM.ORG Comment by Dianne_Shack on May 15, 2010 at 09:13am In our busy lives we can all appreciate something that is quick & easy! Love that it happens to have so much protein too!! Thanks for the recipe.

 

After a couple sneak peeks and a bit of beta testing, the new site updates and additions are now live. As you may have read before, here is a quick breakdown of the changes. 

The U.S. population is now at least two thirds overweight, with those designated as obese by BMI and other measures being the fastest growing group within this category.  It has been predicted that nearly one in two children will be overweight by the end of this year.   Obese children are the targets of ridicule, bullying, social exclusion and the like.  They are victimized by their peers, teachers, and other adults; even by members of their own family.  They are more negatively stigmatized as a group than kids with any other characteristic for which they might be targeted, be it race, ethnicity or some other defining characteristic.  The weight bias suffered by children is staggering, tragic and entirely avoidable.

Unfortunately, the prejudice-if not abuse-suffered by overweight children is not limited to them exclusively.  Many who are obese, whether overweight as children or not, often wrestle with body hatred, embarrassment–if not humiliation and shame, self-loathing and self-contempt, depression, damaged self-esteem and a range of missed or lost opportunities.  They suffer job discrimination, denial of job advancement opportunities and relationship frustration.  They are excluded from a host of social and economic opportunities simply because of their weight, size and appearance, regardless their intellect or substance, character or charm.  Most, if not all, of this prejudice and the obvious accompanying painful emotional fallout would never be an issue in a more sensitive, caring, understanding and embracing society.  Sadly, we have light years to go in accomplishing this in the one that we call home to Americans of all shapes, colors and ethnic origin....click here to read more.

When people say rude things to you, what is your reaction? What is your response? Is there a difference between your reaction and your response? For example, what would your reaction be if someone said to you, as they did to OH member Debbiejean, “Wow, you have lost a lot of weight. You look so much better,” how would you feel? Many people would feel angered by such a remark, some people would be hurt, and others would feel sad. Your reactions to a person’s rude comments are your feelings about it.

Your response, on the other hand, is what you do or say in return.  For example, Anjie’s response when someone said to her after her weight loss surgery, “You must feel so different” was “Nope! I’m the same person I always was.”  That is a healthy response. Anjie simply and honestly answered the person, while at the same time, gently educated the person that bariatric surgery does not alter who you are.

When someone rudely said to IBME, “Your neck looks funny” she said, “Not being able to resist, I shot back, ‘Really? I have a neck?” Where did THAT come from? Humor is often a good way to respond to ignorant comments. You not only entertain yourself, but you also make it clear to the person who made the remark that they committed a verbal faux pas....click here to read more.

As Spring rolls around everyone is looking at their New Year’s Resolution and wondering if they accomplished their goals, or if they should give up.

For patients with weight loss surgery, this is usually a fun time  because it represents one of the few times that weight loss goals have been met, and one of the few times that weight loss happened over the holiday season!

But this is not the time to sit back—in fact, this is the time, more than ever, to focus on behaviors and routines that will promote progress moving forward. For this, there are a few things to remember...click here to read more.

Today we released a number of small bug fixes and features. A couple of the most visible updates include the following:

- Large OH Groups (480 members or more) have had an issue that did not allow the group owner to send private messages to all members of the group at once. This issue has been resolved and owners of large OH Groups should no longer have an issue sending PMs to their entire group membershiper had OH groups. 

- When viewing a thread on the message boards you will see two new functions. The Quick Reply link allows you to quickly reply to a post without loading a new page. The Quick Edit button allows you to quickly edit your own posts without loading a new page.

**If you do not see the quick edit option in your own posts, your default HTML editor must be set to HTML editor #1. Click here to change your default editor.

Sneak Peak

We are also getting prepared to release some major changes and features in the coming weeks. The first of those is the addition of the Meebo bar. Meebo is an instant messaging client that will allow you to instant message with other members in your ObesityHelp friends list. If you choose, Meebo will also allow you to connect to other instant messaging services that you may use such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Facebook and others. There will also be an option to disable instant messaging if this is something you do not want to participate in.

We will also be releasing a new look with improved navigation and a redesigned homepage.

Improved Navigation

- Some of the tabs currently available will be removed and some new tabs will be added. This will provide easier access to some of the most important and highly used feautres on ObesityHelp.

- The new "Smart Menus" will be easier to read and navigate.

- The search bar will allow you to quickly search and drill down on areas you are interested in such as forums, members, photos and more.

Redesigned Homepage

- Before and After pictures will be reintroduced to the homepage.

- The latest blog posts from members, groups and the OH Blog will be readily accessible from the new homepage.

- There will also be a new section, OH Pulse, that will highlight community stats such as total pounds lost, calories burned, glasses of water drank, and activity minutes.

If you have any questions or experience any technical difficulty associated with this update, please click here to use the post on the main meassage board to let us know.

If you’ve lost a dramatic amount of weight, you already know the exhilaration of stepping on the scales and seeing that pounds are dropping off. And, you know the added joy of arriving at a day that you thought might never come—the day you reached your goal weight. But now, some of that delight may now be tempered by the fact that you find yourself with excess skin because of the weight loss.

As you probably know, this extra skin does not respond to exercise or more dieting. But, there is a way to resolve the problem: plastic surgeons can remove this extra skin. In this article, we’ll review a bariatric plastic surgery procedure for removing excess skin from the upper arms.

Arm Lift

The surgical procedure, called brachioplasty, or an “arm lift,” restores the contours of your arms from the elbow to the underarm. Arm lifts are becoming more and more popular following massive weight loss. Last year, about 9,000 people underwent arm lifts, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Click here to read more.