Expectations rise for surgery to stem obesity

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helloklitty at 10:17 PM JST - 14th September

People are lazy and do not want to exercize.

I even heard Sylvester Stallone say he hates working out.
helloklitty at 10:20 PM JST - 14th September

Be like the tortoise and not the hare. Just cut 100-200 calories a day and increase exercise so that you burn another 100-200 a day and lo and behold you'll become slim in a year or two. This is the easiest way to keep it off for life.
aj2o1 at 03:01 PM JST - 15th September

obesity in Japan? It's gotta be sumo wrestlers.
LoveUSA at 03:56 PM JST - 15th September

Exercise is boring boring...how to make it interesting? Yesterday I went to a dance class and was so bored...45 minutes and watched the clock all the time and wondered when this torture would finish. All the classes bore me to death and tire me to death. I wish at least to have a sexy teacher and coach like Bobby Boot Camp.
LoveUSA at 03:57 PM JST - 15th September

PS. Two hours exercise yesterday and results is zero...maybe I shall stop exercsing ...and get the operation.
n3312 at 04:09 PM JST - 15th September

More often than not, it's a matter of will. Limit calorie intake to about 500 calories per meal and 300 calories for snacks. Eat less carbohydrates. At the very least walk 30 minutes a day. Strength training is good. Get enough sleep to stabilize metabolism. Another important thing: don't expect instant results. Results will be apparent at the very least after a month. If it starts to work, you'll lose 2 pounds a week - a healthy number. Any higher and it's probably a health condition. When the weight loss stops, your weight is more-or-less ideal.
stirfry at 06:29 PM JST - 15th September

Two hours exercise yesterday and results is zero

wow 2 entire hours huh...probably should let some quack slice you open then
Cos at 07:36 PM JST - 15th September

@LoveUSA, that's not easy but possible with a good program. I had put on many kilos when I was in a bad and boulimic period of my life, and then, when that was over, I lost them. The most important is to have the psychological motivation... and well, if I knew the recipe, I would never have had the problem in the first place.

If you are just overweight, get the advice of a　nutritionist and a sport trainer if you don't know what to do. If you want online support and gym-buddies, try dailyburn dot com. For the food, there is no one-fit-all pattern, you must evaluate your personal needs. You can starve yourself at 2500 cal a day while that will be too much food for your neighbour. For exercise, quantity and intensity matters, and results depends of each person, of what you can actually do. Personnally, I need to run or swim 1 hour a day, plus do yoga, to lose 1kg per week (on good weeks). But, even if you want to do it, you don't get up from your couch one morning and start running 10 km with 100 kg of overweight on your joints, and there is no way you sit in lotus position with sumo legs, especially if you have not done any sport since high-school. The morbid obese really need special programs, and medical help. I don't criticize the operation when it is the last chance for people that can no longer move nor do it another way. Anyway after they will have to control their diet and exercise too.

I wouldn't stay 45 minutes at a boring dance class, unless they pay me a lot. Was that bon-odori ? If you prefer ping-pong or kick-boxing, go for it. There are thousands of sports, you will find something fun. And you're sure you cannot find sexy teachers ? The young guys in wet shorts that are teaching the aquabics to the batchans at my local sports club tend to be...ahem ... interesting to watch, and they know it, their managers know it even more. You should shop around.
Mexicanish at 08:58 PM JST - 15th September

Bypass should not be a solution to obesity. Try diet and exercise, discipline.

I don't really think this is much of a problem in Japan... .5%? That's nothing. Maybe SOME people are just meant to be fat? The lazy, undisciplined ones. Do you think obesity was an issue in our caveman dwelling days when food was scarce and exercise a form of survival? I highly doubt it.
LoveUSA at 10:38 PM JST - 15th September

Maybe SOME people are just meant to be fat? The lazy, undisciplined ones.

some people even with discipline and diet cannot control well their weight. There are thin people who eat nonstop and fat people who diet non stop. World is not fair.

The young guys in wet shorts that are teaching the aquabics to the batchans at my local sports club tend to be...ahem ... interesting to watch, and they know it, their managers know it even more. You should shop around.

Unfortunately at my gym all aquabics instructors are ladies :( Maybe I shall find a cute squash partner willing to play with me for 30 min. or more.

I wouldn't stay 45 minutes at a boring dance class, unless they pay me a lot. Was that bon-odori ?

Not bon odori. It was Latin dance with belly dance elements. The problem is I am very conservative and cannot do 70% of the dance for moral reasons.
Darren White at 12:28 AM JST - 16th September

Duh ... eat less / move more. It's not exactly rocket science.

Japan is said to lag behind other advanced countries in terms of surgical procedures for morbidly obese people.

That's because they aren't as fat. Ever been to Texas ?

Severe overweight is a serious issue in the United States

Couldn't they get a native speaker to translate this ?
LoveUSA at 02:27 PM JST - 16th September

That's because they aren't as fat. Ever been to Texas ?

No, I have not been to Texas but in Tokyo there are many fat people.
dolphingirl at 09:09 PM JST - 16th September

Hmmm...I don't see that many overweight people in Japan now... I think if we learn good eating habits when we are young and lead an active life, surgery like this is not neccessary.
rewetzel1 at 07:32 PM JST - 17th September

I rarely see any obese people. I live in a rural area of Chiba though. I suppose you see them out and about in Tokyo while here they're hidden in their cars while the rest of us normal BMI folks are doing the 30min walk to the station. And yes, there are in fact people that can't loose weight medically. If you have hypothyroidism or PCOS you're pretty much screwed. No amount of exercise or willpower will take your barely crawling thyroid gland and make it do anything.
Hotbox08 at 05:10 PM JST - 18th September

As usual, Japan is slow in needing this type of surgery. They've had this type of surgery for obese people for years and years in the U.S. Of course, it's because the number of obese people in the U.S. are well, growing to say the least. Then again, quick-fix problems like this make a lot of money there.