Anyone ever have or research Weight Loss Surgery?

After 35 years of gaining and losing and gainng back again I am at my wits end. I am 52 yrs old and am SERIOUSLY considering weight loss surgery. Anyone here have an experience with that? I don't mean you know a tv star or read some articles,  I mean personal experience.

-Marianne

Although I haven't had weight loss surgery (and I have thought about it), I have had experience with one of the side effects of the surgery - dumping syndrome. 

I had my gallbladder out 3 years ago and suffered dumping syndrome for 18 months afterwards. With dumping syndrome you get diarhhea and when you get it, you have very little notice and you need to be very close to a bathroom. You also get cramps and sweats. I pretty much lived in the bathroom for the first half of every day because I used to get it really bad after breakfast and sometimes after lunch. I'm a stay at home mom but if I had to work it would have really sucked. It made things like long car trips pretty much impossible. There was one time I didn't make it to a bathroom in time. Although I was in my car, it was really humiliating and embarassing.

After going through a year and a half of dumping syndrome, there is no way I'd have a gastric bypass and have to worry about cr*pping my pants for the rest of my life if I ate wrong. 

Another reason I didn't really want gastric surgery is that I worked with two people who had them awhile ago (maybe stomach stapling or whatever they did 10 or 15 years ago) and they were fat - they didn't permanently change their behavior and their stomachs stretched out and they started over-eating again and gaining weight so the surgery isn't a magic bullet.

I felt like you - tried Weight Watchers several times over the past fifteen years and still ended up being 100 lbs overweight. So, since I ruled out a gastric bypass, I asked my doctor to prescribe an appetite suppressant. It worked really well at getting rid of my cravings/longing for food when starting my diet (especially during the crucial 3 week mark when they hit hard). Since the end of October I have lost 30 lbs. I haven't taken them in awhile and still am doing well on my diet. They were the little edge I needed to keep going on my diet because my will power was not strong enough this time around.

Maybe that is something you can try if you haven't already. This time around I am also going to the gym a lot and I think that helps me a lot, too. It makes me realize how long I have to work out to burn off a big mac and fries and it is a great mood booster.

I know 30 lbs out of 100 still gives me a long way to go, but I am taking one day and one week at a time and thinking positively.

Good luck in your research and decisions!

Carolyn

Congrats Carolyn...better to lose 30 lbs than to gain it! Way to go.

Thank you Carolyn! Hey 30 pounds is great! That's thirty percent! I bet you feel a big difference already with that much weight loss.

About dumping syndrome. It happens when you misuse the "tool" you get with Weight Loss Surgery. If you each suger or high carb foods that is what triggers dumping. But thing is in a way that's GOOD that it happens! Dumping is nasty and helps to prevent you from doing it again. LOL  So I guess that's one of the aspects of the "Tool". It punishes you if you're bad. hehe.  The bad thing is that not everyone is affected by dumping syndrome. Those people have a harder time keeping it off because they don't have that incentive. What I've learned is that the surgery is a tool.. ONLY a tool. You still need to work at it. You still have to diet. But the reason so many insurance companies are starting to pay for it is because research and statistics are showing that it is the most successful long term weight loss maintenance method found so far.  Many people don't use the tool correctly. They don't do the reasearch and some bariatric programs are not educating people and letting them know that this is NOT the easy way out. It is a LOT of work and a huge lifestyle change. It is NOT a magic bullet. Some people are going into it not prepared for what they need to do and do put the weight back on. But with proper reasearch and education, people that Do what they need to do... are keeping the weight off. They are the very same people who have dieted for many years and report that this was the only thing that worked for them.  I've done every known diet to man including doctor supervised using prescription medications.  So even though I am still on the fence and still reading and reading and researching, this is why I am seriously considering it.

hi :)

we could be twins! in so many ways :)

i've tried every fad diet in the book for years and was feeling completely helpless to lose weight and a bit hopeless about it too... and was considering the surgery...

2 thoughts....

then i found calorie-count and other people who were doing it the old fashioned way, eat less, move more....  which i can truthfully say NEVER EVER worked for me as a diet... in my life time.  :::snort::: who have you got to be kidding???

but think about this... after the surgery, you are forced to eat less, right?   and you are forced to change your eating patterns then, right?  and then you lose weight...  but if you suck milkshakes all day... then you gain your weight back... and some people do...

and that would probably be me.  meaning, i would still resist changing how I ate because I'm a cookie & chip & ice cream hound!!!

so to make the surgery succeed means =  I would have to change...

so why don't I work on changing now, without the surgery.  Here. Together with other people?

I'm not talking about a diet. 

I'm talking about learning how to eat appropriately and in control.  1 meal and 1 snack at a time.  Not to over-eat.  And some days... to eat about 500 cals less than I burn... And the days I can't tolerate that, then I eat maintenance level calories...

but I quit over-eating and I quit gaining weight.  Now....  and learn how to do that and work at losing the weight...

Have you seen the 100+ to lose club in the motivation forum?  Come join us there!  You can so do this... There are lots of us here... and you don't have to risk your life by having the surgery....

try this instead... and give it a real shot b4 you decide... you can always change your mind later....  but not if you get the surgery...  it would be too late then... 

just a thought :)

... and... i decided not to have it for now... i'm working on the plan to not over-eat and to cut back 500 cals a day to lose it slowly.  1 lb a week is 50 lbs in a year... that would be a 1st & a miracle... but it so can be done :)

Hey Twin!  You should be a motivational speaker!  Your post really is inspiring! Especially for someone on the fence about the surgery.  I did not know about the 100+ forum. I have to go check that out. I hope to see you there. Thank you for taking the time to reply with such thoughtful ideas.  YOU ROCK!

Marianne C.

Gr8 2 meet you :)

here's my first post... about this same thing... sorta... i had kind of decided not to have it but was feeling pretty hopeless about it...  met some gr8 people here who also chose not to have the surgery!  but we have to keep making the decision over and over b/c it's so easy to give up!  easy to quit on ourselves... but that's where the support of {{{friends}}} here have made a huge difference in my life :)  oh yeah... i could chat all day ;)  here's that post...

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/2341 .html

and a couple of the 100+ lbs to lose discussions :)

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1034 1.html

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1791 3.html

Look forward to seeing you there :)

also... have added you as a friend (click on a persons name, that will take you to their profile and give you a link to add as a friend and to their journal.  friends also keep touch in the journals... which can be locked to friends only!  in fact, there's more chatting in the journals than there is in the forums... hehehe... so, add friends and soon you'll have a whole support group here walking with you :)

cheers, jules

Ok Jules....  help me! I can't find the 100+ forum! 

-Marianne C.

Marianne ~ they are threads in the motivation forum :)

here are 2 of the threads :)

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1034 1.html

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/1791 3.html

we are in the weight loss forum.  (points up)

if you click on the "forums" link above at the top of the community pages, then you'll get a list of the 10 forums here :)

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/forums/

Hi Mariane -

Thanks for your reply. I, too, would urge you to try to do it on your own.

I read your webpage and we are very similar. I too was a thin child and didn't gain weight until college and then lost it afterwards and then really started gaining in my late 30s. I see you have lost 10% of your weight - that is great!!! Keep going - that is the toughest part - the first 10 lbs! I had the hardest time starting losing weight even with the pills. After 40 the weight practically needs to be chiseled off.

I have a mindset now that I need to live my life like a thin person does - watching what I eat and exercising if I don't want to eat like a rabbit the rest of my life. I have to change my life. I got fat because I ate too much.  That is all there is to it.   If you do the surgery you are going to change your life too but by removing part of your stomach. How about trying to change your mindset instead for awhile? It won't leave a big scar.  ;-)

I've been looking at fitness and body transformation websites to help inspire me and keep me motivated. The one I like best is by Alwyn Cosgrove, a nationally respected trainer and fat loss expert. He wrote a great tough-love post on fat loss. 
Here is an excerpt (See his blog at http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com)

here's an excerpt of one of his comments: An Alwyn Cosgrove Fat Loss Rant

This week I have heard more excuses as to why people are not losing fat than I have ever heard in my life. I have literally heard people tell their trainers - "I am following the nutrition program exactly, but instead of an egg white omelet for breakfast, I have a muffin and a latte". Hmmm. Not "exactly" the same is it?
...
To lose fat:

Eat less calories than you burn.
...
Here are a few basic truths that no one really wants to hear:

Think about the foods you are about to consume. Are they going to bring you closer to your goal? Or will they make you feel like crap and take you farther away from what you want? Yeah I know that when you were younger, before you had kids, you could eat blah de blah de blah and not gain weight. Too bad - times have changed.
...
Eat smaller portions. Unfortunately you cannot eat unlimited amounts of the food you would like and still get lean. Sorry. Second helpings? I seriously doubt it. Appetizers, main course and dessert? You're kidding me.
...
Yes you can eat fast food. It's called grilled chicken sandwich or a turkey sub, Jarod. Fries? No.
...
Yes it's hard. You want to look great? Nothing tastes as good as lean and buff feels. It's true. This week I've heard "It's too hard - I want an easier diet". What that means is "I'd rather eat crappy foods than look or feel any better. I have made a conscious decision to get fatter because my love for junk food is a more powerful love than my desire to get lean." It's unfortunate but you will have to work for the body you want.
...
And if you want to look great, the keys to fat loss are (from my politically incorrect colleague Lyle McDonald):

Change your eating habits: so that you're eating less.

Change your activity patterns: so that you're expending more calories.

Repeat: Keep doing this over a long period of time.

Forever: Newsflash, you don't EVER get to go back to your old eating habits unless you want to get fat again. To maintain weight loss means maintaining at least part of the changes you made to 1 and 2.

If you are not good at self discipline then hire someone who will make you accountable. Until then realize that the choices are yours. Getting really lean is not difficult in terms of knowing what to do - it's doing it that makes the difference.

****
Alwyn Cosgrove

Hi feather, been there done that with the surgery. I would never do it again. Many complications came from the surgery and long term heart problems because of losing weight too fast. Please, please, TRY this site. Remember this is a life style CHANGE not a diet. I must have lost over 1000 pounds already just to gain it back and lose it again. I have learned many things from this site and there is no quick fix if you want to stay healthy. You fall down, ya...but you pick yourself right back up and dust yourself off and continue on. Don't give up there are too many friends here for that to happen! Good luck. I added you to my friend list if you ever want to talk. Good luck to you.

Oh Caroly I want SO much to do it on my own. I am doing so well now but I keep thinking about my past history. I have been so motvated so many times in the past. I know I can do it but what scares me is keeping it off. How much damage I have already done to my body with all the losing and gaining I have done. I keep asking myself.. what makes me think THIS time will be different? What if I choose not to have the surgery and do this AGAIN on my own like so many times in the past and then gain it all back again. I fear I am at the point of desperation. Would I really be kidding myself to think that THIS time could be different? I am 52 years old. I can't keep doing this to myself! I would love to be able to think I could really do this on my own and posts like yours and Jules are very inspiring. I am just petrified to allow myself to think I can do this when I have nothing but many many failures that tell me otherwise.  I know these are questions only I can answer. And this is why I sought out a NON weight loss surgery website so I could hear from others who have done it and kept it off for a long time. That's the key for me. I know I can do it. But the maintenance is my downfall.  I am going to read the 100+ thread. The format is a bit confusing to me... not what I'm used to but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Thank you so much. I hope you don't mind if I add you as a friend.  Thanks friend! 

hugs,

Marianne C.

{{{hugs}}}

u & me both! 

but the past is the past!  we learned a lot... about stuff that did not work! 

this is where we start...

we figure out what, when, how, why & what we like to eat.  what, when, how & why what did not work.  we make some adjustments and keep going.

the thing that is different for me here is that there are friends to nudge us and encourage us on bad days... and believe me, i've had them!!!  usually several weeks at a time...

but... like coffee said, we pick up and we keep going....

so, c'mon... don't be afraid... don't look back... look forward to the adventure and the possiblities!

can't say it will always be easy... life isn't!

but we need to learn how to deal with life without over-eating... and figure out what is a good way to eat that will nourish our body and keep us healthy....

we really can do that... here. together! promise!  i'm not going anywhere... i'm going to conquer this... 1 day, 1 meal, 1 snack at a time... and then i'm going to maintain it ;)

Ok you guys!  You've got my interest!  I just did my profile here today. So let me hang out here and see what my head does with you all on my side.

BTW... I still can't figure out how to find the 100+ forum. I can only find old posts... nothing new. 

So now I've let on that not only am I fat ...   lol but I'm DUMB!!!  hehe

HELP!

-Marianne C.

I know your fears! If you don't deal with the real issues of weight loss, after the surgery sure you will loose the weight, health, and sooner or later the weight will return AGAIN! I thought the surgery would be the cure-all but it was only masking another symptom of why I was eating the way I was. It's not the easy way out honey!

ok feathers :)

there are like 10 forums here... weight loss, motivation, maintaining, foods, recipes, games, etc...

the 100+ to lose threads are in the motivation forum.

this thread you are reading now is in the wieght loss forum.

points up to the links above that say forums or diet forums.

click one of those to get to the forums list... then you can choose another forum, like motivation :)  scroll through page 1 or 2 to see all the threads (topics) and you should run across the 100+ to lose threads :)

glad you're sticking around :) 

Oh Coffee I do know it is NOT an easy way out! Trust me I DO know! I have been researching this and attending educational classes, going to support group meetings and pouring over the forums so I DO know what is in store for me. I do know that you STILL need to address what it is that causes you to overeat even WITH the surgery and if you don't become aware of those reasons and address them then the surgery will not work. I do not think that the surgery would be a cure all. The bariatric program I am in requires a year of educational classes and psychiatric counseling and attendance at support group meetings. The one thing that makes me think that the surgery is my only hope is that statistics are showing that the surgery has a very high long term success rate. That doesn't mean everyone is successful. Many people DO fail. Our educational classes are helping us understand why people do fail. This program I'm in has a VERY high long term success rate and that is why, even though I live in Florida... I am in a program up in Upstate NY. I'm not telling you guys this to try to sell you on WLS because I am still not sold myself. But just so you understand why I am in the program and why I have been leaning toward such a drastic measure.

-Marianne C.

i understand!  and have been tempted, just decided to tackle it without the surgery....

but i found something that caught my interest... 80 - 95% of people regain their weight, right?  they try to lose it fast and then they just boomerang back and do the yo-yo ~ gain it all back plus some more...

part of that is the body thermometer... if you lose too fast, then the body thermometer (hypothalmus) kicks in and sends hormones through the body to give you nearly impossible to resist urges to eat and regain the weight...

a show i saw last year said that if you lose it slowly enough, like 1 lb per week or less or 4 lbs a month or less.... that you don't trigger that body set point... if you lost 1 lb a week that would be 50 lbs in a year... and if you lost that and kept it off, that would be a miracle!

so... i really thought about that a lot... and have decided to do it slowly... 

no sense in doing the yo-yo again, eh? 

well, what they recommend is making small changes you can do for the rest of your life... with the way you eat...  and for me that has been the tough part... trying to figure out why i eat, when, how, where... and changing it...  and it's been kind of emotionally exausting because i learned a lot about why i eat badly... that i hadn't realized... but we can talk about that more later...

anyway... if you get a chance...watch the video (free online about this..)

it's the doctor empathy segment... and see the "watch online" link to the upper middle right?

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1110/

psst... sleep tight... don't try to fret this all tonight :) 

cheers,

It sounds like you have already made your mind up. Good luck to you. Please research the hazards of gastric by pass and take it seriously. I'm only 49 years old but my Dr. said I have a body of a 83 year old woman already! Mostly because of the by-pass surgery. 20 years ago they made it sound like cure-all and it was not! Good luck!