NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Losing a huge amount of weight is next to impossible. So, some people have turned to Ozempic and Wegovy. However, weight loss specialists know that managing the behavior that led to obesity is a critical piece to losing weight.
“Obesity is a chronic disease,” said Dr. Sahar Takkouche, a Bariatric Medicine specialist at Vanderbilt University. “It’s not willpower. It’s not as simple as eat less, move more.”
Research shows 650 million adults worldwide are obese — meaning a BMI of 30 or higher. This leads to fatty liver disease, diabetes and metabolic disorder. Thirty seven percent of overweight women are also depressed and suffer from self-blame and loathing.
“I struggled a lot because, one, I didn’t love myself, and I really didn’t just care about life,” said Sidney Bynum.
Bynum, who weighed 745 pounds, said she had given up.
“When my brother called me and told me he had a dream of me dying, that was my turning point,” Bynum said.
In 2020, she got down to 527 pounds to undergo bariatric surgery; followed by anti-obesity medications. Vanderbilt doctors addressed the mental issues through both in-person visits and telemedicine because at that time she was not able to get up and move much.
“It’s important to have a multi-disciplinary approach – somebody who can see this patient holistically and not necessarily just treating the weight or the number on the scale,” Takkouche sid.
It clicked for Sidney.
“She came in and once we met, I saw a spark in her,” Takkouche said. “We connected, and I thought, ‘I have to help this person.’”
“She saw something in me when she first met me. And she saw how I just wanted to give up on myself, but she wouldn’t let me give up,” Bynum said.
Did it work?
Bynum now weighs 312 pounds, is able to walk and inside her body is much, much healthier.
Obesity creates low-grade chronic inflammation and metabolic disease. Adipose, or fat tissue, also leads to diabetes. If you suffer from chronic obesity, Takkouche said, seek out a multi-disciplinary program that addresses the behavioral causes behind the weight gain. That’s your best chance to lose it and keep it off.