Weight Loss Surgery for Morbidly Obese
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"So kudo’s to those that lost weight, changed lifestyles for the long-term with or without surgery. "
NikonPal, you hit the nail on the head.-1 -
Nope ... just go for a walk and eat at a deficit. It is time to learn good habits that will benefit you in the future. Unless there is some pressing medical reason .. I do not accept surgery as an acceptable answer.-1
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It's not something I would ever consider doing, but I'm me and you are you.
I think that if you are considering major surgery like that then it would be worth your time to practice living the way you will need to once you've had it. Eat the amounts of food that will fit in your new stomach, do the suggested exercises and just try it out for a few weeks or months before you have it done.
It will prepare you for what you will need to do after, and help you know for certain if it's the surgery or the changes that really made the difference.
*edit* I'm not sure why I got an abuse flag for this, I'm not implying that the OP has never tried to diet or exercise before. I'm saying that recovery is going to complicate things and that it would be worth the time to try and live the life now without the complications while he is still weighing his options.-1 -
... it’s a personal decision based on degree of obesity, medical input, risks/benefits etc. I would never judge anyone that had surgery after considering everything.lookingforskinny69 wrote: »I am considering weight loss surgery, I am sure the bashing will happen, any comments for or against?
...
So kudos to those that lost weight, changed lifestyles for the long-term with or without surgery.
There was a time when I thought, How could anyone consider surgery? Why don't they lose the weight naturally?
But as I get older, and weight loss is harder, I'm more understanding. If I'm not even technically overweight, and losing a few pounds is a struggle for me, what must it be like for someone with a serious amount of weight to lose? But it is still major surgery.
If you've consistently tried and failed, analyzed the pros and cons and are willing to change your life I suggest you speak to your doctor.
As the person I quoted said, weight loss and maintenance by any method are admirable.-1 -
Cowardly.-6
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Eating is radically altered after surgery. I don't think it is necessary to "eat like one" beforehand. For instance, each bariatric patient may develop sensitivities to different foods, that they enjoyed afterwards but no longer tolerate. To complicate matters, each patient develops different sensitivities. I think following the MFP calorie deficit plan pre-surgery would be fine. The act of logging and tracking is so important, so that is a great habit to have established.
For instance, I loved soft breads before surgery; are not enjoyed now. But I now love watermelon, which was so-so to me before.-1 -
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lookingforskinny69 wrote: »I am considering weight loss surgery, I am sure the bashing will happen, any comments for or against?
Honestly, that is a choice only you can make. However- it IS surgery, so there are risks and you have weigh those against the benefits. I know someone who died 8 days after having surgery because they had a clot form that got lodged in the arteries supplying the heart with blood.-1 -
I never seriously considered surgery until more reports started to indicate that some of the procedures are capable of reversing (or drastically improving) type 2 diabetes, which I have. While I ultimately didn't go with surgery and am confident that I will not need it, it is really something that you need to weigh on a personal level and with the advice of your doctor.
Surgery isn't a fix all, and you will have to work just as hard, if not harder, than if you were doing it without the procedures. I think any kind of surgery should be a last resort for when all other treatment options fail.-1 -
I respect those of you who feel surgery is not the answer; you've had personal experiences and a level of commitment to personal health that give you that perspective, and you're entitled to have & express your opinions. I think if everyone had to choose one or the other, 100% of us would prefer to lose weight naturally.
I would only ask that you not make the following assumptions about those who are of the other opinion, or have had WLS:
1. They're weak minded
2. They haven't tried doing it naturally, or haven't tried hard enough
3. They aren't really committed to losing weight
4. They view it as a "quick fix"
5. They're genetic & physical makeup must be the same as mine - so if they just do what I've done they'll be successful.-1 -
I had an aunt who tried it and died. I think when you consider the fact that you'll still have to make those lifestyle changes post-surgery, I'd go the hard road. I'm sure your family would appreciate more of you to love, not less of you to miss.
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When I was at my highest weight, I strongly considered weight loss surgery and began doing research. What I learned is that it definitely is hard work. But I figured if I have to work hard anyway, why not just do it without surgery? I had to factor in the potential complications during/after surgery. Though I was assured these were rare, I felt very uncomfortable moving forward. My weight was tied with an eating disorder. A surgery wasn't going to fix the issues I had with food/me. Also, I hadn't really tried losing weight on my own. I wasn't making sustainable life changes, just going on diets, so of course I gained back any weight I lost. I hadn't formed new habits.
With that being said, I know there are many people who have benefited from it. I just realized it wasn't for me. From posters above, I agree that weight loss surgery isn't a quick fix. But if I'm going to work hard anyway, I'd rather do it without a surgery.-1 -
Maybe on paper the formula it is easy weight change = CI - CO. And while he CI is somewhat easy to figure out (unless you eat someone elses cooking), the CO number is extremely difficult.Sevendust912 wrote: »Hey, sevendust. How about someone like me who is losing the old fashioned way too? I never yo-yo dieted, never went for fads. My weight gain over the years was very steady; a couple pounds a year. The few times I went on Weight Watchers I followed the program and lost weight.
I'm not a whiner by nature.
It still was the best decision for me to have the bariatric surgery. You know the definition of insanity?
You said weight loss is not easy. I disagree, weight loss is a simple formula that any reasonable person with the slightest bit of motivation should be able to achieve. Just my opinion
And that is just the formula, now take into mind peoples physiological and psychological natures, it can be difficult.
I am guessing you never have been obese?
I have tried many things in the past, but nothing worked even though I was motivated, I just wasn't knowledgable.
You, personally, don't need to make excuses.
Oh yeah, I was obese and found it easy.
Also, you can't lecture people on considering this or that because you can't even understand things yourself which is apparent from your grandma threads.
How am I making excuses and not know what I am doing when I lost 45 lbs in 3.5 months? Good for you that you found it easy. For most people it isn't easy. If it was easy they probably wouldn't be obese to begin with. Why were you obese if it was so easy?
I tried things before, wasn't easy even though I lost weight. I was starving all the time and miserable which is why I gave up. How is it easy when you are starving all the time?
This time I did way more research, and while definitely easier than previous attempts, it still isn't easy. I had to use a ton of motivation, a ton of willpower, a ton of knowledge, and a complete overhaul on my lifestyle for this to work the way it has been
What would be easy is giving up and grabbing a large pizza and pigging out with it, instead of cooking a nutritious meal.
If I didn't find out that eating low carbs made my appetite lower, as well as kill cravings, I would have long given up by now.
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My grandmother was obese, then got diagnosed as pre-diabetic in her early 40's and lost a ton of weight. We were close and I only remember her being slim and fashionable. My Mom was obese and started packing on the pounds in her 30's, got worse in her 40's, she had surgery in her 60's. She lost a lot of weight, but over 5 years it's all back now. She is a size 20 or so, and stays that way. It's where her body landed. But she went through a lot of pain and hassle for a short-term "fix". I, too, started packing on the pounds in my 30's, I'm in my early 40's and so far I've lost about 60 pounds. For myself, I have to do it through diet and exercise because I have no faith that anything else will work long term. And I'm afraid that the real hard part will come AFTER I've lost the weight, whether by surgery or diet/exercise, and so surgery doesn't really sound feasible to me since it's what happens AFTER I hit goal I worry about. I know people say that it will force you to change how you eat forever, but that's not been what I've observed. And if I have to rely on willpower/habit for the hard part, might as well rely on it for the losing part. At least that's my thought process.
I have absolutely nothing but admiration and respect for anyone who makes such a big life change as losing a lot of weight, and don't care what got them there. I'm just happy for them that they found a way. I certainly don't think it's a value or moral judgment to have lost it one way versus another. Hell, it's keeping it off that puts me in awe, anyway.-1 -
I was sternly reminded by my team that for sustained loss, this will have to be a lifestyle change. So I'm working on that.
There should be no illusions going in that surgery bypasses the hard work.-1 -
"So kudo’s to those that lost weight, changed lifestyles for the long-term with or without surgery. "
NikonPal, you hit the nail on the head.
^^I agree with this.
We all have to do what will work for each of us. The true test comes after we have achieved our goals. The statistics are staggeringly against ALL of us for maintaining our weight loss goal, once we reach it. I was morbidly obese. I have been maintaining for a little over a year, at a "normal" weight. The past year has been the hardest year for me out of the almost 3 years I have been on MFP.
Find out what works for you and whatever it is, go with it.
Best of luck to us all!
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Whoever the idiot is who flagged half the posts in this thread, I have two words for you. "Stop it!"-2
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snowflake, kudos to you. May I follow in your footsteps.
herrspoons, 50% recidivism is better than diet alone, which is something like 20%.
http://www.jfponline.com/fileadmin/jfp_archive/pdf/5907/5907JFP_Article2.pdf-1 -
As with many obese people, I have lost and regained weight a number of times over the past 25 years. You can see a chart of my weight since 1999 in my pictures. Each of the down trends represented a time when I was ready make changes, did so, and lost weight. Then ‘something’ happens, and the discipline, motivation, etc. goes away and there is a regain. But, I have always been an athletic fat guy, enjoying sports and being able to exercise when I was in the motivated phase.
My doctor had been pushing for me to consider surgery, and I was always resistant, echoing many of the sentiments here. What changed for me was that I developed arthritis in my hips and was quickly losing the ability to be that athletic guy who carried his weight well. I had to stop walking the golf course, give up playing basketball, and walking more than a half mile or so would have my limping and lurching my way to the end of whatever my family and I were doing. Looking into the future, I lost the ability to convince myself that one day I would be able to lose the weight and keep it off.
So, I restarted the insurance approval for the bariatric surgery and walked into the orientation class at my clinic at 425 pounds. That full day class changed my life. They explained the surgery, the pre-surgery process and the post-surgery life. They gave me simple (but not easy) rules for the pre-surgery diet and I was off. I was at a pretty significant caloric deficit, high protein and lots of water and exercise. And the weight fell off. Between April and my surgery in September, I lost 100 pounds through diet and exercise. Now I had a new dilemma: should I continue with the surgery, or was this the sustainable weight loss lifestyle that would see me the next 80 pounds of loss and lifetime sustainability?
In the end, I continued with the surgery because after the risk of surgery (which weighed heavily on my mind), the post-surgery life wasn't terribly different that the pre-surgery changes I had made (that was the goal of the pre-surgery diet, to prepare for post-surgery life). I am 40-ish pounds down since the surgery and I can see my chosen goal weight not too far in the future. When I get there, I will transition to maintenance, and hope to be right in the mix with the MFPers who got to their maintenance weights and are looking to maintain. I may have some different challenges in terms of intake ability, but I will be looking to find a CI-CO balance that will keep me healthy for the rest of my life.
Will I regret having the surgery? I sincerely doubt it. It has some hormonal changes that are not well known that help with hunger issues, and it will give me a physical backup to my motivation and dedication if I get into one of those phases of life where other things take priority. And my history shows me that those times *will* come. I don’t feel like any less of a man than someone who got to the end point on another path, and I know that my decision is mine to own. I am comfortable with that.
So, to anyone considering a surgical path, please look into it carefully, weigh the pros and cons, and if you choose to pursue it, hit the pre-surgery plan with all of the effort you can. It will give you a glimpse into the post-surgery life and will push you to understand and repair your relationship with food. Pre-surgery success will prepare you for post-surgery success and will show you that the success comes from you, using the surgery as a tool, rather than the surgery creating the success.
Rob
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TimothyFish wrote: »Whoever the idiot is who flagged half the posts in this thread, I have two words for you. "Stop it!"
It appears to now be every single post flagged except for 1.-1 -
Yes. All of this.
I used to think "well if I get a lot fatter I might have it (WLS)" then I found out years later that I was plenty obese to be a candidate for the surgery. After learning about various problems and complications that MANY people have with WLS of all types, I'm glad I was ignorant of that fact and lost 138 lb in the natural way.
Not saying it's bad. Just saying I have seen a lot of people with screwed up health complications because of it, including a few dozen young disabled adults whose morbid obesity didn't limit their activities of daily life nearly as much as the post-surgical complications did.
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Maybe on paper the formula it is easy weight change = CI - CO. And while he CI is somewhat easy to figure out (unless you eat someone elses cooking), the CO number is extremely difficult.Sevendust912 wrote: »Hey, sevendust. How about someone like me who is losing the old fashioned way too? I never yo-yo dieted, never went for fads. My weight gain over the years was very steady; a couple pounds a year. The few times I went on Weight Watchers I followed the program and lost weight.
I'm not a whiner by nature.
It still was the best decision for me to have the bariatric surgery. You know the definition of insanity?
You said weight loss is not easy. I disagree, weight loss is a simple formula that any reasonable person with the slightest bit of motivation should be able to achieve. Just my opinion
And that is just the formula, now take into mind peoples physiological and psychological natures, it can be difficult.
I am guessing you never have been obese?
I have tried many things in the past, but nothing worked even though I was motivated, I just wasn't knowledgable.
You, personally, don't need to make excuses.
Oh yeah, I was obese and found it easy.
Also, you can't lecture people on considering this or that because you can't even understand things yourself which is apparent from your grandma threads.
How am I making excuses and not know what I am doing when I lost 45 lbs in 3.5 months? Good for you that you found it easy. For most people it isn't easy. If it was easy they probably wouldn't be obese to begin with. Why were you obese if it was so easy?
I tried things before, wasn't easy even though I lost weight. I was starving all the time and miserable which is why I gave up. How is it easy when you are starving all the time?
This time I did way more research, and while definitely easier than previous attempts, it still isn't easy. I had to use a ton of motivation, a ton of willpower, a ton of knowledge, and a complete overhaul on my lifestyle for this to work the way it has been
What would be easy is giving up and grabbing a large pizza and pigging out with it, instead of cooking a nutritious meal.
If I didn't find out that eating low carbs made my appetite lower, as well as kill cravings, I would have long given up by now.
It may not be "easy" but not many worth achieving are.
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Remember that weight loss surgery is just a tool, not the answer. You will need to change your lifestyle regardless of whether you have weight loss surgery or if you lose weight the traditional way. The only difference is weight loss surgery requires even bigger changes than regular weight loss does. People can and do gain the weight back after surgery, sometimes even more, because they did not make these necessary changes. So I would say spend a good six months, minimum, working on yourself to see if you're ready-- physically and psychologically / emotionally.
One of my close friends had gastric sleeve surgery a few years ago. At the time of her surgery, I think she weighed close to 300 pounds. She lost around 60 pounds, then after a while started gaining it back, and then some. She now weighs close to 400 pounds. She did not follow the doctor's orders, and did not address her psychological/emotional issues, so she is worse off now than when she started and has permanently changed her body in a failed pursuit.
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I had to look up that phrase, "mug's game". All weight loss is a "mug's game".
Well, I was well in to high-risk territory when I started this latest undertaking. My blood sugars could no longer be controlled with diet and oral medication alone (next step, insulin). My mobility was compromised, not being able to walk for more than twenty minutes at a time. And then there was Sleep Apnea, high blood pressure, and cholesterol.
I am off all prescription medications now. I will be taking vitamins the rest of my life, however, not to mention adapting to a new lifestyle.
The new lifestyle is pretty cool so far. I can run. How cool is that?-1 -
Thanks for posting this! Weight loss surgery isn't even in the realm of possibilities for me, but I loved every word of this. It's as funny as it is informative.jessiruthica wrote: »I just read this article today. The language is a little bit blue, if that's an issue for you.
http://www.cracked.com/article_21828_6-bizarre-things-nobody-tells-you-about-weight-loss-surgery.html
I don't know anything about it personally, but this article (admittedly coming from a "comedy" site) has some interesting points.
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jessiruthica wrote: »I just read this article today. The language is a little bit blue, if that's an issue for you.
http://www.cracked.com/article_21828_6-bizarre-things-nobody-tells-you-about-weight-loss-surgery.html
I don't know anything about it personally, but this article (admittedly coming from a "comedy" site) has some interesting points.
this is actually awesome. many of these things are reported in the ObesityHelp forums, but when regular folk talk about it, they don't even know anything about these things. bariatric surgery is a MAJOR LIFE CHANGING SURGERY. partly because it is absolutely irreversible.
it is a tool to help in your weight loss. it is certainly not the "easy way out", i mean good heavens, who would think rearranging someone's gut would be easy? it is only a tool. it will take care of one thing - the amount of food you can put in your body at any point in time. as such, it can aid in portion control and total calorie intake. that is ALL it does, really.
you still have to deal with your inner turmoil. my first appointment, there was a psychiatric assessment. then they went to my psychiatrist for a report. i'll see the psychologist at least once more, and probably twice more, before surgery. having surgery will not solve any real problems, only portion control. your *kitten* is still your *kitten* to deal with.
you still have to change your eating. they've told me some tips for what to do pre-surgery, and the new way of eating (for the rest of my life) is drastically different compared to how i was eating 2 years ago when i first applied. i've been working the past 18 months to change my ways and i still have miles to go. luckily, they ordered me to track food using MFP and here i am. MFP being a tool to evaluate what you're eating, comes in handy when i need to report back to the dietitian.
i also had an appointment with a kinesiologist who is helping me prepare for physical activity. my first step is to get physio for some ongoing problems, then i need to prove i can have the required amount of activity per day/week and do it consistently.
also an appointment with a nurse that went over my medical history and ordered enough blood tests to keep a family of vampires happy.
and this was just the FIRST STEP to prepare for bariatric surgery. it is not by any means easy. and everything i wrote in this post doesn't come close to the preop liquid fast, the surgery itself, and the recovery - that'll be the hard part.
so no, it is not by any means the easy way/cowardly way out.
they only consider it for people that meet very strict criteria - not only physical criteria but psychological criteria and history with weight loss attempts and lord knows what else. and then they put the abovementioned hurdles in front of you so that you can steer your life in the right direction before surgery, so that you can better handle life after surgery.
your journey is your choice and whatever you decide, you have my complete support. hope this helps.0 -
Surgery can be helpful for many people. But in order for it to be successful… it has to accompany a lifestyle change. I have a very dear friend who had WLS several years ago and it helped her lose a lot of weight… Her body basically forced her into a calorie deficit. Unfortunately, she never changed the way she ate, her relationship with food, or her activity level and the weight is coming back on… rather quickly I might add.
Surgery is not "the easy way out." You still have to put in the work and make the changes in your life for it to be successful. Personally, I would make WLS a last resort… when you absolutely haven't been able to do it on your own after long periods of honest efforts, or you are experiencing weight-related health problems that are so severe you may not have enough time to lose the weight on your own… meaning you have to get it off NOW before you die. But that is just my opinion. Just think through it carefully and make sure you consider all options before going this route. And if you do decide to go this route… make sure you are ready to truly commit to changing your lifestyle and your relationship with food so that you have the best chance of having a successful experience long-term.
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Exactly what loads of other people have said here, you need to change your mind set with or without surgery and if you're going to do that anyway, you'll likely be able to lose the weight without it.0
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No matter how you lose the weight, the statistics are staggeringly high for regaining the weight back, and oftentimes, even more weight than you lost. It is relatively easy losing the weight, compared to being able to maintain the loss for five years or more. I have read articles that say as little as 100 calories per day over your daily calorie allowance, can result in 10 pounds gained over the period of 1 year. I have been on maintenance for a little over a year, and I have lost and gained the same 5 pounds many times during this year.
Kudos to however you can lose the weight! We are all different and what works for one person will not work for another. Just do what works for you, and hopefully we will all be in the small percent who can maintain our healthy habits for the long term!0
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