Follow up on "The Shrinking Woman"

This radical surgical procedure should be the final option in cases of clinically severe obesity.

- Dr. Weitz

BIG ISSUES: Obesity: The Choice Between Life and Death
Part 2: A Window of Opportunity…A Lifestyle Change Manual: Dr. Larry Weitz

You have heard them. You might have even said them. "I barely eat anything and I just cannot lose the weight," or "Diets never work for me. I lose the weight but cannot keep it off." Dr. Lawrence Weitz has heard these reasons and many more from extremely overweight individuals who feel trapped inside their obese stories. A licensed psychologist, massage therapist and doctor of natural medicine, Dr Weitz has spent 25 years working with morbidly obese patients examining their behaviors and lifestyles. By following his lifestyle change approach, many are ripping out page after page of unhealthy eating habits and emotionally destructive behaviors in their stories. Chapter by chapter they are writing new life stories of health and happiness.

As Connie Jackson mentions in Part One, many post bariatric surgery patients wake up to changed bodies while their minds and emotions have changed little if any. Whether you decide on surgery or not, Part Two A Window of Opportunity…A Lifestyle Change Manual provides you with basic information for achieving or maintaining the physical body you desire while creating a "real" lifestyle that supports a healthy and sustainable future. Dr. Weitz's program focuses on three key areas: cognitive (thinking through who you are and what you do) behavioral strategies, self awareness strategies and nutritional information.

You did not arrive in this world as an overweight person. The way you have been living your day to day life over the years has resulted in your overweight condition. The cognitive behavioral strategies involve identifying, documenting and analyzing your eating habits in order to change poor eating habits that have formed over a period of time. You may not think you eat very much, but when you write every bite down, the totality of what you eat in one day can be surprising. This approach also asks you to record emotions and feelings. When you see on paper that you always stress eat when working on a big deadline, you can address this behavior. By substituting exercise or a healthy snack before your next deadline, you can start forming a positive habit for dealing with your stress.

Secondly Dr. Weitz introduces self awareness strategies which promote personal growth, enhancement of interpersonal relationships and better management of stress. He describes how you can use your fantasies to achieve the reality of being thin and staying thin. Instead of ceasing to dream you can dream big and even be encouraged by your dreams.

Finally, there are not any short cuts when it comes to the importance of understanding and educating yourself on proper nutrition. In Part Two: A Window of Opportunity, Dr. Weitz uses a simple format and addresses the important elements of nutrition one at a time offering healthy choices in each area.

Also included in the book are think questions which inspire you to apply what you are learning to the pages of your own story. Quick Fixes also help you create new life chapters by providing positive alternatives to some of the self-destructive "quick fixes" you may have used in the past. Each Quick Fix is designed to teach you a new set of skills to replace your past habits of obesity with habits that foster physical, mental and emotional health for the future.

Whether you commit to weight loss surgery as Connie Jackson did or not, identifying and making lifestyle changes has to be the first step to a successful plan to lose weight. Part Two: A Window of Opportunity does not give you somebody else's weight loss story alone and leave you to follow it. Instead, this book gives you the tools to help you write and create your own story of health and happiness based on who you are and the future you choose.