Arkadiusz weighed 164 kg. “Moving was a nightmare”

According to data from the World Health Organization, one in eight people in the world suffer from obesity, and 2,8 million people die each year from diseases caused by it. Obesity is becoming one of the most serious health problems of the XNUMXst century. Fortunately, medicine is able to deal with them better and better, helping patients to recover, regain their lives and fulfill their dreams postponed for years.

1. In Poland, according to data from the National Health Fund, three out of five adult Poles are overweight, one in four is obese
2. According to experts’ estimates, by 2030 every third Pole will be obese
3. Obesity is also a problem among minors. Currently, every fourth child in Poland is overweight or obese
4. Check your health. Just answer these questions  
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Regained life – Arkadiusz Kling

One of the patients who underwent bariatric surgery is Arkadiusz Kling. Before the surgery, he weighed 164 kg and needed even several dozen minutes to walk from where he worked to the car, which is about 800 meters.

– Every move was very difficult for me, and getting around was a nightmare. After the treatment, during 12 months, I achieved a weight reduction of 50%. I also realized my greatest dream, running in marathons. This is one of my greatest successes in life – says Mr. Arkadiusz. – Why do I put getting rid of obesity so high? Because I struggled with it most of my days, it cast a shadow over everything I did and couldn’t do because of it. I also remember the omnipresent ostracism that happened to me at every step. This in turn caused depressive disorders, a loss of self-esteem, which I tried to mask by disregarding the problem, saying that nothing was happening – he adds.

Diet and exercise, as well as changing the way of life after weight reduction, were of key importance for weight reduction. – I try to stick to the rules that were given to me after the surgery and live a fully recovered life, unlimited with obesity – he supplements the statement.

Feet of water under the keel – Wojciech Szczepanowski

There is probably no better testimony to the fortitude and effectiveness of medicine than the example of Wojciech Szczepanowski. An avid active sailor, he once caught his breath with great difficulty, weighing over 150 kg. Interestingly, the idea to go to a specialist appeared to him somehow by accident. He went to an internist with malaise, hypertension, chronic fatigue. It turned out that all his health problems stem from obesity.

During medical visits and tests, it was decided to reduce the stomach. Today, three years after the surgery, Mr. Wojtek reduced the weight by over 50 kg, from 153 to 100. From what he says, the greatest advantage of the whole situation is the feeling of control over your own body.

– My mobility has definitely improved, which is much greater than the loss of one third of my body weight. For me it is very important, because it is very difficult for an obese person to move around in narrow passages on sailing ships. I love the wind and the sea, I love sailing. My huge overweight disturbed me a lot – emphasizes Mr. Wojtek.

– Today, three years after the operation, I am a happy man, light – he laughs. “All the time I was preparing for it, I received tremendous support from my family and friends. I have never faced disapproval, but I know that overweight people, obese people have a hard life and every day is a challenge. Not only related to the disease itself, but most of all to the reactions of people in the store, means of communication and public space – he concludes. She also points out that the key to maintaining the effects of the treatment is self-control and diet. However, it is not about individual ingredients, but rather about maintaining the level of the right amount of consumed meals. – In other words, just not to stuff yourself – he adds.

The rest of the article is available under the video.

Life on the way – Wojciech Zawitowski

The third hero whose story of fighting obesity can inspire is Wojciech Zawitowski, a truck driver. As he says himself, in the worst times of his illness, he felt like an overloaded truck.

– I traveled long distances with 150 kg on the meter. It felt as if the steering wheel was cutting me in half. Everything was fine until the 90s of the twentieth century, then I started to gradually gain weight, until in 2018 I reached almost 200 kg, and by 200 I only missed 13,4 kg. It was the end, a disaster. Obesity began to make it difficult for me to practice the profession that I have been working in for over 20 years. I was faced with the vision of losing my livelihood, being a professionally active and independent person – says Mr. Wojtek. In the worst period of obesity, he weighed 186,6 kg with a height of 176 cm. – My problems grew in proportion to my weight gain, and I fell into a vicious cycle from which I could not get out. I was able to eat four full lunches in one meal. In addition, there was stress, which was eaten with more snacks, etc. It was a way to lose – he adds.

After nine months of surgery, the weight reduction was over 50 kg, but it is not the end of the road. The therapy is ongoing, the plans are to reach 90 kg and return to sports. It is worth noting that before the stage of serious obesity, Mr. Wojtek was practicing bodybuilding, which he intends to return to. But most of all, its goal is to regain fitness of the body and self-acceptance, because, as Wojciech adds with a smile at the end, “in a healthy body, a healthy mind”.

He also draws attention to the often (hidden, and sometimes open) lack of acceptance for obese people in many environments that once affected him. As he emphasizes, it happened to him repeatedly and it hurt very much, which he tried to mask with indifference. – As an obese person, in my professional environment I was treated like an alien, a visitor from another planet. It was a mixture of surprise and contempt. Very destructive – she adds.

The above stories show what problems obese people have to face, but also how bold decisions they make. My medical experience shows that treating obesity alone rarely works. Mainly because even the best of them, when used as scrupulously as possible, eventually gets abandoned, leaving the patient with previous habits and nutritional mistakes, leading to a new weight gain. Permanent weight reduction to the desired level is difficult, and often impossible to achieve for people with obesity who try to heal without the support of a team of specialists who treat obesity in a comprehensive manner.

The most common solution is bariatric surgery. However, the gastric reduction surgery alone is not enough. Life after the procedure must change in order for its effects to last for a long time, preferably throughout life. We need from several to several weeks for education, diagnostics, preparation of the patient for surgery, work under the supervision of a dietitian and psychologist, depending on the patient’s health condition and initial awareness, while when the patient goes to the hospital for surgery, treatment, thanks to the use of minimally invasive laparoscopic techniques , lasts a very short time, and the patient can leave the hospital two days after the surgery.

What is obesity and when does it start?

Obesity is a chronic disease – because it is a disease, not an aesthetic disease – with complex causes that develops over the years. The most important factors are the favorable configuration of genes and the way of nutrition. The lifestyle, its pace, regularity and the amount of stress are also important. Obesity is measured by the body mass index – BMI (Body Mass Index). If our BMI is above 25, it means overweight, obesity starts from 30. Problems related to obesity should be considered on two levels – health and comfort of life. An obese patient begins to develop diseases that are a consequence of obesity more quickly. And there is a whole spectrum of them: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid disorders, etc. Then atherosclerosis appears, and this is a straight path to premature death due to cardiovascular diseases. In addition, obesity leads to problems with the locomotor system, sleep apnea, fertility disorders and the development of certain cancers, such as cancer of the colon, breast or endometrium.

The second aspect concerns the patient’s mental sphere and functioning in society. Obesity is often accompanied by depression. This leads to a decrease in self-esteem, avoidance of social contacts, social isolation, often a worse position on the labor market, as well as problems in the relationship. As a result, there is often some kind of social exclusion, resulting not necessarily from the lack of acceptance of friends or family, but from the own choice of an obese man who chooses loneliness because of it.

The problem is also the functioning lack of social acceptance. Cultural stereotypes about the shape of the body shape have resulted in the fact that obese people face discrimination and often stigmatization on the part of society. This phenomenon especially affects women. In the course of the research conducted by SW RESEARCH in 2020, almost half of the respondents admitted that someone from their environment experienced ridicule because of their weight, and every fifth physical violence. Openly about physical violence was mentioned by 6 percent. overweight people and over 11 percent. obese people.

Obesity Treatment

Poles obtain most of the information and advice on a serious disease such as obesity from pseudo-experts on the Internet, worsening their health. For years, to aggravate the disease, they use pseudo-diets, test wonderful ways to lose weight, use pseudo-advice. It is surprising that when treating other metabolic diseases, Poles go to the doctor, and they try to deal with obesity on their own, which is doomed to failure.

In order for the patient to be treated effectively, he must be taken care of by a team of specialists in obesity and metabolic diseases clinics: diabetologists, endocrinologists, nutritionists and psychologists. At the very end, the surgeons come in.

Today, the most commonly used procedure in the treatment of obesity is bariatric surgery. Patients with III degree obesity – with BMI over 40, patients with second degree obesity (BMI 35-40), if they suffer from at least one obesity accompanying disease, incl. fatty liver, hypertension, osteoarthritis, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea and diabetes. The latter, especially poorly amenable to pharmacological treatment, is also a recommendation for bariatric surgery in patients with obesity grade I (BMI 30-35).

It is commonly believed that one should go under the knife only when obesity is a direct threat to life. The problem is that the patient becomes life-threatening the moment he becomes obese. Obese people live by at least a dozen or so years shorter. Research shows that the risk of death in people with a BMI above 40 increases 7 times in men and 2 times in women. In Europe, about 10-13 percent. deaths are due to obesity. When young patients ask if it is too early for surgery, the answer is one – the longer you wait, the more you lose the chance for a normal life. It is the young man who will gain the most, because thanks to this he has a chance for a long, active, healthy and fulfilled life. People over 60 are struggling to improve the comfort of functioning rather than life expectancy. That is why it is so important that young people suffering from obesity are aware of the consequences of this disease. Unfortunately, this advanced obesity is increasing among young people.

The most effective surgical treatment is wrongly demonized. Bariatric operations (i.e. operations aimed at reducing body weight) are burdened with a very low risk of complications, and the risk of death in the course of treatment is no greater than in the case of treatment of acute appendicitis, and amounts to less than 0,1%. Laparoscopic techniques and many years of experience of medical teams make the surgical treatment of obesity extremely safe and effective.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to emotions. Often times, a particular sight, sound or smell brings to mind a similar situation that we have already experienced. What opportunities does this give us? How does our body react to such an emotion? You will hear about this and many other aspects related to emotions below.

Also read:

1. A cure for obesity? Promising research results
2. Problems at home foster obesity in girls
3. Little known causes of obesity
4. Obesity – an epidemic of the XNUMXst century