morbid obesity

Question
.. I am trying anything here, I weigh probably 400 lbs or more I'm37 y/o male ,... my knees are shot my hip joints are bad , I am short of breath and I can no longer work ,... please some one be a guiding light ,... I am going to die i cant move in this condition , I need some help diets I cant stick to I get hungry and it makes it worse because I binge ,I dont want to die ,....

Answer
Hi Steve,

I will help you lose weight to the best of my ability, but first I'm concerned about your being short of breath and I wonder what other medical conditions that you might have secondary to your weight. You should definitely seek medical attention if you haven't already, because I can't give you medical advice--for obvious reasons--you're not my patient! I don't know the first thing about your individualized needs. In this setting, I can give only general advice.

On the weight loss issue, only your doctor will be able to tell you if it's urgent that you lose weight right away because of any particular health condition. In that case, he or she might suggest gastic bypass surgery.

However, if your doctor says you're well enough to approach weight loss a little more casually, you might consider my plan. Others before you have used the same methods and have lost very, very large amounts of weight. There was a young married couple on the Today show that employed similar methods to what I advocate, and between the two of them, they lost over 500 pounds!

Steve, before I tell you more, I'd like to point out very clearly that I'm a Christian doctor, and my methods hinge upon my faith in God. I'm very blatant about it in my book and in the advice I give on my website. I don't want to offend anybody, and I really didn't set out to "evangelize." I'm simply trying to communicate what I've learned to people who are open to this kind of discussion. Is that okay with you? May I speak freely about my faith? It's so hard for me not to, because it's tightly interwoven into my thinking. I can't separate it out, particularly on this issue.

Just so you know, my methods are PERFECT for someone who binges. I don't directly discuss much about compulsive eating, but my methods allude to it. You might even decide to see a doctor for medicine to help you deal with the psych end of it, if it turns out that you are a compulsive eater, after all. Again, your doctor should be able to determine that.

I'm going to wait for your response (whether or not I can let my hair down and talk about God) before I tell you more information about my plan. I need to understand how to talk with you. As a doctor, I learned that I must communicate with different people in different ways.

In the mean time, please understand that I think about these issues in a very different way from the other Christian diet book authors that you might have heard of. One author who expoused similar ideas had very eccentric religious views, and it's too bad, because the nuts and bolts of her suggestions were on target. She could have helped more people if she weren't so peculiar in that way.

I agree with only one other Christian diet author(Judy Halliday, author of Thin Within). I love how she deals with the emotional issues underlying weight gain without painting a picture of God as being judgmental, legalistic, and harsh (like the other author does). However, IMO, Thin Within might seem to much like "chick lit" for you, being a dude.

Steve, I believe I can help you. Just let me know where you stand on the religion issue so I'll know what to tell you. If you disagree with me in that way, I will do my best to help you anyway, of course, but please try to forgive me if something about my faith slips out. It's just a part of me.

Deal?

BTW, I'm also a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation doctor, which means I specialize in writing customized exercise prescriptions for people with disabling conditions (like bad knees and hips). Perhaps you should check out the website for my medical specialty so you can find a doctor like me in your area. Go to www.aapmr.org. There should be a link to find a doc near you. Tell him or you that you want to lose weight, and he or she will probably give you a script for water exercise. Just my guess.

And if you want to check out the website for my Christian diet plan, it's at www.TheEdenDiet.com.

If you're still interested, let me know.

Dr. Hancock

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