FOUR YEARS ago, Dustin Balictar agreed to have his picture taken in a clinic not realizing the significance of such a moment later on in his life.

?Whenever I look at that picture, it reminds me of how far I have succeeded in taking control of my life,? said Balictar, now a 22-year-old entrepreneur and senior Management Information Systems student from Ateneo de Manila University.

When Balictar?s picture was taken, he was about to undergo a surgical procedure aimed to help his weight problem.

According to his surgeon, Balictar?s case was considered a challenge since he was at the time, classified as morbidly obese or Type 3 obese, referring to an individual?s body mass index of 40 and above.

BMI

?To find if one is overweight or obese, doctors usually employ the BMI, which is calculated by getting the person?s weight in kilograms and divided by the height in meters squared,? explained Dr. Edward Oliveros, a bariatric surgeon at St. Luke?s Medical Center in Quezon City.

Thus, individuals with a BMI of 25 to 29 are considered overweight while those with a BMI of 30 to 34 are Type 1 obese. People with a BMI of 35 to 39 are Type 2 obese and those with a BMI of 40 and above are classified as Type 3 obese.

In Balictar?s case, his BMI is 58, meaning at 5?4?? he tipped the scale at 153.3 kilos.

?It?s a serious medical condition because if you are morbidly obese, it means you are severely overweight, usually by at least 45 kilos. This condition puts you at very high risk for a host of serious medical problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and heart disease not to mention that this may also hamper your ability to move around, expose you to possible discrimination or social stigma, that may lower your self-esteem,? explained Oliveros, who was trained at the famous Mayo Clinic in the United States for bariatric surgery and at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York for laparoscopic bariatric surgery.

Lucky

Because of his young age, Balictar was still lucky since he was yet to suffer from obesity-related complications (although Oliveros did find him to be already suffering from dyslipedemia or abnormality in the levels of fatty substances in his blood).

?I was really scared to go ahead with the procedure although it was explained to me that only small incisions will be needed,? Balictar shared.

Oliveros explained that Lap Band procedure uses only tiny incisions where long-shafted instruments as well as thin tube with a camera are inserted. The surgeon does the procedure by just viewing the site to be operated on a TV monitor.

New pouch

?From this opening, a band is inserted and then wrapped around the patient?s stomach, much like a belt. This forms a new, smaller stomach pouch that could hold only a small amount of food and thus, limiting and controlling the amount of food that could be taken in. It?s a quick and safe procedure,? Oliveros said.

At the moment, Balictar now weighs just 71 kilos or a BMI of 27.

?To put it simply, from waist size of 5XL, I now wear size 29. I now feel lighter and much healthier,? he added.

Oliveros said Balictar was just one of the fortunate few because at the moment, the Philippines still has an estimated 3 million Filipinos who are considered obese, 600,000 of them classified as morbidly obese.

?Since we introduced the procedure here in 2003, the Bib & Lap-Band Center in Medical Plaza Makati was able to compile relevant data, which we now use to help more obese Filipinos get rid of their unwanted kilos,? Oliveros said.