PLS POST SUCCESS WITH BARIATRIC SURGERY

Multifacet

I promise you the surgery is not ONLY about eating less. For me, they remove a good chunk of my intestine, therefore I absorb less calories than if you and I ate the same thing. Also, by having a smaller stomach, somehow it curbs cravings. I was a fast food junky and would love to have a whole chocolate cake to myself. After the surgery, I do not crave or want fast foods, I would never be able to eat a whole chocolate cake because I will get violently sick. Also, because I can only eat so much and have huge vitamin deficiencies, I tend to make better choices in what I eat. I will eat protein over carb because my body NEEDS the protein. I will also choose vegetables over chocolate (believe it or not) because I know my body needs the vitamins.

This guy is not knowledgeable on the surgery itself. It's not just a cop out. It does so much more!

If I ate a whole chocolate cake I'd get violently sick.
If I ate a ton of fast food, I'd end up in the hospital.

Not because I had any kind of surgery but because my BODY IS NOT USED TO IT.

You could do those things because one day (maybe 30 years ago) you ate an extra large piece of cake and the next time, you had two pieces, and a couple of months later it took 3 to fill you up.

You trained your body to do that. You could also "untrain" or retrain it.

You don't crave junk food anymore because you do not EAT it.

This happens eventually, ask anyone who on Atkins or Keto.

If you stop eating entirely, eventually you no longer feel hungry.

But it's just so much faster and easier to have surgery.

Easier? You have no clue.....

FiveElevenClimb

I would like to amend my previous statement. I wouldn't necessarily call it a cop out but I will say that it is never necessary when the reasoning behind the surgery is solely done as a mode of weight loss. It is not the surgery that causes you to lose weight, it is the fact that it forces you to eat in a caloric deficit. Nobody is a special snowflake. If you have the motivation to lose weight it is possible for everyone by simply choosing to eat less and move more. The surgery can force you to eat less or you can get a healthy relationship with food and simply decide enough is enough, you've had it and achieve the exact same thing by eating at a deficit of your own accord. People may say they have tried everything but the fact is they haven't. Why not buy a cheap food scale and actually measure what you are eating and make sure that is less than your TDEE. Then try incorporating more exercise into your day. I can say with 100% surety that if you eat below your TDEE you will lose weight. It may not be as fast as you hoped but it will happen. The upside to this is you are then forced to gain a healthy relationship with food, learn moderation, and gain some restraint when it comes to food. Thus you get to the root cause of why you eat more than you body needs. To those of you who say the surgery saved your life, I am so glad that you were indeed saved, but the surgery didn't do it, the calorie deficit did. Best of luck.

One thing that you are not aware of is....the surgeries take away hunger, for the most part. Eating a calorie deficit is fine, if you can handle the hunger, some cannot. I could lose the weight, just not keep it off. The band will also be a tool in keeping the weight off. Like every other method, its only a tool, but a tool that is sometimes necessary.

Well if that is how you chose to lose then congrats. But that is why I said the motivation to lose. By that I am in no way saying you did not have the motivation. I am simply stating that if you CAN work yourself through the hunger pains. Is it easy? no. But it is achievable.

Terryism

I haven't had surgery, but I know a few people who have.

1. My husband had lap band surgery about 4 years ago. He had lost almost 160# with it. We both lost weight because we ate healthier. Then I got pregnant and had our son prematurely. With him being in the hospital for 10 weeks, we both slacked way off and have gained weight and still haven't gotten back to our healthy lifestyle. My husband has gained probably 60-70# back unfortunately. (Wendy's frostys are his current obsession, extremely easy to pass through the lapband)

2. My grandmother had her lapband surgery a few years before my husband. She and I are not close, but she has obviously lost a lot of weight and no longer takes medication for diabetes. She used to take oral meds plus several insulin injections daily.

3. I have an acquaintance who had gastric bypass, all I know is that our mutual friend said she lost a lot of weight, then put it back on plus more.

The important thing is to use the surgery as the tool it is intended to be. You've heard it a million times already!

Freedomgurl585

No experience but best wishes. I'm here sweating and using my own inner willpower to eat healthy and exercise my body. I understand all of the different points of views on this thread, and I can see how people can take the term "cop-out" as offensive. All I now is that I considered the surgery but my boyfriend made me realize that I am strong enough to do it all by myself. And I am! For whatever reasons we have we chose our own methods of weight loss...but it is definitely understandable for some of us to feel a certain type of way towards those who have had surgery. If my BF hadn't motivated me into believing YES I CAN I might have taken that drastic step...and I'm so glad I didn't. There are wayyy too many side effects and statistics show that much of the weigh is regained eventually. So I will get my big behind on the treadmill and work it out.

All I have to say is that we got to obesity by allowing ourselves to be out of control and not realizing or thinking of the consequences. Regardless of which way we chose to achieve the important part is that we are achieving!

Multifacet

I've never understood how people that have to lose 10% of their weight before surgery still go through with it. If you're a 250 pound person, and manage to lose 25 pounds by yourself, why do the surgery? Sure, losing it the old fashioned way is harder...but nothing good comes easy.

Just my opinion...

Here, let me explain....

The pre-op diet is to shrink your liver. It makes the actual surgery safer. It helps the surgeon with the operation itself. The surgery itself stops hunger in most people. This allows us to eat at a deficit without feeling hunger. Each type of surgery teaches the person to eat a certain way, not everyone uses their tool properly, but that is the idea. Nothing about weight loss surgery is EASY but it is all good in the end and worth it. BTW I eat at a deficit, workout, etc....in other words, I work hard just like you.

Multifacet

I don't even know why I am bothering to reply to this, since I see all of the "easy button" and "anecdotal evidence of failure" people have already visited, but I am a lap band patient (14 months out), and I am a success story. I have lost nearly 70 pounds since my surgery (almost twice what was projected for me to lose) and over 100 pounds altogether so far. I work my *kitten* off. Literally. It is not a solution. It is a tool that you MUST LEARN how to use, or yes, there is a possibility of failure. The work must still come from within you.

The way I look at it is this: some people need training wheels. Others do not. If you do not, awesome for you. I do, and I am not ashamed of that. And I will use my training wheels as they are meant to be used, as a learning tool, not as a crutch, to get me to where I want to be.

Good luck to you, OP, I will be keeping you in my thoughts, you are a very brave and wonderful person, and you deserve the very best! :flowerforyou:

Multifacet

I went to all the pre op counseling and seminars for weight loss surgery.
I was a shoe in at my heaviest.
A whole host of problems.

I decided against it in the end and have lost the weight on my own. My sister had it done. Nothing but gross and problems.

I agree the surgery is a cop out.

Just....wow:huh:

Multifacet

I'm just adding too, for those of you who think this is the "easy" way out, it's NOT. You have to be extra diligent with your food consumption and exercise. In addition, for those of you who don't "understand why if you'd already lost 10% of your body weight, you wouldn't finish on your own without surgery" it's easier said than done. I've lost 10% of my weight approximately 10 times for the last 20 years, I just gain it back. Being obese should be described as an illness. Until you've struggle with your weight and felt as hopeless as those of us who decided on surgery, as a last resort, I say, keep your negativity to yourself. If you don't like weight loss surgery, please don't reply to this post. Nobody reading this wants to hear "your opinion."

dkgoetz

I have had two friends go through with surgeries (I'm sorry I don't know which ones they had).

One friend had surgery about five years ago, he was successful for the first year, but he enjoyed drinking way too much and had the mindset that drinking does not equal overeating. He unfortunately has put all of the weight back on.

My other friend had surgery, learned how to adjust, eats right and continues to exercise. She has been amazingly successful, has kept the weight off and has adjusted her life to fit the new her. She says she feels great, and she looks fantastic!

Good luck to you in your surgery! :]

Multifacet

A friend had the lapband and yes she has lost weight. However, she is no longer as much fun to be around she belches constantly, eats sweets all the time (cause they go down easy) and is FREQUENTLY throwing up because she ate too fast or didn't chew enough etc. She is much more short tempered and I would guess malnourished. I'm sorry if this wasn't what you wanted to hear and I know there are plenty of those that have had success but at what cost?

OP - MFP does not have a lot of folks that support the surgeries - much less know much about them - - sorry! Try Obesityhelp.com. Please only take advice from folks that have had YOUR SURGERY - this is different from LapBand, DDS, RnY.....

I will also share this - when you ask VSG patients if they miss their old stomach - almost all will say NO!

To the person quoted - PLEASE UNDERSTAND - all surgeries are VERY different - VSG gives you the most chance at a normal life - as my surgeon says - "it is you with a smaller stomach" - the lap band has proven to be one of the worst ones.

I'd like to hear what information you have to prove your last statement. Usually it is the person who fails, not the tool.

Multifacet

*sigh*

OP, you may be better off either sticking with the groups to discuss these specific issues (there are some VERY supportive WLS groups here! ) or going to other places like obesityhelp.com or thinnertimesforum.com or others I may not know about, and keeping this place for food/nutrition/exercise discussion only. Again, the best of luck to you!

Agrees! All this is doing is raising my blood pressure.

Jxnsmma

I have not had the surgery myself but have a friend who has. She tried every diet out there and could not make the healthy lifestyle stick before making the decision to have lap band surgery. She is having great success using this TOOL and my impression of it is that if you stick with the plan, it works. Fall off the plan, the weight comes back. Same as any other weight loss tool.

It was not easy for her, it was not a cop out. It was a very expensive surgery that she turned to. It is her TOOL to ASSIST her to achieve her health goals. She still has to exercise and eat well.

It bothers me to no end when people sit on these threads and bash people for their choices that have lead to their successes. Just because they made different choices than you doesnt mean their achievements are any different, or any less. Just because they needed some extra help that WORKED for them. To me its kinda like getting a tutor to help pass a class that might be easy for someone else, but other people may have a hard time focussing. The pass mark is still the same, even if someone helped you and supported you to get there.

The OP asked for some success stories for inspiration for her procedure. Not a bunch of 3 year olds to come here and yap about how much better they are than someone who opted for surgery. We ALL have our weight loss struggles...

Jxnsmma

I have not had the surgery myself but have a friend who has. She tried every diet out there and could not make the healthy lifestyle stick before making the decision to have lap band surgery. She is having great success using this TOOL and my impression of it is that if you stick with the plan, it works. Fall off the plan, the weight comes back. Same as any other weight loss tool.

It was not easy for her, it was not a cop out. It was a very expensive surgery that she turned to. It is her TOOL to ASSIST her to achieve her health goals. She still has to exercise and eat well.

It bothers me to no end when people sit on these threads and bash people for their choices that have lead to their successes. Just because they made different choices than you doesnt mean their achievements are any different, or any less. Just because they needed some extra help that WORKED for them. To me its kinda like getting a tutor to help pass a class that might be easy for someone else, but other people may have a hard time focussing. The pass mark is still the same, even if someone helped you and supported you to get there.

The OP asked for some success stories for inspiration for her procedure. Not a bunch of 3 year olds to come here and yap about how much better they are than someone who opted for surgery. We ALL have our weight loss struggles...

So now having dangerous surgery is like having traingwheels and a tutor???

You need to be a little more mature if you cant handle a little banter
ultimetely it is the OPS choice
dont post on a world wide forum if you dont expect a response

I dont feel it is a TOOL it is a cop out. It is a tool for her to eat less and not have to suffer the same consequences of hunger as the rest of us.

Dont get me wrong, glad it is working, but I will ALWAYS advocate against any gastric procedure

too risky and dangerous.

Please don't question my level of maturity, at least I can spell. :laugh: You've made your point several times now why dont you go crawl back under your rock and keep repeating to yourself "I'm better than everyone else, Im better than everyone else"...

ssflbelle2012

I did not have the surgery but know of others who did. Some kept the weight off others gained it back. It all depends on what you do before and after the surgery. If you decide to do it I wish you much success.


Edited as I didn't like what I first wrote.

Multifacet

I promise you the surgery is not ONLY about eating less. For me, they remove a good chunk of my intestine, therefore I absorb less calories than if you and I ate the same thing. Also, by having a smaller stomach, somehow it curbs cravings. I was a fast food junky and would love to have a whole chocolate cake to myself. After the surgery, I do not crave or want fast foods, I would never be able to eat a whole chocolate cake because I will get violently sick. Also, because I can only eat so much and have huge vitamin deficiencies, I tend to make better choices in what I eat. I will eat protein over carb because my body NEEDS the protein. I will also choose vegetables over chocolate (believe it or not) because I know my body needs the vitamins.

This guy is not knowledgeable on the surgery itself. It's not just a cop out. It does so much more!

If I ate a whole chocolate cake I'd get violently sick.
If I ate a ton of fast food, I'd end up in the hospital.

Not because I had any kind of surgery but because my BODY IS NOT USED TO IT.

You could do those things because one day (maybe 30 years ago) you ate an extra large piece of cake and the next time, you had two pieces, and a couple of months later it took 3 to fill you up.

You trained your body to do that. You could also "untrain" or retrain it.

You don't crave junk food anymore because you do not EAT it.

This happens eventually, ask anyone who on Atkins or Keto.

If you stop eating entirely, eventually you no longer feel hungry.

But it's just so much faster and easier to have surgery.

Easier? You have no clue.....

Uh yes we actually DO have a clue
you think you are the only one who is/was obese?
who battled hunger and cravings?
When I first started dieting I went through withdrawls for MONTHS and was STARVING to the point of tears and pain
but I kept at it
i was bound that this was my time

So you think because you have a lap band your struggles are different or greater than ours?

I kindly dont think so ma'am

You can untrain your body

it takes time, repetition and patience

this just tells me you may still be eating unhealthy foods if you havnt reevaluated your diet after surgery which just makes you an unhealthy slender person.

But dont try to act likeyour weight loss and health issues are more complicated because you had a surgery.

Please, we get the same cravings and hunger pains

We just work our way through it.

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