PLS POST SUCCESS WITH BARIATRIC SURGERY

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...

Again, in response to your lack of research. Insurance won't cover weight loss surgery unless there are underlying medical conditions that it will help, i.e., diabetes, hypertension, etc. It's not glamorous. And you just don't wake up and say, "oh, I'm fat. I'm going to have surgery." After you personally make the decision you go through MONTHS of preparation for it -- you have to take classes in nutrition, you undergo psychiatric evaluation, and you have to, yes, go on a diet and maintain so the doctors know you can. Research before you judge. Please.

Unfortunately your reasoning, while sound on many levels, is not entirely correct. Bypass surgery does change your body metabolically which is why the weight loss is so fast. Your doctor bypasses a portion of your intestines that digests food and absorbs calories which in turn causes your metabolism to rise. Basically, after a bypass, the 100 calories that a normal person eats registers at maybe 60 or 75 due to the actual bypass of the intestines. In addition, your body reacts as if it has been injured and your metabolism rises even more. This is why people lose so quickly with a bypass. Plus the fact that they can't eat but maybe 1/2 to 1/4 of what they ate before. However, eventually, your body adjusts to this. Also, there is a substance called ghrelin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghrelin). After your surgery, your body no longer produces this, and studies have shown that this is a big factor in the curing of diabetes. Check out the research of D. Elahi and others before you talk about bariatric surgery being a cop out -- it saves lives. Because of RNY's success at treating diabetes (instanteously before weight is lost) have made researchers think about doing this surgery on normal weight people with out of control diabetes. And don't spout off that it cures diabetes immediately because people can't eat, blah, blah, blah. Check out the research. As any diabetic will tell you, after something traumatic such as surgery, your sugars almost always skyrocket and then level out. When people have this surgery, their diabetes is cured almost immediately with no evening out, and often, even if they gain weight again -- the diabetes does not return. This surgery is not a cop out. The fact that you keep saying that you wouldn't necessarily call it a cop out indicates you do think that. However, you are basing your "opinon" on an assumption without knowing all the facts. Yes, of course, people can lose weight strictly through diet and exercise, and most people can. But the fact is that there are also many people who due to diabetes and other metabolic disorders brought on through years of not eating right, genetics, or whatever can't lose the weight without the surgery. It is very very difficult for diabetes to "diet" because they have to maintain their blood sugars at even levels. I am not saying it can't be done, but in many instances having the surgery brings them to a safer point so that they can eat healthier and exercise -- which they may not have been able to do before. It's a very complex issue.

Don't insult the people who truly need the surgery due to your own prejudices.

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.

You should have read the first line when i said that it is done solely as weight loss. That in fact means no medical reasoning. And I was not insulting anyone. I actually congratulated them. Reading is fundamental.

Hello Everyone I will be getting the sleeve done in two weeks and was wondering if you could post your success with weight loss surgery. Thanks!

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."