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Natural vs "other"

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Replies

  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
    vanityy99 wrote: »
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    I'm trying to lose 90 lbs naturally via exercise and healthier eating. On a good start but as we know it's very, very hard.

    How do you feel about people who I say "cheat" with diet pills and the various surgeries?

    I personally don't really have the same respect for them vs people who make the real sacrifices. Just my opinion.
    How do I feel about people who try to lose weight with diet pills or weight loss surgery?

    Usually sympathetic for the fruitless and sometimes irreparable damage done to their health and their pocketbooks, with a hidden touch of "there but for the grace of good sense and patience go I."

    That patience thing is so hard.
    Isn't there some famous saint who is supposed to have said:
    "Lord, grant me patience, and I want it right now!"?

    (I think he's not the same as the saint who is supposed to have said: "Lord, grant me chastity; but, please - not yet.")

    Me.😛
    LOL :D

  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,008 Member
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    How do you feel about people who I say "cheat" with diet pills and the various surgeries?

    It is none of my business. If they are happy and healthy who am I to judge? I can only say for certain that I am grateful to never have had to do that...
  • AwesomeOpossum74
    AwesomeOpossum74 Posts: 106 Member
    No matter how to realize your goals, if you don't keep a healthy eating/exercise lifestyle, you will eventually fail.

    I've seen people who have had surgery, some have been able to manage their weight post-surgery, some have not. It all rides on how personally determined they are, and what kind of support system they have. If their family and friends are cheering them to eat healthy, they are more likely to succeed.

    As a side: What is your definition of cheating? If I'm not getting all my nutrients from the food I eat, and I take dietary supplements, am I cheating?
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    How other people lose weight does not affect me in any way. Why should I care? And why would they care if you have "respect" for how they lost weight or not? Besides that. Have you ever gone through surgery before? It is not the easy way out, and it is not without sacrifices.
  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    Awesomeopossum74,

    I define cheating as altering your stomach or taking pills so you lose your appetite as opposed to determination, willpower, sacrifice, and motivation to name a few. *barring any true medical circumstances that would require you to have it.

    I've seen people get surgery being 30lbs overweight.
  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    Hens92.

    A lot care what people think, trust and believe. Many keep it secret. I had a good friend of many years keep hers secrete.

    And yes, I've had several surgeries throughout the years. None by choice.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    I'm trying to lose 90 lbs naturally via exercise and healthier eating. On a good start but as we know it's very, very hard.

    How do you feel about people who I say "cheat" with diet pills and the various surgeries?

    I personally don't really have the same respect for them vs people who make the real sacrifices. Just my opinion.

    Shouldn't we just respect everyone no matter what?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    Awesomeopossum74,

    I define cheating as altering your stomach or taking pills so you lose your appetite as opposed to determination, willpower, sacrifice, and motivation to name a few. *barring any true medical circumstances that would require you to have it.

    I've seen people get surgery being 30lbs overweight.

    It seems like you're giving this a lot of moral significance. At the end of the day, it's just energy stored in your body. People use different methods and techniques to create a calorie deficit. Why make it more than it is?

    Is it inherently better to accomplish something via sacrifice? Yeah, we all want the ability to sacrifice when it's necessary, but it's not like we have to demonstrate it in every area of life. If someone has an easier time losing weight, for whatever reason, what harm does that cause?

    (This is accepting the premise that losing weight via surgery doesn't involve determination and motivation, something that I'm not sure is true).

  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    Cathipa,

    Never said I would react any differently, I would feel differently in my mind if you tied up your stomach to lose and I fought and battled to lose mine.

    I'm sure many feel the same, but wouldn't dare say it.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    Awesomeopossum74,

    I define cheating as altering your stomach or taking pills so you lose your appetite as opposed to determination, willpower, sacrifice, and motivation to name a few. *barring any true medical circumstances that would require you to have it.

    I've seen people get surgery being 30lbs overweight.

    If anyone's at fault for that, I'd blame the doctors. It's not meant for anyone not morbidly obese.

    But here's the thing. Caffeine is a natural appetite suppressant. So, would a person who drinks multiple coffees in a day (versus taking caffeine pills) be similarly "cheating"?

    My dad and sister have had WLS. My sister has had multiple serious complications (she had lap-band surgery a number of years ago, before the process was as fine-tuned). My dad has had to permanently change the way he eats. (That was one reason I went a different route; I'm a vegetarian and all I could see was that my basic dietary staples were going to have to go, either permanently or for a number of weeks/months.)

    No matter how the weight comes off, keeping it off requires determination/willpower/sacrifice/motivation. It's not a magic bullet.

    https://www.healthline.com/health-news/bariatric-surgery-patients-see-weight-gain-after-honeymoon-period-080515

    P.S. https://asmbs.org/patients/bariatric-surgery-misconceptions (Have at #3).

  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    Estherdragonbat,

    You got me on the caffeine, lolololol. I drink coffee at times to suppress my appetite. Ha.
  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    Diannethegeek,

    Interesting point.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    Cathipa,

    Never said I would react any differently, I would feel differently in my mind if you tied up your stomach to lose and I fought and battled to lose mine.

    I'm sure many feel the same, but wouldn't dare say it.

    Everyone has their own battles. No need to judge people for what you may see as the easy way out. Don't you think before people opted for surgery they have exhausted most options? The way I see it what ever gets you to your destination is your decision you had to make.
  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    As we know there are many opinions on this, of course I couldn't respond to everyone.

    But for me, weight loss and changing my entire way of eating and exercising is hard and a total change in my entire lifestyle. So yes, it's difficult but I have finally adjusted and hopefully will continue to strive.

    Yes, I feel as though to people who have the unnecessary weight loss surgeries are taking the easier way out and also the ones popping all the dangerous pills. But I wouldn't treat them differently but I wouldn't feel the same as the ones who did it without assistance.

    As we all know what opinions are, to each their own.
  • stewarm01
    stewarm01 Posts: 331 Member
    Diannethegeek,

    Somewhat, but I have witnessed multiple fail with especially the lap band over the past 8 years.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    stewarm01 wrote: »
    Diannethegeek,

    Somewhat, but I have witnessed multiple fail with especially the lap band over the past 8 years.

    Go read the "Introduce Yourself" forum and see how many people are coming back to MFP for the second, third (or more) time, having failed at calorie counting and gained all their weight back.

    The fact is that somewhere over 90% of people who lose weight fail and gain it back, regardless of how they did it. So the fact that you've witnessed multiple fails with the lap band isn't surprising in the least, nor is it an indictment of WLS. I've also witnessed a lot of people fail when they lost weight "naturally".

    Harden up - you've got a long battle in front of you, and it never ends. Once you lose the weight, you have to learn to control your calorie intake to successfully maintain the loss. You don't just lose it and go back to doing what you did before, or you'll be one of the "re-starters" too.

    fwiw, I'm one of those people who failed to maintain with MFP myself.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    There is no easy (cheating) way.

    WLS comes with a myriad of hurdles because one is altering thier body, permanently. This is in addition to the increased risk of the actual surgery done on someone who is obese. People that have WLS will never be able to adjust thier calories to enjoy a big meal with a glass of champagne.

    Diet pills. There are three main groups:
    1. The one's that do nothing
    2. The one's that are illegal
    3. The one's with severe side effects that are generally only available by prescription due to the side effects. There are a few exceptions (Alli), but they also come with some nasty (uncontrollable orange stinky anal leakage) side effects.

    There's also the issue of extreme saggy skin that comes with rapid massive weight loss. The worse the saggy skin is, the more prone to infection as it rubs against itself and harbor bacteria in the folds.

    By losing weight slowly through a sensible calorie deficit, a lot of issues are avoided. While with any massive weight loss, excess skin happens, with slower weight loss - it's less.

    One of my friends sister had gastric bypass, she eats about every 30 minutes to an hour, because she can only have about 1/2 to 1 cup in volume of food at a time. She cannot have anything that is carbonated either. She also goes through about half a pack of baby wipes a day to clean between all the skin folds from how bad her excess skin sags. Insurance isn't covering removing the skin as it hasn't cause any issues (basically she has to let it get infected and treated to be considered for insurance coverage removing the skin).
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