Does Fat Free February weight loss challenge address morbid obesity?

Hi friends! This blog covers how I lost 100 pounds without gastric bypass and recently I issued a Fat Free February weight loss challenge. It piggybacked on my No Junk January new year's weight loss and next month is March to Weight Loss. Maybe you're wondering how challenges like this can help lose weight when morbid obesity is a problem. Sure, 50 pounds, but what if I am 200 pounds overweight? That's different, right? I have to get gastric bypass surgery, don't I?

Well, the short answer, no. Weight loss, with calorie restricting as I used on the 1200 calorie diet, was how I lost 100 pounds. And if I needed to lose more weight, I'd have kept going. It will take longer to lose weight the more there is to shed but the process remains the same. That said, starting weight loss sooner rather than later is a good plan. And Dr. Now of "My 600-lb Life" will back me up on that. 

"My 600-lb Life" began with older overweight patients. Recently, the demographic seeking gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity seems to be getting younger. Alarmingly, many teens and even tweens of "My 600-lb Life" patients can't wait to reach majority to have a gastric bypass! This is systemic, generational obesity at its most terrifying. 

I was deemed overweight as a child and put on a 1000 calorie restricting diet. In 1972, what was considered overweight, for kids, was lower. And did that intense calorie restricting help me lose weight? No that was called adolescence. Adult obesity set in well into my 40s, after losing to stillborn babies and being on the antidepressant Paxil for depression and anxiety. 

But I digress. So how can weight loss challenges like Fat Free February end obesity? By getting the ball rolling. Even if gastric bypass is on the horizon, patients still have to lose weight prior to surgery. Yes, there is a lot of back-and-forth about the effectiveness of calorie restricting on a 1200 calorie diet. But I will say, from experience that how I lost 100 pounds began by realizing that I had to change how I ate. I couldn't keep making excuses and overeating because I was getting more overweight every month. 

If you need to lose weight, won't you join me on this Fat Free February weight loss challenge then stick around for March to Weight Loss!