Weight Loss Surgery (The Sleeve)?????

It a decision you have to make on your own, its a shame that your doctor is "forcing" this on you when you don't have that much weight to lose.

I know a few people who have had the surgery and are on medication for the rest of their lives. That's a life long commitment.

I know you can do it yourself, keep up the good work smile:

Hi there. First of all, I congratulate you for wanting to take action, whether by diet and exercise or by WLS (weight loss surgery) coupled with diet and exercise. I have done both options and was recently sleeved on 1/24/13. Whoever said this is the 'easy way out' has obviously not walked in our shoes. I have to watch what I eat, and how much I eat, now more than ever unless I want to get sick. I also have to exercise in order to lose the weight as well as keep it off (once I lose it all that is). It is a lifelong commitment.

My recommendation is to try to lose the weight the natural way. Obviously the WLS is an option but do not feel forced to do it. It's a HUGE, life changing decision. It took me years before I finally took this step but I know that it was the right thing for ME. Do your research, talk to both groups of people, weigh your options and know that WLS is NOT the easy way out. It is only a tool.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever path you choose to take!

Hi there. First of all, I congratulate you for wanting to take action, whether by diet and exercise or by WLS (weight loss surgery) coupled with diet and exercise. I have done both options and was recently sleeved on 1/24/13. Whoever said this is the 'easy way out' has obviously not walked in our shoes. I have to watch what I eat, and how much I eat, now more than ever unless I want to get sick. I also have to exercise in order to lose the weight as well as keep it off (once I lose it all that is). It is a lifelong commitment.

My recommendation is to try to lose the weight the natural way. Obviously the WLS is an option but do not feel forced to do it. It's a HUGE, life changing decision. It took me years before I finally took this step but I know that it was the right thing for ME. Do your research, talk to both groups of people, weigh your options and know that WLS is NOT the easy way out. It is only a tool.

I agree with this post on doing your research for you and doing what is best for you and no one else. WLS is a very beneficial tool if you had tried all else but make not mistake it is hard work to keep weight off and/or maintain the weight you lose no matter what method you use to lose weight.

The only good thing about WLS is they help you to lose weight more quickly then you would thru diet and exercise only. Especially if you are morbibly obese or super morbibly obese.

I had WLS 9/11/12. It's not the easy way. If you aren't comfortable with surgery, don't do it, no matter your doctor's opinion. You have to commit wholeheartedly. If you want to work on losing weight without surgery, by all means do.

As another poster said, do not let anyone pressure you into making a decision with which you are not comfortable.

Good luck

WLS is NOT the quick way out/the easy way out/etc!!!!!!!!!! I hear this so often and it is just not true. I had WLS exactly 9 years ago and have been successful - BUT, it is a complete and total change in lifestyle (no fudging here and there because if you do you will get horrificilly sick), it is a life long change in lifestyle and it is not the "answer" nor is it the "easy way" nor is it the "quick way". More people loose their lives during/after bariatric surgery than heart surgery. You need to do your research, you need to see a therapist to evaulate why you are obese and you need to be ready to fully commit.

I remember at my 4 week check up a woman who had surgery the same day I did came up to me and said "I figured out how to eat pizza without getting too sick". This woman should have never had the surgery. I had the surgery because I had messed up my body so badly that I could not loose weight no matter my diet and exercise regime, and I had diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, joint pain and acid reflux at the age of 40 - all of those problems are very distant memories.

If you have specific questions about the surgery, the lifestyle before and after please feel free to message me.

With or without weight loss surgery, you have to change your lifestyle, what you eat, and add more exercise, so why put your body and soul through the trauma of surgery if you are already successful without it. Surgeons don't make money if they don't do surgery, so like the others have said...do lots of research!

Just based on your original post, I feel confident that you can do this without surgery, but no-one will fault you if you don't. As long as the end result is a healthy YOU!

Best of luck on your decision.

I don't understand why a doctor would be pushing you towards it, and whats the rush that he feels like you need to take it off like yesterday? I also have hypothyroidism and I joined in july and lost almost 50 in about 4-5 months by staying within my calories for the day, and walking. I think surgery seems like a lot more work, a lot more money then doing this. I think you can do it without the surgery.

Girl, it's your body. Do what YOU want... and if your Doctor is trying to press weight loss surgery on you, then he's not a very good doctor.

Excess skin surgery... THAT one I believe in, because it's not a quick way out. It's a reward.

As far as quick ways out go... a coworker of mine had Gastric Bypass, & dropped weight VERY rapidly... the rapid change in body chemistry messed him up BIG time. He lost focus, wasn't able to concentrate anymore at work at all. His personality changed, he started getting into trouble at work, his wife eventually left, and he got fired soon after.

Research, research, research.

And if you have to fight for your weight loss, you're more likely to maintain it.

Woah, I really wouldn't have even thought you'd be considered as a candidate for WLS. I started at 245lbs with a similar goal to yours, 160lbs and I thought even I wouldn't have ever been considered (not that I ever thought of it as an option).
Losing it without the surgery is absolutely ideal and you're fully capable of it. I'm currently at 181lbs and hopefully nearing my goal sometime this year! I began losing weight in June. Best of luck :flowerforyou:

Yeah, this.. I've got 210 pounds to my goal, and I'm not considering surgery. 54 pounds can be lost over a year or less easily. You don;t need surgery.

Indeed - 54 pounds could easily be lost in a year, just a tad over 1 pound/week. Since your health is good now, what of value is to be gained by a risky, expensive, invasive surgery? I can't even believe you would be a candidate for weight loss surgery, with no pressing health concerns that would prevent you from doing it naturally.

I have a friend who had bariatric surgery. She weighed over 400 pounds, and had to loose 60 and keep it off for 6 months to prove she was committed enough to qualify for the surgery. She had the surgery, lost another 55. Then gained it all back and weighs over 450 today. The quick easy way out was her motivation on that first 60, and then she expected the surgery to make life easy. Alas, it didn't, and she had lost that motivator.

In your case, you have so little to loose, yet your doctor is pushing you toward surgery? At a minimum, you should get a second opinion, and, as others have said, it's really your choice in the end anyway. I would question what your doctor has to gain by pushing you toward the surgery. Does he have some sort of financial incentive via the hospital, medical group, insurance company? Maybe kickbacks from the surgeon? (OK, -probably- a bad joke....). It just doesn't make sense...