| 
 Jennifer Tripp's weight gain accumulate later in life, after
college. By her late 20s, Mrs. Tripp carried 269 pounds on
her 5'4" frame. She rarely exercised and found that over
time, even climbing the stairs was difficult. The weight also
interfered with her sleep habits, causing sleep apnea. Even
worse than these physical limitations, she says, was the treatment
she received by total strangers.
"People definitely act differently towards you when
you are overweight," she relates. "They stare in
a negative way or make comments. It was very insulting. It
got to the point where I stopped going out with my friends,
which was difficult for me because I have always been a very
outgoing person."
She tried every diet available and lost a little weight
here and there, but it always returned. Her eating habits
veered out of control, and she would sometimes stop at McDonalds
and order two sandwiches and super-sized French fries for
herself, only to feel hungry an hour later. Frustrated with
her inability to set limits on her eating, Mrs. Tripp began
to explore the option of gastric bypass surgery, a procedure
some of her friends had undergone.
Her search led her to the office of Michael Nusbaum, M.D.,
F.A.C.S., general surgeon at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.
Dr. Nusbaum initiated the laparoscopic procedure at the Medical
Center over three years ago. After meeting the surgeon and
his staff, Mrs. Tripp decided to have the surgery performed,
even though his office was an hour from her home near Princeton.
"He was just so comforting and the office staff was
incredible," she says.
The surgery went well and her weight loss was rapid. Despite
some discomfort over the first four months, she slowly added
more foods to her menu and could eat more nutritiously. In
the first month Mrs. Tripp lost 40 pounds, and continued to
lose 11 to 18 pounds every month after until her weight reached
122 pounds nine months later.
"There is no food as good as weight loss," says
Mrs. Tripp, who now works at Curves, a women's fitness center,
and encourages others to reach their weight loss goals. "Now
everything is wonderful. When people stare now, they mean
it in positive way, unlike before. I would wake up and do
it all over again."
Mrs. Tripp has found a new interest in eating right and
staying healthy, especially now that she is expecting a baby.
When she meets an obese person who shows an interest in the
surgery, Mrs. Tripp brings out a before surgery photo to share
and offers to tell her story. She hopes that more people learn
that this procedure can help to "change their lives."
For some of the 26 percent of Americans considered obese
because of a weight that is 100 pounds over ideal body weight,
gastric bypass surgery is sometimes the method of choice for
returning to a healthy weight and lifestyle. Severe obesity
is a multisystem disease that can produce medical problems
that include high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, degenerative
arthritis and sleep apnea. Now performed laparoscopically,
gastric bypass surgery requires a shorter hospital stay and
there is less postoperative pain.
Any individual with serious weight problems can now be part
of a comprehensive program at The Obesity and Weight Management
Center located at the Saint Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center.
The Obesity Center has been developed especially for people
who have not been helped by other weight loss methods, and
those who require lifestyle management before and following
bariatric (weight-loss) surgery.
Individualized treatment plans based on specific patient
needs include: nutrition counseling, supervised exercise programs
monitored by exercise physiologists, psychotherapy, support
group participation, and integrative therapies such as acupuncture,
massage, hypnosis and herbal consultation. For more information,
please call the Obesity and Weight Management Center at (973)
322-7007.
[ top ] [ back to
index ] |
