Archive for May, 2009

Using the Bodybugg® Calorie Management System After LAP-BAND®

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

The LAP-BAND® and REALIZE™ Band procedures can be effective catalysts for large-volume weight loss, and have helped countless individuals create a healthier life. The key to success, however, rests largely with each person’s ability to manage their caloric intake after surgery. The bodybugg® personal calorie management system gives you a head start with an intuitive way to keep track of what you eat and how much you burn.

How Bodybugg® Works

Want to calculate exactly how many calories you are consuming? The state-of-the-art bodybugg® helps you stay in control. This program uses web-based software and an armband pedometer to help you track your calorie intake and achieve your specific weight loss goals. Bodybugg® uses patented physiological sensors plus your personalized information to produce specialized data you can use to evaluate your progress and refine your weight management efforts. The readings are highly accurate and reliable.  The multi-sensor approach, plus the precise and comprehensive personal evaluation process, make this device a unique and valuable tracking tool.

Bodybugg® records:

  • Motion from a variety of perspectives
  • The number and frequency of steps you take
  • Skin temperature and sweating activity
  • Heat produced by the muscles

Personalized guidance helps users get started during a 45-minute, over-the-phone coaching session. When you are ready to see your daily results, information is transferred from your bodybugg® armband to the computer, and a detailed summary of your calorie expenditure is generated. It can even display your average calorie burn per minute! Next, you enter in the food you’ve eaten throughout the day. The program helps you compare your short-term results with your long-term goals.

Highlights: The program is completely free of charge for the six-month trial period, and is compatible with both PC and Mac computers. For more information, visit www.bodybugg.com.

To find out how LAP-BAND® and bodybugg® can assist you in your journey to a healthier body, please contact Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum at Lap Band Rockies today. We’ll get you set up with a personal evaluation and help you decide if Lap-Band is right for you. 

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Calorie Tracking After Your LAP-BAND® or REALIZE™ Band Procedure

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

After weight-loss surgery with LAP-BAND® or REALIZE™ Band, proper nutrition management is integral to losing pounds — and keeping excess weight off for good. One of the primary reasons people fail to lose weight through diet and exercise alone is the lack of structure and an effective calorie tracking system. With these two popular procedures, patients have access to a follow-up plan that greatly increases their chance of long-term success. Here is some brief information on the current programs available.

 My LAP-BAND® Journey From Allergan

 My LAP-BAND® Journey is the comprehensive program from Allergan, the makers of LAP-BAND®, that guides patients through the steps needed to achieve and maintain great results. As you make the decision to have life-changing weight loss surgery, you can take comfort in the fact that this program is poised to help you stay committed, every step of the way.

Your program is completely personalized — letting you track your goals and monitor your body changes, activities, and moods. Checklists and reminders help you log every move and keep a close eye on calories consumed and burned. With this precise system, your progress is easily seen and a great motivator for continued success. More about My LAP-BAND® Journey available here.

REALIZE mySuccess™ for REALIZE™ Band Patients

The REALIZE mySuccess™ program is available from Ethicon, the company who created the REALIZE™ Personal Banding Solution. This program is designed to complement each patient’s desire for weight loss and a healthier lifestyle through long-term planning and evaluation. It is an interactive patient support system that promotes consistency and encourages success through education, tracking, and personalized guidance.

New patients can use this application to develop meal and fitness plans, maintain a link to their physician and healthcare team, and carefully monitor progress. The program is set up so that you can begin putting positive lifestyle changes into practice even before your surgery day. Features like myPersonal Plan, myFitness, myNutrition, and myProgress help you stay on track with calorie balancing and allows you to recognize problems before they interfere with your results. Learn more about REALIZE mySuccess™ when you click here.

BodyBugg® For Weight Control

The BodyBugg® device is a state-of-the-art piece of equipment that measures how many calories you expends throughout the day. As you input your calorie intake, the BodyBugg® uses a patented process to interpret calorie burn. Multiple physiological sensors help the device evaluate and interpret the input/burn ratio to produce reliable calorie expenditure data. Check back with our blog next week for a detailed presentation of how BodyBugg® helps patients track calories after LAP-BAND® surgery.

Learn more about the many ways we help you achieve success after weight loss surgery. For a personalized consultation, contact Lap Band Rockies.

— Lindsey Kesel, Bariatric Consultant

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The Weight Reduction and Exercise Program After LAP-BAND

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Exercise is one of the cornerstones of weight reduction with the LAP-BAND.  In previous blogs, we have written that the function of the Band is to control your hunger so you can become satisfied with less intake. That in conjunction with changing your overall approach to food (food to satisfy physical hunger not emotional hunger), in other words, behavioral modification plus making good dietary choices (high protein and low carbohydrate diet) plus exercise is the way to lose weight. 

Weight loss will occur when the expenditure of calories exceeds the intake. Exercise is part of the expenditure of calories.

The type of exercise required in this program is walking. It is not necessary to run or perform exercise so vigorously that you break into a sweat. Exercise designed for cardiovascular health requires a sustained 30-minute effort so that you build up your heart rate and maintain an elevated heart rate for at least 20 minutes. 

For some patients, walking is a real effort because of orthopedic problems such as pain in the knees or hips or feet. In these situations, walking in water can be of much benefit.  Water will tend to buoy you up and take pressure off the lower extremities. Also, walking in water is walking against the resistance of the water itself — making this form of exercise somewhat more strenuous than just walking on land.

Walking can be done in your neighborhood, at a mall if the weather is inclement, or on a treadmill or stair stepper. An elliptical machine is especially good because it avoids pounding on your joints with every step unlike a treadmill.

Thirty minutes of exercise five times a week is the absolute minimum. The 30 minutes can be broken up unlike cardiovascular training. Ten minutes before you go to work and 20 minutes later works well.  Significantly, patients who exercise more, lose more weight more quickly than patients who follow the high protein, low carbohydrate diet alone. We see this correlation again and again.   

Stay tuned — in future blogs we will discuss the role of computer programs to track caloric intake in conjunction with exercise (expenditure) and devices to track caloric consumption. For more in-depth information on the LAP-BAND procedure and follow-up program, please contact Dr. Jerry Kirshenbaum at Lap Band Rockies to set up a personalized consultation.

— Lindsey Kesel, Bariatric Consultant

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How LAP-BAND® Benefits Patients With Apnea

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

You may have heard about how the innovative weight-loss procedure called LAP-BAND® can help patients lose an average of 50 – 60% of their excess body weight* and fight the negative health effects of obesity. The benefits don’t stop there: Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can experience marked improvements in this condition thanks to the significant weight loss spurred by the LAP-BAND® surgery.

The Dangers of Apnea

Sleep apnea is a condition in which periods of stopped breathing occur during sleep due to a narrowing of the upper airway. In obstructive sleep apnea, the muscles at the base of the tongue and uvula relax and block the airway. The collapsed airway then causes the chest and diaphragm to become strained, resulting in halted breathing. The patient may gasp or snore in attempt to increase their oxygen intake, making the heart work harder and putting stress on the body. Apnea patients are put at risk for many dangerous health problems, including heart attack, stroke, fatigue, and hypertension.

How LAP-BAND® Can Help

In a recent study, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 86% of LAP-BAND® patients with apnea saw an improvement of the condition. There’s also an earlier Australian study which details how obesity-related sleep disorders like apnea often resolve after weight-loss surgery.

It is important to note that the long-term positive effects of LAP-BAND® on people with sleep apnea are contingent upon the patient’s ability to maintain the weight loss over time. In addition to improving obstructive sleep apnea, the LAP-BAND® procedure has been show to decrease patients’ risk of heart disease, osteoarthritis, Type II diabetes, and other obesity-related problems.

Thank you for your interest in LAP-BAND®. For more information on the health benefits of this procedure, please contact Dr. Jerry Kirshenbaum at Lap Band Rockies for a personal weight-loss surgery consultation.

— Lindsey Kesel, Bariatric Consultant

*Based on 8-year studies conducted in Europe and Australia. Weight loss is typically achieved over an 18-month to 2-year period. 

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