WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY: Health First NewFit Offers Patients ‘A New Lease on Life’

Health First’s NewFit Surgical Weight-loss Program is nationally accredited and comprehensive

HEALTH FIRST NewFit Surgeons Nathan Allison, MD, right, and Kenneth Tieu, MD. (Health first images)

Given an “unfair disadvantage” maintaining a healthy weight, patients at Health First NewFit get the tool they need to drop weight, start families.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – It’s elective. It’s aesthetic. And for these reasons, weight-loss surgery is sometimes called “cosmetic.” It is not.

Health First NewFit Surgeons Nathan Allison, MD, and Kenneth Tieu, MD, are quick to dispel any suggestion that gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy or lap band procedures are easy fixes for treating obesity.

“Weight-loss surgery is a tool to help people achieve medically significant weight loss who have been given an unfair disadvantage,” says Dr. Allison.

“People say, ‘You know, it just takes diet and exercise.’ That’s true! That’s a part of the process. But my patients can eat as little as they can and still not achieve significant weight loss.

“Imagine you’re someone with a metabolism of 3,000 calories a day, and you eat 3,000 calories a day. You’re not going to have a weight problem – and you won’t understand a person with a 1,000-calories-a-day metabolism gaining weight because they ate 1,500 calories.”

Health First’s NewFit Surgical Weight-loss Program is nationally accredited and comprehensive. Before and after surgery, the NewFit team works to assist patients with the dramatic lifestyle changes that take place. There are nutritional, physiological and psychological evaluations and support.

“Psychology is so important when someone has been 300 pounds their whole life and loses 150,” says Dr. Tieu. “They look in the mirror and say, ‘That’s not me!’ The psychological support needed after this surgery is very important.”

Proven Treatment

Many patients seek out weight-loss surgery because they have been unable to conceive and begin families (or are experiencing secondary infertility).

“When I drop you 80 or 90 pounds in six months, I turn Betty into Fertile Myrtle,” Dr. Allison says.

“And people feel better about themselves. They’re in a relationship, their sex drive improves. [Pregnancy] is not ideal that soon, but it is something we’re prepared to deal with. We work to make sure that nutritionally the mother is protected. We follow along with the OB throughout the pregnancy.”

From the moment most NewFit patients first consider weight-loss surgery to the date of their procedure, two years or more have gone by, says Dr. Allison. But it’s a proven treatment for controlling the disease of obesity, assisting a person to maintain a healthy weight long term.

“I encourage people to explore every option before surgery, but the majority of our patients have exhausted every alternative by the time they step through our doors.”

“It’s a new lease on life,” says Dr. Tieu. “A second chance at leading a healthy, improved quality of life.”

Visit HF.org/newfit to learn more about weight-loss surgery and see if it’s right for you.

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