The physiologic definition of exercise is based on what happens when your muscles burn calories in order to generate energy. Oxygen is required to burn calories and generate energy. Oxygen is absorbed through your lungs, concentrated in your blood, and then pumped out to your body by your heart.

When your muscles work hard, they need more energy, and they need more oxygen to burn calories and generate this energy. To provide the oxygen you breath faster and your heart pumps faster. By using the extra oxygen your heart and lungs provide, your muscles burn more calories and generate more energy, allowing them to work harder.

All physical activities result in an increased demand by your muscles for energy, but I define exercise as the level of activity where your muscles begin to adapt in order to improve their capacity for work. In other words, activity does not result in your muscles increasing their ability to do things. Exercise, on the other hand, results in a sustained increase in your physical abilities.

For exercise to occur, you need an activity that takes you outside of your comfort zone. When you are in your comfort zone you are able to breath easily and can carry on a conversation in a normal tone, your heart rate isn’t fast (less than 100 bpm), and you don’t sweat. Activities within your comfort zone are easy, or can be defined as “easy exercise.” Once you go beyond your comfort zone you are doing moderate exercise, or more. In order to perform moderate exercise, you breath more rapidly and it’s difficult to talk in a relaxed, casual manner. When you perform strenuous exercise, you begin to “huff and puff”, your heart rate climbs higher, and your body begins to sweat harder to give off all the extra heat it’s creating by burning up calories.

Moderately strenuous exercise results in your muscles growing and toning, increasing their ability to burn more calories, and your metabolism increases. The level of exercise required to achieve the “moderately strenuous” level varies based on your baseline level of fitness. Trained athletes need to perform some pretty impressive exercises in order to push themselves outside of their comfort zone. Someone that’s out of shape, and just beginning to exercise, doesn’t have to perform at that same level in order to get the exercise needed to improve. Regardless of your starting point, everyone needs to go beyond their comfort zone in order to improve their fitness with exercise.

If you aren’t breathing hard, your heart rate is not increased, and you aren’t sweating, then you are not exercising. Checking your heart rate is a reasonably good way to know how hard you’re exercising. Easy exercise begins with a heart rate above 100, and moderately strenuous exercise (often called aerobic exercise) begins with a heart rate above about 120.

Scientific studies on how to maintain weight loss have shown that moderately strenuous exercise (HR>120) on a regular basis (at least 5 times per week), sustained for at least 30 minutes, is required to prevent weight regain. This varies from person to person, but the best way to think about it is, if you want to avoid weight gain, have a fitness program that includes moderately strenuous exercise on a regular basis.

To be safe, evaluate your own level of health and fitness before beginning an exercise program. If you have health concerns always consult with your physician to be sure exercise is safe.

Most books about dieting will doom you to failure. They give you rules to follow that, once broken, make you feel like a cheater. That’s not what I do in my clinic and that’s not the purpose of my book “World’s Greatest Weight Loss.”

Millions of people buy self-help books on dieting and weight loss, and try to follow magic formulas that rarely, if ever, turn out to be magic. And when they can’t follow the rules listed in the book, they blame themselves and say, “I’ve failed.”

Some of the “experts” writing such books are people who have lost weight successfully and then promote their habits as the answer for everyone. Other weight-loss experts are scientists who have studied the science of food, obesity and disease, and have come up with a set of rules based on lab experiments.

The problem is that these habits and rules rarely take into account how people really want to live. They impose a set of rules that are outside most people’s needs and desires. This is a formula for failure.

As a physician who has dedicated my professional career to weight control, it’s clear to me that my patients are the strong ones. They aren’t like all the other obese people that try one diet after another, fail, pretend for a while that it doesn’t matter, and then find another magical diet to try and repeat this pattern over and over again. My patients aren’t willing to pretend it doesn’t matter, and they’ve decided to stop following failed diet formulas. They are the ones determined to find a better answer, a different strategy.

Weight-loss surgery is not the answer for everyone; it’s certainly not the only solution and it’s definitely not the easy way out. But, for those struggling with obesity and not finding success using other methods, surgery may be your best answer.

Before reading my book, there is one scientifically supported fact that I want you to know. Bariatric surgery is currently the single most successful method for obese people to achieve long-term weight loss. It routinely succeeds when all other methods have failed, making it truly the world’s greatest weight loss method available.

“It’s not so much that a person wins, but that they refuse to lose, that results in success.”

Brian Quebbemann, M.D.

What every teen and parent of a teen should know about the procedure.

Teenage obesity is a big concern these days with more young people turning to convenience foods for nourishment. Void of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to help their bodies thrive, the extra calories from sugar and fat cause the teens to put on excess weight, which causes strain on their joints and muscles. Deciding to undergo bariatric surgery changes their lives for the better by helping them achieve the many goals they have for themselves.

The challenge is helping them understand the importance of keeping the weight off once they’ve recovered from having surgery. Highlighting the benefits of teenage bariatric surgery in a way that is relevant to teens and their parents is Dr. Quebbemann’s goal. It produces longer-lasting results.

What Teens Gain from Losing Weight Through Bariatric Surgery

Here are five things that bariatric surgery for teenagers accomplishes:

1. Gets weight back to a healthy range. This type of weight loss surgery produces long-term results. It focuses on a three-step process, which includes Weight Loss, Transition, and Weight Control. It helps prevent future weight gain following surgery.
2. Increases mobility. Young people who formerly had difficulty moving because of excess weight can now do things they never dreamed they could. They’re able to move more freely with less strain and pressure on their joints. Teenagers can entertain the idea of playing sports, participating in afterschool activities that center on movement, and even be able to travel with greater comfort and ease.
3. Improves self-esteem. Teens feel better about themselves physically and emotionally. They have higher self-esteem because they’re no longer dealing with excess weight. Their appearance has changed, and the things that they now can do are limitless. Many even feel more energetic.
4. Affords young people opportunities they previously didn’t have. Weight can hold some people back. It may not allow them to believe in themselves the way that they should. When a teen loses the weight, they’ll find that many doors of opportunity open for them. They’re more willing to take chances to realize their dreams. It leads to greater experiences for them overall.
5. Allows teens to learn the value of healthy lifestyle choices. Young people who didn’t know the importance of eating a healthy diet and exercising will learn all about how these things affect the quality of their lives. During the Weight Control phase of bariatric, new ways to maintain their weight loss, deal with tough emotions and situations, and take good care of their selves going forward are introduced to the teens. They have tools that they may not have had in the past, which help them navigate young adulthood masterfully.

There are many things that bariatric surgery accomplishes for teenagers. Not only does it help them achieve their weight loss goals and life goals, but it also makes them feel more comfortable in their skin. It gives them access to a variety of tools, too, that help them adopt healthier lifestyle choices at every stage of their lives.

Seek the Assistance of One of the Best Surgeons in the Industry

If you’re considering adolescent bariatric surgery for yourself or being supportive of your teen who has interest in the procedure, know that you’re not alone. Many young people struggle with obesity and look for guidance in losing and keeping excess weight off their bodies. Now that you’ve had an opportunity to see what bariatric surgery accomplishes for teens, you’ll come from a more informed place when making your final decision to work with Dr. Q.

Recovery is an integral part of the procedure.

Bariatric surgery for adolescents is more commonplace with today’s fast-food diet contributing to young people’s weight gain. A procedure with long-term results benefits teens by giving them a new lease on life. They’re able to do more than they were able to do in the past and with less pain.

Things Teens Should Do After Surgery

Knowing how to care for one’s self following surgery is imperative to healing. For the young person to see the full worth of bariatric, they must be mindful of doing just as the doctor has ordered them to do. There are three stages of bariatric surgery which are Weight Loss, Transition, and Weight Control, and each is as important as the other in achieving weight loss success.

Some of the ways that teenagers can recover following bariatric surgery include:

• Get plenty of rest. The body needs time to heal. Make sure to rest as often as possible to accelerate healing. Many recovery processes occur when a person sleeps.
• Take pain meds as recommended. The doctor will provide a pain management regimen to follow. Do what he says to keep pain to a minimal. The better the teen feels during recovery, the less likely they will be to do something to impede the healing process.
• Don’t lift heavy objects. Doing so could irritate the surgical area and cause it to take longer to heal. Young people should have someone else do all the heavy lifting for them until the doctor has given them an ‘all-clear’ to go back to their daily routine and obligations.
• Keep surgical areas clean and dry. It prevents infections and illnesses from occurring. It’s essential to report anything unusual about a surgical area. That way, the doctor knows to look at it right away to prevent problems from occurring.
• Attend all follow-up visits. Assessing the speed at which the teen heals is an essential part of the process. Make sure to attend all follow-up visits or to reschedule them if something comes up unexpectedly.

The young person must follow each rule for recovery. That way it doesn’t take longer than necessary for them to heal after surgery. They won’t accidentally delay the healing process by lifting something they shouldn’t have or not reporting an infection they’ve developed in the surgical area.

A New Mindset Helps Teens Maintain the Weight They Lost After Bariatric

Help your teen recover from having surgery by encouraging them to follow the doctor’s orders carefully. Doing so prevents complications from occurring. It also gives the young person a chance to get used to a new way of living by focusing on the importance of diet and exercise. Changing the mindset of his patients is one of the things that Dr. Q focuses on.

Doing so helps the teen maintain long-term weight loss results. They understand how emotional eating can cause strain on their bodies. They learn healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with stress that doesn’t involve food. The teens also take part in an exercise program that feels good to them so that they want to be physically active.

Dr. Quebbemann’s Dietary Rebuild can help you enjoy what you eat more.

The holidays are a tricky time of year for people who lost weight. It’s easy to slip back into old habits when many of the activities you participate in focus on food. From family dinners to corporate holiday parties, there is no shortage of good things to eat. Even though you’ve worked so hard to lose weight, it may be impossible to avoid the temptations that caused your weight gain in the first place.

Giving Tips Without Considering Past Behavior

Many ‘experts’ provide you with tips that could help you during the holidays but don’t. They fail to consider what led you to struggle in the first place. Making exceptions for eating more because you’re in a social setting and don’t want to be embarrassed for dieting is a real possibility. It could be the one thing that impedes your progress and gets you feeling apathetic about your goals.

Dr. Q has developed a structured process for eating that takes into account a person’s bio-individuality. It involves food that is healthy and satisfying. Instead of relying on old eating habits to see you through the holidays, Dr. Q helps you build new habits and decide which one you feel the most comfortable continuing with.

When you discover an eating pattern that you can commit to, you’re able to overcome challenging scenarios involving food easier. You rebuild your eating pattern to a diet with specific food choices. It’s up to you to determine how much of the foods you eat and how often you eat them. Rebuilding allows you to experience a new normal that’s perfectly in sync with your body’s needs.

Learning how to eat better isn’t about deprivation. It’s about changing your behaviors to reflect who you are as a person. It’s about finding the things that work for you and embracing them. There is no such thing as ‘perfect’ eating.

Each person is different and requires a very personalized plan developed by Dr. Q. Once you’ve realized this, you’ll be able to get through the holidays with little temptation successfully. The work you do in the next few weeks will set you up for great success in 2020.

Make Mealtime More Pleasurable with Dr. Q’s Assistance

Setup an appointment with Dr. Quebbemann today to come up with a plan to navigate holiday feasts with the greatest of ease. Together, you can succeed with your continued weight loss goals. There’s no need to sabotage your progress. With Dr. Quebbemann’s Dietary Rebuild, you’ll have a much easier time dealing with holiday get-togethers without feeling like you’re missing out.

The food that you eat will be many of the things you’ve prepared yourself in anticipation of holiday get-togethers. You’ll know instantly what’s right for you based on the work you did rebuilding your diet.  The holidays will take on a whole new meaning for you when you’re able to eat the things you enjoy most without feeling guilty and remorseful for your actions.