Question:
Why have the surgery?
I am 37 BMI 41.3 I weigh 240 bls. I have been considering to have an RNY hopefully in the near future. I have read several posts and keep asking myself why don't I just try again to lose this weight by doing what I'm supposed to do anyway. EXCERCISE!! Cut down on CARBS(my favorite) and SWEETS. It seems that after I have the surgery I will have to do this anyway. Why go ahead and take such a drastic measure? Then I tell myself look you have tried it on your own a million times and failed, with the surgery at least you will HAVE to do all the right things or you will suffer for it. By doing all the right things because of the surgery hopefully it will become a lifestyle and not be so hard to contoll the weight? Am I rambling or has anyone else have any thoughts? — COHO S. (posted on March 5, 2002)
March 5, 2002
Your comment made perfect sense to me. I had the same reservations before
my surgery. I figured, heck, why don't I just go on the "RNY
diet" and eat really small portions, no sugar, etc. But then I
realized it would just be another diet that I couldn't possibly stay with.
See, we big girls (and boys!) have a satiety disorder. We don't get full
as fast as our skinny friends. The only long-term solution for us is
surgery, since surgery finally means we can feel full on a normal amount of
food. Today is my one year anniversary, and I'm down 166 lbs. I LOVE this
surgery!
— Terissa R.
March 5, 2002
If you have any questions at all, any doubts in your mind about having this
surgery - Do Not Have It Done. As with any life change regiment, you need
to be fully committed to the outcome. Most of us here have lost weight on
numerous diets only to gain it back plus more. If you want to try losing
the weight without surgery, by all means go for it. Yes, I have to increase
my exercise and eat the proper foods. For me, I feel like this surgery is
akin to anti-buse for the alcoholic. If I eat the wrong stuff or too much,
I will get ill and may even damage my body. Surgery was a last resort for
me to get healthy and stay healthy. Good luck
— Mary C.
March 5, 2002
Thank you for asking this question. I have been having some of the same
thoughts, only was too afraid to post a question. Every time I have to
take another step in the process towards surgery, I ask myself why don't I
just go on the diet, take the vitamins and start exercising?...then I have
the same conclusion...it just won't work. I have been committed and ready
and sure about every diet I have ever been on, and have managed to fail
each and every time. The information and the comments available here let
me know I am not alone. This surgery plus the commitment and drive to be
healthy will allow you success. I know I will still have concerns and
questions, but I feel they are a "normal" and necessary part of
the journey. Good luck in your journey, and thank you again for asking the
question I could not.
— Jennifer L.
March 5, 2002
I had the same reservations before I had surgery. I figured if I'm going
to be forced to stay away from fats, carbs, sugars etc. why not just do it
on my own without having my insides messed with. But, I came to the
realization that I-as most everyone else on this site- did all those things
at one time or another. And just like everyone else, when I failed, I felt
that much worse about myself. I'm 5.5 months post-op. I've lost 136 lbs
(down from 361) and for once in my life I am actually succeding at a
diet---a new way of life. That gives me joy because what I did is working.
I couldn't think of a better thing to do for myself! I never try to push
this surgery on anyone. It's a very personal decision. You just need to
evaluate your needs--and consider if you exhausted all other weight loss
outlets. Whatever your decision, I wish you the best of luck!
— Kristin R.
March 5, 2002
I agree with Mary C...if you are in question, do NOT have it done. When
everything else has failed enough times and when the weight continues to
come back on because we've abused our body so long that the yo-yo affect
has finally caught up to you, you'll know it. Until then, it is a drastic
measure and something I wouldn't consider if I were in the same doubtful
place. You've got to know within yourself that it's time and believe me,
you'll know.
— [Anonymous]
March 5, 2002
For once, I agree with the anonymous poster. If you are in doubt please do
not have surgery, this is a very big commitement you'll be making and
you're going to need all of yourself behind your decision. I'm pre-op and
let me tell you I was jogging to the Operating Room, the nurse had a hard
time following me...LOL.. I was that sure of my decision, if you're less
sure than absolutely sure... then maybe you haven't tryed everything or
you're not ready yet.
— Diane B.
March 5, 2002
When I read your question the first thing I thought of was a thought I had
back when I was in my late teens, early 20s. That if I could ever lose the
weight to be "normal" I'd promise myself to exercise and eat
right for the rest of my life. At over 200 lbs by junior high, 250 or so
in high school and only getting heavier after that, exercise never seemed
possible (OK, maybe possible but more of a torture!). Besides the physical
difficulty, the social stigma of being fat crept in there too. Two hundred
seems light weight from here, although I remember how huge I felt then
compared to all my thin school mates. And yes I did diet and lose then.
But it got harder and the yo-yo affect was horrible with gaining it all
back PLUS some! I know how you feel. I'm pre-op and determined to have
WLS. I've faced these same questions though because they are what my
family asks me. And the promise I had made myself years ago to keep it
off, is still there. This time though, I will be keeping that promise
WHILE I'm losing the weight. I know WLS is just a tool. I need to keep
that promise not only to stay there, but to get there too.
— [Anonymous]
March 5, 2002
Surgery works in three ways:
1) It physically limits the amount of food you can eat.
2) With RNY you have a degree of malabsorbtion. Your body does not absorb
everything you are able to eat.
3) Behavior modification. Some things will make you sick, you will dump, it
is painful and/or an inconvenience. You will change your eating behavior
because of this.
I don't know if this counts as a reason, but you will also get a bit of
instant gratification because you will lose weight early and fast. It will
help you stay focused and encouraged. No diet offers you all of those first
three tools.
— cindy Q.
March 5, 2002
Cindy's answer below mine is great! I would only add that if you have
doubts, take your rime about making a decision. Perhaps you'd like to give
yourself a chance to excersize, cut down the carbs etc. before you make a
final decision. If you are able to lose and keep off your extra weight this
way - great. If not, you'll probably feel better about making the decision
to have WLS knowing you really made your best effort to lose without it.
— Bobbie B.
March 5, 2002
After lots of research and debating, the deciding factor for me was when I
read in several scholarly journals that only 2% of the morbidly obese can
lose down to goal weight and keep it off on their own. That means that 98%
of people my size may diet, exercise, and lose the weight, but they
eventually gain it back (plus some in my case). Not good odds if you ask
me! WLS is currently the only answer known to doctors resulting in long
term weightloss success. I am in this for long term results and I know it
will take a lot of work, but I finally will have to tool to do it with.
That is personally how I came to my decision to have WLS. Good luck to you
and I hope my input was helpful to you in some way.
— Kelly M.
March 5, 2002
My psychiatrist asked me this the other day. She was mostly supportive of
my interest in WLS, but she also said "If I were faced with this type
of decision, I would have to know that I'd tried everything else and that
there was no chance I could ever lose weight and keep it off without the
surgery." Well, I can't tell her that there is *no* chance that I
could do it on my own. In fact, I'm pretty confident that, if I try hard
right now, I can lose 60 or 80 pounds -- I've done it half a dozen times
already. I weigh 260, and I can sometimes diet down to 170 or 180 for a
year or so, but I swear my body *wants* to be 260, and it fights me hard to
get back there. I'm always determined when I start a new diet &
exercise program, but I always gain it all back. I want to make a
commitment to myself to get to a healthy weight and stay there, but I know
from my past failures that I need help. The surgery gives me about a 90%
chance of success. On my own, I don't know what my chances are, but history
leads me to believe that they're not good. And I'm 34 years old. How many
more 3-year cycles of losing-then-gaining should I have to go through
before I can say I've "tried everything"? If there were no such
thing as WLS, then I would continue to try to lose through diet &
exercise & meds & psychotherapy. I wouldn't just give up and say
there's no solution. But the bottom line is that this is an approach that
is much more likely to be successful than anything else, and I'm willing to
accept the risks and the lifestyle changes in order to have that
opportunity. Yes, I'm scared, but I'm also ready.
— Tally
March 5, 2002
I will say this again...doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting a different outcome is insanity. Dieting is an insane and
ineffective approach to morbid obesity.
— merri B.
March 6, 2002
I have thought this many times also. Especially when people tell you to
just try to diet and excercise like you will after surgery.(mostly thin
people) But then I ask myself, if I have the surgery I'll be healthy and
thin by this time next year. If I go on yet another diet attempt without
out this wonderful tool, where will I be? Probably several pounds heavier
and sicker than I am now. I have a best friend who had this done in May
2001. She is SOOO happy and feels like a new woman. She's my personal
cheerleader. You have all of us here. Think about it awhile longer, and
do whats best for you. Only you can decide that. Hope everything works
out.
— lerli1
March 13, 2002
Sal ... if it were only a question of "controlling myself", I
swear I'd be a size 2. The very best explanation for "why
surgery" came from my surgeon. He told me that if you took 100
randomly-selected morbidly obese people and put them on a supervised diet
and exercise regimen, ALL OF THEM would lose the weight they needed to
lose. HOWEVER (and this is the mother of all howevers, in my opinion),
only THREE OF THEM would still be at their post-diet weight after one year.
In other words, diets and exercise have a NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT FAILURE
RATE for the morbidly obese. Look, I dieted on and off (mostly on) for 25
years before I had my surgery almost two years ago, and I STILL weighed 350
pounds. I knew more about nutrition than just about every dietician I ever
met, and I was STILL fat. I agree with Merri -- doing something we know
doesn't work over and over and over again is just insane; deciding to have
WLS was my first step back toward a life of sanity. It'll be 2 years on
April 17, and I've never regretted it for one nanosecond.
— Cheryl Denomy
March 13, 2002
I don't really have an answer for you, but wanted to thank you for asking
this question. I have thought the exact same thing a million times and
just wanted to let you know you are not alone.
— C T.
March 19, 2002
I too reasoned with myself the same way for 12 years. It has taken me this
long to decide to have WLS. I am now 50 and I wish I had decided this at
least 10 yrs ago.If all your diets have been unsuccessful, what makes you
think the next excercise program and weight loss program will? That's the
reality I finally had to face. I wish you the best.
— Jean B.
March 19, 2002
Well I TRIED ONE LAST DIET before I had surgery, Starved for 4 months, lost
about 25 pounds and started regaining. WLS IS WAY EASIER THAN DIETING, see
my profile for details.
— bob-haller
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