You'll never succeed without surgery.
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My nephew had this friend, a really wonderful man, who was a very rollie-pollie guy who was miserable about his weight. He was the first person I knew who had stomach surgery to lose weight. And lose he did. It was rapid weight loss and he ended with a lot of really hanging excess skin that he had surgery to remove. He looded fab! ... but he couldn't join in with his buddies at their joint dinners because he could only eat a tiny bit of food at a time and when he attended those buddy-meals he invariably overate and made himself sick. So, he fell in love instead and got married and moved away. About 3 years later I saw him again and he was the same rollie-pollie he had been before having the surgery. He was divorced and had eaten himself back to his previous stature during the aftermath. Then, about a dozen years went by and my nephew died. His buddy came to the wake and he was now a very handsome and slim middle-aged man. I asked him what he did ... and he said he counted calories and exercised. But, because he had that stomach surgery originally, his digestion was compromised and he had to take many supplements to keep his micronutrients where they needed to be. I don't know when I'll next get to see this man, but I hope that he is still living the life of a slim and healthy guy.\
You do what you think is best for yourself. My story was about one man who I know and how he got to be a beautiful man on the outside to match the beauty that he was within.4 -
Even with surgery you would have to work to lose weight and work to maintain weight for the rest of your life. That is true however you lose weight.
I would not choose the surgery.4 -
It's stories like yours that I find so inspiring. Congratulations on your weight loss so far too. You've got this, keep up the good work!3
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I hope you are still active in your journey to a better healthier you. I'm in my sixties, Yes weight can come back. That's why you learning a new lifestyle is so important. The world is made a big bags of snacks. That seem like they are made to eat the whole bowl. Pop tarts that are packaged with 2 pop tarts, but 1 tart is the serving size. This sight is so positive because it has so many options with learning Maintenance. Being true to you. It will be a constant for me so I keep a food diary for life.... better to be adding life/ and feeling alive.2
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We have to figure out the mental part of why we got where we were to start with. Otherwise, if that doesn't change then *that* is what causes the gain again. Whether you count calories or do a fad diet or have surgery... if you don't change the mental part that started it you'll end up right back there. Having said that, it seems like you're doing great and well on your way. I'd personally use that negativity to motivate me.3
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So true I know some one had the surgery 3 times none have worked . Very sad yes I thought the same... Motivate me how you got this far,0
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I will be having WLS in a couple of months. I won't go into my history, but I'll just say that it's the best option for me.
That said, if you can do it without surgery, do it. Why go through all the pain and difficulty of WLS if you can do it another way?3 -
Massive eye roll at the surgeon, who clearly has loads of experience with people who *don't* end up on his table. Utter bunk. I lost 120lbs. 10 years ago, and even through two pregnancies, I have never once even approached putting half of it back on, much less all of it. I'm still close to goal. There are no easy answers, even with surgery. But the answer is simple. Hard work and persistance. Losing it took me nearly 3 years. Rome isn't built in a day, and neither is making a permanent lifestyle change. Don't give up.
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No surgery is NOT necessary, it sounds like you're making progress without it anyways.
A gastric bypass does NOT guarantee you won't gain the weight back either- I know someone personally who got one, lost weight, then over time ate more and more and stretched his stomach back out and gained all the weight back.
And I know another person who got a different but similar surgery, lost weight, then got stuck at a certain weight that was still too high/unhealthy and couldn't lose more but also couldn't eat healthy because her stomach was now so small that high fiber foods like veggies upset her, so she ate chocolate & rich foods instead. She was also chronically dehydrated because she couldn't ever drink enough water because of her tiny stomach. She also got tons of indigestion.
Don't listen to that surgeon!!! They just want to make money off you!
Actually I think a lifestyle change, healthy eating habits and exercise are fare MORE effective than surgery, as long as you continue forever. Surgery is risky and may not work long term. Diet and exercise is effective and works as long as you continue with it.
I like the YouTube channels Obese To Beast, Fat Meets Fire, and Jeremy Reid. All were obese men who lost the weight with only diet & exercise- mostly weightlifting- and are now fit healthy body builders! I also like Cookie Miller, she went from obese to fit naturally too and is now a personal trainer. Check them out for some great motivation!
Good job and good luck with your goals!1 -
Surgery=bandaid.1
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To the point about the surgeon I can only imagine its a case of "to a hammer, all problems look like nails" meaning to a surgeon, solutions to problems involve what they do...surgery. The concept however that it is impossible for an obese person to lose weight and keep it off via exercise and diet is clearly ridiculous, of course that is possible...people do it all the time. Is it easy? No. But surgery isn't exactly a permenant solution either and at least with diet and exercise you have the potential to build up healthy habits that WILL last you a lifetime.7
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Aside from watching my mother and two friends go through weight loss surgery only to end up with more problems than they had to begin with, I learned everything I feel like I need to know about weight loss surgery from watching My 600 Lb Life. No doubt, the various surgeries can provide hope and save lives, but it never solves their problems, and the doctor doesn't even claim it will. When the patients don't have the expected results, the doctor doesn't miss a beat before telling them they're still eating too much, to stop making excuses, get therapy if needed, but only you can control how much you eat. A surgery can't do that.2
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I know someone who didn't maintain the weight loss even with the surgery. It's not magic. You can still overeat after it.4
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Surgery or not, there has to be a change in the way people are living...that's where the fail happens. For surgery to have a lasting effect, there still has to be huge lifestyle modifications...5
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I'm not an expert by any means, but I came across this woman on Instagram the other day: @jacquelineadan44
If she can lose over 300 lbs with diet and exercise, I imagine you can reach your goal the same way2 -
I was 360 lbs at one time. I'm now 210lbs and while I have a way to go, it can SO be done on your own. In the time I have been losing I have had a pregnancy and have had many off weeks and I have not gained it all back. Just like you I return to what is now my normal eating habits and carry on.
I know surgery is what some people think they need to lose the weight, and many of them I find end up using diet and exercise to keep the weight off, which makes me wonder why they didn't do this to start. I know it seems impossible when you weigh a large number but it isn't. Of course when your job is doing WLS your going to tell people its their only option otherwise you'd be out of a job.
Your doing everything right and don't for one second ever think you need anything but yourself!4 -
For me surgery is the easy way out. Don't get me wrong though, if it's needed because one can't walk or their health is in a state of emergency then yeah, sure. Otherwise if you can still move around on your own, lose the weight yourself. It really isn't that complex. The fitness industry try to package weight loss as this thing that can't be done with "x product" but those who've dropped weight know there isn't any secret to this. 1, Eat less food. If eating mainly whole foods helps you eat less then go that route. 2, Move your body. The body is meant for movement. Start off slow if you have to - just walking everyday. Then you can graduate to the next thing, then the next thing. Before you know it you'll be smashing weights in the gym 5 times a week. Now, if your going into this expecting things to be smooth sailing then you're looking for a unicorn. There's no such thing as smooth sailing in weight loss. There will be set backs, there will be nights where you eat a whole tub of ice cream or go over your calories by 1000s. It's cool. Don't drown in self pity, get back to it. Tomorrow will be a new day. It's all about being consistent with your new eating habits. How you look isn't based on what you ate for a day or two it's based on how you eat the majority of the time. So sit down, think about what you wanna do, however my advice would be to go this route. And I tell you, the lessons you'll learn along the way will translate in multiple areas of your life. You'll become a better person, that's a given. And remember this isn't a "diet" so you can go back to eating how you were, this is a paradigm shift. The power is in your hands. You can do this.1
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In my own experience-I've lost around 50lbs without surgery, and have been maintaining that loss for several years now. There's been a few bumps on the road, but I always catch them early on, correct the weight creep and then move on. The reality is that very few people actually succeed at long term weight loss management with or without surgery. But that doesn't mean that I (or you OP) have to be one of those who fail
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I don't want surgery, I don't think I need it and I don't think its necessary for me to have it. That said, I am constantly seeing that in order to succeed and keep the weight off I have to have surgery, otherwise I'll never achieve my goal weight and even if I do achieve it I am doomed to gain it all back and more.
A gastric bypass surgeon said in an interview "You (the patient) can at most lose 20lb and keep it off successfully by normal means, anything over that you need surgery to keep off" .. what..?
Today I was reading an article about an obese woman and her struggles with dieting in her youth, she later learnt to accept her body and to accept that losing and keeping the weight off was a pipe dream, and there for she just had to learn to love herself the way she is... again,... what?
I fully understand that its quite easy to gain everything back, it is very easy for formally fat people to slip up and the weight gain will be very fast, but to say its impossible seems really strange to me.
For the last 11 months I've been on my weight loss journey by normal means, I've gone from 315lbs to 244lbs, so ive lost roughly 70lbs so far. In those 11 months I've gone on a week vacation twice where I ate a lot of junk like crisps and bbq, alcohol and sugary snacks of all kinds, both those times I did indeed gain weight, but both those times after I went back to my normal eating habits and routines the weight dropped again fairly quickly.
I don't count anymore, I've gotten used to and automatically aware of calorie intake, I do however occationally count on random days to make sure that my instinct isnt off by too much. I lift 3-4 times a week for 30-40min at a time, half that time is stretching after lifting weights with various body parts hehe.
So my question is.. am I really just kidding myself? should I just call it quit and sign up for this surgery? A surgery I swore I would never get.
What are your thoughts? and do you have experience with people telling you you're just setting yourself up to become obese for the second time in your life?
Weight loss is all about lifestyle change, not short term dieting. You've made that change and already lost 70 lbs when the doctor said you couldn't get over 20 lbs. There are many people on this site who've lost double or triple what you've done so far. I say keep it up and don't turn back now you've got this far. Congratulations.0
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