Is surgery really my only option?

There are lots of people here who have lost 1-200lbs doing nothing but eating right and exercising. It can be done, surgery to me is just a waste of money because even if you get it, you still have to eat right and exercise to lose the weight and keep it off.

Oh, you are so in the right place!!! Friend me if you want support.

You can do it 100% without surgery, yup it will take time but it will work. Look at Courtney from the "Biggest Loser" she lost over 100 lbs at home before the show.....I lost 73lbs in 7.5 months with just watching what I eat and walking so YES, it is 100% a reality

It's totally possible to lose the weight without surgery! It'll be a long hard road at first but it gets easier over time Surround yourself with a good support system (us!) & commit to the journey

You can definitely do it on your own. You don't need surgery.

Just follow MFP caloric intake guidelines and measure your food and use a HRM to calculate calories burned from exercise.

I used to be right where you are, but I was there for "the easy way out" reason. If I had the suregry it would give me the boost I needed to lose the weight. Who wants to work out when they are heavy? Ya know?

I understand what you are saying though but its like you said. YOU'RE YOUNG. Girl you got this. I have a 150+ pounds to lose too and you know what I am almost 1/2 way there. I have lost 70lbs in 4 months and I want to be able to lose 30lb by June. Thats my first 100 right there:) According to the "norm" with my height 5'7- 5'8 I am supposed to be 150lbs. I actually dont want to be that, I think with my body frame I wouldnt look right that thin. My doctor even told me that one time. HAHA

You can do this, trust me. I know people say if I can do it you can too. But it is REALLY true, if I can do it YOU CAN TOO. It's a lot of hard work but it can be done. It's not wishful thinking, I promise you. Once I started exercising and was really serious about this journey the weight started falling off.

My advice, try it the diet and exercise way and if it doesn't work out look into alternate avenues. But surgery is a DRASTIC decision. Weigh all your options. I hope this helps and was encouraging

I don't think you need surgery. I go to TOPS and there are several members who lost weight with surgery and have regained all their weight back after. . They hadn't learned how to modify their lifestyle with the surgery so they are now having to lose weight the old fashion way. I started my weight loss journey last September at 300lbs and I now weigh 194lbs. My solution is exercise -every day at least 45 minutes of cardio and weight training 3 times a week. Also my diet is low fat, high protein and tons of veggies and fruit. My carbs are all high fiber/sprouted-I don't eat junk.

Losing with exercise and diet can work, you just need to make the right choices that will work for you.

You also want to avoid the side effects that come with the surgery! They aren't pleasant. The other thing about the surgery, is you don't end up learning the right way to eat, you don't learn portion control. AND..so many gain all the weight back for those very reasons. If you can do it on your own (and with the support you get here, I think you can!), you should do that!!! Please. As was stated earlier, if the Dr. says you are going to die in 6 months if you don't get this weight off right away..then I can see it. But, even then, in 6 months you could lose a substantial amount of weight.
Please, for your health and happiness, do it yourself. We are all here for you!!
Best of luck!
Sally

I'd say surgery should be the absolute last option you pursue. I've heard so many horror stories about people who have had the gastric bypass surgery. It seems that not only the amount of food you eat after the surgery affects the stomach, but also the kind of food. Do more research on the complications of the surgeries you are looking into.

I think surgery is for people who A) need the weight off quickly for health reasons (like they might die if its not off fast). For people who don't have the patience to do it the long way...which I think is the case a lot. They lose motivation, don't have support etc, and surgery seems like the only answer.

But it can certainly be done with out surgery. And MFP is a great place to do it.

You can totally do it without surgery.... but be prepared to work very hard. Eat better and exercise and don't expect overnight results.... be prepared for a lifestyle change.... not a diet.

The place you need to start for motivation is here: http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/page/269

You can do it with out the surgery.

Think of it this way, even with the surgery you will have to eat healthy and exercise.

The surgery has lots a side effects and may cause future problems.
My aunt had the surgery about 5 yrs ago, she cant take some medication because her body won't absorb it.
My Cousin had the surgery 8 yrs ago and has gained about 70lb back.
Both of them lost the weight fast so they had to have surgery to take off the extra skin

It is a long hard road, but with support and the right attitude you can do anything.

If you need so support friend me.

It's only normal to consider surgery. It's not the "quick fix" everyone thinks it is, but for many it appears to be the only option. For some it may actually be. I've never had surgery and have never been hugely (no pun intended) overweight until now, after having a baby and eating whatever I wanted during my pregnancy. So now I have nearly 100 pounds to lose, whereas prior I would have only had to lose maybe half that. I can't help but feel like I have SO MUCH to lose, that it's going to take forever, but I just try to take one day at a time.

Aaaanyway, point being, I can't tell you from my own personal experience, but three members of my immediate family have had weight-loss surgery. My sister had lap-band surgery, and both my brother and my father had gastric bypass surgery.

My sister is only slightly taller than I am but always weighed between 230 and 250ish. She had the surgery a few years ago, but little has changed. I think the only difference is that she has to watch how much bread she eats, as it tends to get stuck and make her sick. If she has the band filled too much, she can't eat or drink much and ends up getting sick. Then she'll have them take out saline (or whatever it is that fills the band), and it's as if she never had surgery. Finding the right amount of liquid to have in the band is a delicate balance and can change depending on what's going on with your body (e.g., if you're pregnant, you may have to remove liquid to make sure you are taking in enough calories). For her, she had the surgery in NYC, since that's where she was living at the time, and the cost of her surgery included lifetime adjustments. Now she lives way far away and thus doesn't have that option, so if she wants to mess with the band, she has to make an appointment with a doctor where she lives and pay for it. As such, she hasn't had it adjusted to find that balance and has just pretty much acted like she doesn't have it.

My brother and father had more success with gastric bypass. Each had a pretty dramatic initial weight loss, but it has been hard work to keep it off. My dad sometimes wishes he hadn't had the surgery, since he has only kept off so much of the weight and now can't enjoy many foods without getting sick. My brother will gain a lot of weight very quickly if he's not careful - he only loses and keeps it off if he eats a low-carb diet. So while it helped him get from 400+ pounds to under 250, he has to work like the ****ens to stay around the 200 or so he should be (he's a tall guy).

So my conclusion is that weight-loss surgery is expensive and not always easy to recover from, and the results are not magical. Yes, they help with quick, massive weight loss, but then you still have to work hard to maintain your loss and/or to get to your goal weight. For some people, that's really what they want, but it is possible to do it without surgery.

My humble opinion is that for most people, surgery doesn't always teach you the necessary habits to maintain the loss. While doing it the "real" way isn't as fast, you are just starting the work sooner, teaching yourself good habits, and I think you are more likely to keep the weight off when you worked so hard to lose it all (over a longer period of time)!

I'm not judging those who have the surgery, and I think in my dad's case, he wouldn't be alive today if he hadn't had the surgery (he would have been content to eat himself to death). However I think most people are better off losing weight the old-fashioned way, and it's worth giving a real shot before resorting to surgery.

Good luck with your decision, and I hope we see more of you here!

Good for you for not wanting surgery and being willing to be patient. It probably will take a while, but it CAN be done. I see billboards all the time advertising the lap band, and sometimes, the amount of weight that the pretty person in the picture lost is LESS than I've lost on my own! I say- go for it, and don't give up. You will definitely get there. :flowerforyou: