Natural vs. Surgery

CarmaKat83
CarmaKat83 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
It's is very difficult to keep moving forward when tha pounds are not comming off as fast naturally, compared to people around me at work who have had surgery. I am trying so hard not to compare myself to them. I honestly try to to look at is as I am playing the game fairly and they cheated. It can be so discouraging I am eating the propper foods. and excersiseing but just the first few pounds has been a struggle.

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Replies

  • blueboxgeek
    blueboxgeek Posts: 574 Member
    You have lost 15lbs, you are doing fabulous! Surgery is MAJOR, I know it looks like weight drops off after but it still requires will power and you would be on a seriously restrictive diet for a long time. And of course there are the risks involved with surgery. Eat the foods you enjoy, just smaller amounts. I do understand, honestly I have done so many diets trying to lose weight quickly but it's finally clicked in me that this isn't a race. If I only lose 20lbs all year..... then I am still 20lbs lighter and one day I will be at my goal and I will have DONE IT!

    You can do it too, it's hard but you can. You've lost 15lbs so you know how to play this. Dig deep and keep going, you got this!! :flowerforyou:
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    Try not to compare yourself to others. Comparing yourself to someone else's weight loss is like trying to compare finger prints. No way works the best for everyone. If they wanted to get surgery, good for them. If you want to it naturally, saving yourself from surgical complications then good for you.

    One of the quotes that is floating around here stuck to me like a fly to sugar water:
    "I never said it would be easy, I said it would be worth it."

    Focus on making yourself as a whole healthy. When you focus on yourself as a whole then usually the pounds will come off. Cut back on the sweets (notice I said cut back, not elliminate), get in a good serving of vegetables every day, and focus on learning proper food portions and exercise habits and the weight will naturally fall off.

    Above all else, don't dispair. Weight loss is quick for some, but slow for others. Just one pound at a time.
  • CarmaKat83
    CarmaKat83 Posts: 2
    well aparently adding cabbage/vegitable soup with added protiene(meat) one meal a day is helping alot. I have been laid up with injury but I still managed to loose over 5 pounds in the last week by switching that with a carb containing meal.
  • Krista916
    Krista916 Posts: 258
    The problem is in your brain, not the size of your stomach. Surgery will only modify the size of your stomach. It will not help with with the emotional or mental part.

    You are doing it the right way. Slow and steady wins the race. Surgery is not all it's cracked up to be. I have seen more gastric bypass people eventually gain their weight back then keep it off.
  • pawoodhull
    pawoodhull Posts: 1,759 Member
    I have had surgery, 2+ years ago. This was the best thing I could have ever done for myself, but truthfully, this isn't for everyone. I had tried and failed at every diet my entire life, I weighed 386 pounds and could barely walk let alone exercise. I really had no choice. But you are losing, and losing consistently by the sounds of it, so it doesn't sound as thought you really NEED the surgery.

    Let me tell you that after surgery the weight just falls off you. You are losing so quickly you can hardly keep track of the numbers. BUT, after awhile, the weight loss slows, and once you get as far out as I am from surgery, it's no longer the surgery that is causing the weight to keep coming off or that keeps the weight from coming back. It's all diet and exercise now, just like what you are doing without the surgery. You see the surgery is only a tool, it gets the process started. But to make it to goal and to keep it off, that's all on me now. It's all about counting calories, protein grams, water intake and exercise. My nutritionist tells me I should be losing about a pound a week and I am lucky if I lose a pound a month. It's a struggle now.

    I don't regret the surgery. I still believe it was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. I'm not done losing yet, so I struggle on by choice because I want to hit goal and I want to keep it off. This is a lifelong change, it has to be. Your too.

    Again, I highly recommend surgery for those who really need it. But you sound like you are losing fine without it. Someone else may be losing faster than you right now, but give it time. Their loss will slow down, and very soon, they will be losing at the rate you are and struggling just like you. Hang in there. You are doing great! Be proud of yourself!
  • pawoodhull
    pawoodhull Posts: 1,759 Member
    The problem is in your brain, not the size of your stomach. Surgery will only modify the size of your stomach. It will not help with with the emotional or mental part.

    You are doing it the right way. Slow and steady wins the race. Surgery is not all it's cracked up to be. I have seen more gastric bypass people eventually gain their weight back then keep it off.

    I too have seen more Gastric Bypass patients regain their weight. I had what's called the Gastric Sleeve, it's where they take the stretchy part of the stomach away. I can't restretch my stomach as Gastric Bypass patients can, but if I stop exercising and eating correctly, I too can regain my weight. Like I said in my first reply, the surgery is a tool, period. It helps a great deal, but the changes are lifelong changes. Any of us who lose weight will regain it, surgery or not, if we go back to old, bad eating and exercise habits.
  • jback1111
    jback1111 Posts: 1
    DEFINITELY NATURAL! I have lost 60 lbs now and still going. I believe that I have found a great combination........ I have blended the Paleo lifestyle with Advocare supplements. If you would like to chat, send me a message and I would love to see if I can help :-)
  • FJDodd
    FJDodd Posts: 140 Member
    This is how I see it:

    They are getting a quick fix, but they are not taking the time to form new eating/exercise habits. I know 5 people that have had surgery. 3 of them have already put the weight back on (1 is about 40lbs heavier then before). So my advice, stick with it. It may take longer, but you are developing habits that they aren't, and you are also allowing your body time to adjust to the new lifestyle you are living.
  • oroblar
    oroblar Posts: 68 Member
    You can't compare yourself to anyone! If I compared myself to all the washboard abs on here I would buy stock in Ben and Jerry's and gorge myselft daily on Chubby Hubby. I know only one person who got sugery, she didn't change her habits and ended up worse than when she started. Be the best you you can be!
  • briabner
    briabner Posts: 427 Member
    You have to think of it this way...you did not get to the weight you are right now overnight. It most likely took you years. So then weight loss is going to be the same way. It will take time and effort, but will it be worth it....MOST DEFINITELY YES!!!!

    Based on your ticker you have already lost 23 pounds the natural way. That is something to be commended!!!!!

    What many bariatric surgeons do not tell you is that there can be lots of complications from surgery that you have to live the rest of your life with. Many times you can even be malnourished because your body cannot process the nutrients properly.

    You need to look at this as a lifestyle change. CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER!!!!

    Will you get frustrated, of course...we all do. But that's ok because at least you are changing for the better!

    Feel free to add me as a friend. I would love to help encourage you any way that I can.
  • lyricsmamma6469
    lyricsmamma6469 Posts: 37 Member
    I know many people, including my best friend, who have had this surgery. My best friend even suggested that I have it done. I started dieting again almost 3 months ago - - I wasn't able to update my starting weight without starting a new profile - - but my starting weight was 297 and as of last Thursday, I weighed 268. Part of my inspiration is to prove to those around me who have had the surgery that if they had just stuck to the nutrition plans their doctors set for them when they began their surgery process, they could've lost the weight the right way. My best friend was told by her doctor that if she continued to lose weight with her diet that she wouldn't need the surgery afterall - - she immediately left that appointment and went to Burger King because she couldn't handle the length of time it would take to lose the weight on her own. My best friend has also had to cut her hair extremely short because she is not able to absorb vitamins the way that she used to and her hair started falling out. She's had to have blood transfusions due to extreme anemia. I look at her and I see that she is thin and think that she is beautiful, but having surgery has not fixed her brain. She constantly still says that she's fat and asks if I think the clothes she is wearing makes her look fat. I weigh 100 lbs more than she does and I am still able to look in the mirror and know that I am beautiful, regardless of my size. Being skinny is just going to enhance my confidence. I work out 5 - 6 times a week at the gym now. I play softball in the spring and fall. And I set short term goals and long term goals for myself. You are doing great!! Remind yourself each day that by exercising and sticking to a diet, you are stronger than those around you who were not able to do the same. Sorry...that's just how I feel about the surgery. I think doing it on your own makes you stronger and more able to maintain the weight loss because you have commited to a life change not a diet change.
  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
    Having surgery is not cheating. It is a tool for weight loss. They not only have the after effects of the surgery to deal with, but a very strict diet. You should never compare yourself to anyone else, not even if they were they same weight, height, age and sex when you started. Every body is different and will loose at it's own pace.

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