Podcast Episode 22: Challenge of Obesity

I am certainly no genius, but I am an intelligent woman who understands that in order to lose weight One needs to do more exercise and eat fewer calories Simple I can hear you say Is it heck would be my simple reply Weight loss is much easier said than done after all it isn't as though food can be avoided It is necessary for existence My name is Anne Ensall. Join me as I reveal my successes and failures and delve into my personal insight into living with weight related issues. I will also try to give you an insight into what it can be like to live with a gastric band. band. First thing, make clear that weight bearing is no laughing matter. The 2021 obesity profile from Public Health England reports that obesity is associated with reduced life expectancy and a range of health conditions including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver and respiratory disease and cancer of course. Obesity can also have an impact on mental health. The Public Health England obesity profile classed obesity as one of the greatest long-term health challenges currently faced in England. Around two-thirds, that 63% of adults are above a healthy weight and of these, half are living with obesity. In England, one in three children leaving primary school are overweight or living with obesity with one in five living with obesity. By then, knowing the risks as I do, I managed to pile on the pounds. What makes me go to the fridge? This is something I have been asking myself for many years, more than I care to admit. I have been in the process of losing or gaining weight for as long as I can remember. In the early days, perhaps, the doctor had sat me down and in plain language told me of the dangers to my health. health I would have stopped and taken stock but unfortunately this did not happen. Even today doctors skirt around the issue. From a very early age many children discover that they are different from their peers that they play with or go to school with. In many cases overweight children are teased and bullied, and the effects of this can be profound on a youngster. The memories can remain with them for life, and looking back, I was no exception. Weight and bullying difficulties can lead to major issues with confidence, a lack of motivation and low self-esteem. Children can feel anxious and at times become sad in mood, which in turn can lead to comforted eating and more weight gain. It can become a vicious circle, which can be almost impossible to break in adult years, as I discovered. Now, don't get me wrong, not all overweight children become sad. Most of the time, I was a happy, carefree child who enjoyed childhood. However, the stigma attached to being overweight as a child can certainly affect one's overall quality of life. And unfortunately, there is no magic solution and there's no short, sharp fix to this. I found this out over many years. Know only too well that being overweight makes the body work harder to achieve simple everyday physical tasks, let alone take on a structured exercise regime. Activities such as climbing the stairs and walking the family pet become difficult to manage. Sometimes being overweight can make it hard to get deep breaths throughout the day, which may make it difficult to get adequate oxygen to muscles, tissues and brain, bringing on feelings of sluggishness and fatigue. All this and we haven't spoken about body image. For seriously overweight people like myself, exercise can become an embarrassment. Playing games such as rounders or tennis with friends was difficult for me. Excess weight did lead me to experience low energy, motivation, fatigue, and shortness of breath. In the end, I gave up, becoming happily content with my lot. I suspect this happens to many of those who carry a lot of excess weight. In my day, there was no help available, which I was aware of anyway. Now is a different story. The Leg Club partnership with Mr Motivator and the One Life Suffolk programme of exercise and dietary help have proved invaluable to me over the past several months. Weight loss and maintenance is influenced by a number of complex factors including biological, behavioral, emotional and environmental issues. How can people who have never suffered from serious weight gain ever understand the complexities, difficulties and emotions involved in managing a healthy diet and exercise regime? I also am now aware that weight gain can be caused by tiny imbalances of hormones and a slow metabolism, sometimes leading to an increase in appetite. I can probably identify with this one. In my case, I am now absolutely sure that it is a physiological problem because In the past I have tried fad diets, taken weight loss tablets, joined weight watchers and other clubs, had hypnosis and I desperately tell myself that I want to lose weight. None of these work for me. Add salt to the wound, dieting can lead to a seesaw effect of weight loss and gain, especially when a person has a lot to lose like me. It can feel like a never-ending battle. In my case, when my weight hit 23 stone, I opted for a laparoscopic adjustable gastric band. The device is inserted to restrict food consumption. The procedure done under general anaesthetic entails an inflatable silicone device being placed around the top portion of the stomach to restrict the consumption of food. It did not stop me from craving food, and so it was still a battle each day. Since my problem is overindulging in portion size, I bought myself a smaller plate and was delighted when the pounds started to drop away. day. I lost four stone. I was delighted. I could at last shop in stores that normal ladies frequented. I was able to get into clothes several dress sizes down, and a new wardrobe and a new me was born. For the first time in my life, I felt I was in some kind of control of my food intake. However, I soon discovered the lap and spring problems of When my lap band was fitted I, like many others, was assured that I would have ongoing support from a dietician and that band adjustments could be made as and when needed at the clinic. The dietician had been trained to carry out the procedure. Each adjustment involved injecting or removing silicone from the lap band's bladder via a port under the skin. A very simple procedure. However, this promise of support was short-lived. It was about 2016-2017 when funding shifted from hospitals to GPs and it was at this time that my hospital consultant told me that the dietician was no longer available and that he had to he had no option but to to discharge me due to discontinued funding for the lap band program. I had no idea how catastrophic this would be over the coming years. Lap band for weight loss can cause significantly significant damage to the esophagus and to the lungs especially when it is over restricted which in my case happened several times over the years. Each time, I was referred urgently to the same consultant who had fitted the device. On a couple of occasions, I was made to wait for anything up to three months for an appointment. In the meantime, I suffered severe acid reflux and was unable to sleep for more than an hour at a time. During these awful episodes, each Each time I fell asleep, I would wake up coughing because the acid had reached my lungs. Why didn't you sleep in a sitting-up position, I can hear you ask. I did. And it did not help in the least. Why did you eat late? I didn't. I couldn't eat or drink anything after 2 p.m. I couldn't go down. Even water was a problem. Each night, to get a couple of hours' reflux-free sleep, I would purposely make myself sick before bed in an attempt to get rid of any fluid I might have in my stomach. Once the pain and the acid reflux became too much, I was sent to the hospital to have an endoscopy by my GP. On that occasion, the GP refused to send me to see my lap band surgeon, even though I I knew exactly what the cause of my acute discomfort was. The band had slipped and formed a pouch in the esophagus that was full of liquid. Of course, they could not do anything to relieve my symptoms except give me a drug to help stop the reflux. Then an appointment was made for me to see my usual surgeon. I think that was the worst period of my life. Unfortunately, at that time, GPs could not perform simple relief and did not understand anything about lap bands at all. I had the band removed a couple of years ago, and since then, it has been an uphill battle to maintain my weight. But the acid reflux is under control. Saying that, I am not at all sorry that I had it removed. Would I have another band inserted? My answer is a resounding no. Because you've got no support available. I hope I have managed to give you an insight into some of the issues associated with obesity. Thank you for listening.