New research suggests that may not be enough.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh studied women trying to maintain a ten percent weight loss.
To keep the weight off for two years, the women needed to cut calories and to exercise 55 minutes a day for five days a week.
Stomach Stapling
Many obese Americans choose to shed weight through stomach stapling.
One of those patients last week was Carrie Williamson. Just days later, she is feeling better.
"I actually felt pretty much back to normal. I went to work today," she said.
Carrie didn't technically have surgery. Her stomach was stapled, but doctors went in through her mouth and made her stomach into a smaller pouch. No incisions.
"This new procedure at least gives us the theoretical possibility of reducing risks of surgery and still having similar magnitude of weight loss," said Dr. J. Christoper Eagon of Washington University, St. Louis.
Nearly 300 obese patients will be selected for trial over the next two years.
The other surgical procedure is gastric bypass. That one is sometimes done laparoscopically through small holes in the abdomen. Patients there report a loss of about 2/3 of their excess weight. This one, called trans-oral stomach stapling ,might provide another alternative if all goes well in the studies.
