Healthy Lifestyle
Adam Smith rediscovered himself after losing 100 pounds through lap-band surgery and changes to his diet.
Weighed down no more Article Elizabeth Sehon Harris
Adam Smith reinvented himself in every way after losing 100 pounds
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dam Smith, like most people, proverbially puts his pants on one leg at a time. Only these days, those pants are now significantly smaller. Smith has lost about 100 pounds since undergoing lap-band surgery in 2002, and now the Fort Worth physician uses his own personal experiences to help others undergo similar transformations. “I’m set apart from other people in the field,” said Smith, a lapband doctor. “Those who have had the surgery are less judgmental. I know you’re struggling because I’ve done it.” For Smith, it had been a lifetime struggle. The Oklahoma native weighed about 225 after his medical residency and “kept growing.” Every attempt at losing the extra 16 West FW Lifestyle | January 2014
weight ultimately failed, including one brief success with the popular Atkins Diet that saw him lose 80 pounds, only to gain 90 pounds back soon after. Finally, in 2002 and weighing 285 pounds, Smith turned to a friend and colleague at the University of North Texas, where he was then part of the faculty, for a surgical option: lap-band surgery. The procedure places an inflatable silicone device around the top part of the stomach to slow the consumption of food. The early results for Smith were eye-opening. “Surgery is easy, but I didn’t know what I got myself into,” he said. One of the most difficult transitions for post-op patients is not only the reduction of food portions but also the types of foods, with soft meals and liquids constantly on the menu. “I was just like everybody else,” Smith said. “I thought it was going to be easy, and it wasn’t.”