My Lap Band Journey: Declaring Myself CURED of Obesity

I’ve decided that I am going to declare myself CURED of obesity.  That is a huge deal for me since I’ve pretty muchbeen obese my entire life, except for periods of yo-yo dieting.  As a matter of fact, when I came to this revelation I started jumping up and down, really excited.  I shouted to my husband in the other room unable to contain myself.  For those who know me personally – I’m pretty high energy and when I get passionate, well it can be interesting to watch. 

Now you may be asking:  “Why Gloria, do you think you can say that?  How can you be cured of obesity?”  Here’s a definition of the word cure that I found on a medical site: 

1. To heal, to make well, to restore to good health. Cures are easy to claim and, all too often, difficult to confirm.
2. A time without recurrence of a disease so that the risk of recurrence is small, as in the 5-year cure rate for malignant melanoma.

Here’s my rationale for claiming I’m cured.  There is no question that I am in the best shape of my life.  I have no obesity related co-morbities.  I recently took the RealAge test on Dr.Oz’s site and my body is several years younger than my chronological age.  The definition of obesity is a BMI of 30 or higher.  In a few weeks I will hit my 4 year “bandiversary.”  I have been maintaining a normal weight for over 2 ½ years.  I have a VERY high degree of confidence that my BMI will never reach 30 again but I am sure I will continue to go up and down a few pounds, just like a normal person.  So I know how to maintain my weight; it’s really not hard for me anymore as long as I have my lap band and I work it (for more on how I use my tool, click here).  So I consider myself cured. 

Why am I thinking so hard about this.  If you follow my blog, you know how passionate I am about this journey and you know how committed I am to paying it forward – that’s why Sandi and I started bandedliving.com.  As part of that commitment I read everything I can get my hands on about the obesity epidemic.  I recently devoured a very detailed and fascinating report (albeit long – over 100 pages) about the obesity epidemic in America (apologies to our followers outside of the US)  - if you’re interested in pouring through it click here.  Anyway this report got me to thinking, the battle with my weight is a very personal one yet looking at the bigger picture it’s a battle that needs to be fought on many fronts: 

1. PREVENTION: What can we do at every level to help prevent obesity, especially the growing problem of childhood obesity?
2. TREATMENT:  Is obesity treated as a disease?  Do doctors take it seriously or does bias get in the way?  What role will healthcare reform play in access to treatment?
3. CURE:  This one really got me thinking – of course we want a cure. There are over 15 million morbidly obese adult Americans and I was one of them.  Estimates are that obesity related medical costs in the US are over $150 billion per year and growing.

I’ve declared myself cured, but do you agree?  Just to put everything on the table, Sandi and I are in a heated debate about this topic.  Sandi would say that my disease in under control – since I firmly believe that if I lost my lap band I would begin regaining weight.  I need this tool and I need to work it every day.  So what do you think?  Is my obesity cured? 

UPDATE:  I forwarded this post to my surgeon.  Here is his opinion. “ I would say you are in remission until two more years go by. Obesity is a chronic recurring disease. Your cure is based on your behavior and the accomplishments you maintain as a result of your behavior.” 

What do you think?