Weight loss surgery

I was googling obesity out of curiousity and I found a bunch of weight loss clinic sites mostly, which is very frustrating to me.  They all say that it's very rare for a morbidly obese person (which I had just ventured into that range and now am luckily out of it) to get to a healthy weight and maintain.  Now, I realize that these places have a vested interest in promoting this idea and I personally know people who have lost weight and kept it off, but this still worries me.  I really, really don't want to do WLS, I want to keep my internal organs the way they were meant to be, you know?  It almost seems like now that WLS is the big thing no one bothers to lose any significant amount of weight through dieting.

Thoughts anyone?

J

I don't mean to be critical of the people who do this, but it seems to me like they are taking the "easy" way out because they can't be bothered to learn to eat healthfully and to make time for exercise. I mean there are probably some people with a weird gene disorder or something who for some reason couldn't lose any other way, but... it just seems like a shortcut to me.

I absolutely agree with you. Weight loss surgery is being heralded as a solution to the problems of obesity and every bit as the easy way out which could save lives for many people. I think it's ridiculous. Weight loss isn't achieved through cutting out half of your food-related organ so that you're made into some kind of semi-functional eater. That's not how you can achieve a better quality of life. That's how you become a lazy and inactive person with flabby skin hanging off you and a lack of joy for any type of food whatsoever. Leave alone the fact that it isn't actually a tried-and-tested method at all! There are people DYING because of weight loss surgery and it isn't even all that infrequent. There's been no time for proper long-term studies into the effects of these things, and you only have to do a little bit of research to hear tales of people whose bodies ended up unable to absorb protein, leading to hair loss, weakness and ultimately organ failure!!

I think the weight loss surgery wave is related to a number of factors which are messing with the public's minds. First of all there is the concentration on being thin as the ultimate aesthetic goal, and having a good body being the ultimate "meaning of life" of modern society. Then there's a lower sensitivity to immensely drastic measures (i.e. having your body sliced open in all directions) through TV shows such as The Swan or 10 Years younger. They want people to think that if you can watch beauty surgery on television, it can't be that bad. And then there is of course the simple consideration of profit. Surgeons have spent ages watching the diet product industry make millions out of the misery that they create, now they want a piece of the action. Many many weight loss myths published by industries like that are taken as the ultimate truth, and it is R I D I C U L O U S to try and make people believe that it would be impossible to lose weight in a healthy way and keep it off. What you can do is just that - become a healthy person. What you can't do is lose 100lbs in a year.

Excuse my very direct language here, but **** them.

Weight loss surgery saved a friend's life. He was morbidly obese. He is not any longer, and though he might still die at any moment due to his heart problems, weight loss surgery made it possible for him to reach 48 years of age and see both of his children, one of them disabled, reach the age of majority.

His heart -- with a congenital defect which did not come to light until his first heart attack -- could not wait for him to lose the weight he needed to lose via the method those of us here are using. It's not for everyone, certainly, and does carry significant risks, but for some, it is literally a lifesaving surgery.

Twin (are you a twin?  I am.), I think that it might be useful as a last ditch effort, but it is very dangerous.  What we're doing here is hard.  Sticking with it is hard, but it's worth a shot. 

my cousin died on the operating table during weight loss surgery. they hit an artery and she bled to death over the course of 2 or 3 days. RIP

Tia, I actually have twins, they are 8.  I chose this name when they were tiny, for obvious reason.  I have 2 other children too and now this name makes me feel guilty.  LOL

I have a friend whose mom did WLS and she didn't die, but she is basically anorexic now.  And they did another surgery and gave her glucose, some vitamin level was low and it led to brain damage, it's typically a condition that alcoholics get, Wernickes or something.  Anyway, she's now disabled, skinny, but diabled, can't work, can't remember things.  I think that being fat is better, even if you do die younger.

As far as it being the easy way, I dont' think that it is easy, but it alters your body in such a way that you are absolutely forced to stay on a diet.  It's not a magic solution by any means.  I've read what they eat after surgery and if I ate that way I'd drop tons and tons of weight too.  Yuck.

I also worry about the long term implications of chronic malnutrition.  The only reason I can see to do it is if you have a very serious health issue like the heart problem the previous poster mentioned.  I believe that the diet industry has made it much harder for people to lose weight, they've missed that it's simple, exertion - calories taken in divided by 3500 = pounds lost. 

No one has typed in here the fact that it can be a very temporary solution.  The stomach is a muscle and just like any other muscle it can be re-stretched out!!!  The overall fact is if you don't learn to eat healthy and exercise you'll never BE healthy.  There was a lady in my church who had the surgery and lost quite a bit of weight and also had to have 2 skin removal surgeries which I hear are worse than the actual WLS.  Now she is in the process of gaining it all back!!!  I believe that for some it is absolutely a must if your life is in danger but otherwise its the lazy way out!!

I think with weight loss surgery it's all what you make it out to be. If you think it's going to solve your problems and you can keep eating crappy like you were before, you're going to gain the weight back. WLS is supposed to be a last resort kind of thing... once you've seriously given healthy diet and exercise a fighting chance (or you're so obese you can barely walk).
I girl I had french class with had gastric bypass last April and when she came back to school in fall... she looked AMAZING. She was eating healthy, exercising everyday, etc. She had some complications from the surgery (was in the hospital for almost a month) but she pulled out of it and has changed her life completely. She had even though she had problems afterward it was still worth it to her.

I think it just all depends on the person. And the complications from WLS are no different than plastic surgery or any other surgery.

The NYTimes has an article on weight loss surgery today, actually.  It's interesting.  So are the "related articles."  If you don't want to set up an account, use www.bugmenot.com.  Just enter the web address of the site you want and it'll give you a username and password that work for it. 

My sister has lost 150 pounds in the last year from gastric bypass surgery.  She looks fabulous.  Her health, however, is not good.

She was 301 pounds when she had the surgery.  She is now 149 pounds.  She has always been an "extra cheese/extra mayo" kind of person, and lived on Pepsi.  She denied herself nothing.  She tried diets, etc., but she couldn't stick with it.

The medications she needs (anti-depressants, etc.) no longer absorb in her stomach because it takes only FIVE minutes for whatever she ingests to travel down, go through and exit her stomach.  This is not enough time to receive the benefits of all of her medications.  Because of this, she is now on long-term disability until the doctors can figure something out.

As well, she has gone as long as 3 weeks without solid food because there was a "stricture" into the opening of her stomach.  The hole should be normal size, yet when they went in and did a gastroscopy (which they had to do seven times more), the size of the hole was equivalent to the larger end of a needle.

She looks beautiful.  We always knew she was under the weight.  But she now has blood sugar issues because of the inability to ingest sugars and properly deal with them.  She is on anti-nausea medication.  Her depression has worsened because the effect of her anti-depressants has not been there.  I worry about her a lot.

And remember.  She went into this drastic surgery well education.  She has her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and has researched gastric bypass to death.

I've considered drastic solutions as well.  I think we all have, even though most of us are against it.  Those moments of pure frustration, crying, stomping our feet because we CAN'T get the weight off.  I'd rather be larger and healthy, then finally becoming slender, yet not being able to enjoy the FANTASTIC life I THOUGHT I would have if I lost weight.

People who get WLS just end up dieting like the rest of us, just more extreme, sometimes they can only hold a few grapes down or so.  They usually end up eating much less that a regular dieter (who is also losing weight, eating more)  I think it would be easier, less expenisive, and less dangerous to your health just to diet and to take it slow so that your body has time to catch up with the weight loss.

I was thinking about this today and decided that I'm just happy that
I'm out of the range finally where WLS is considered a good option (100
lbs overweight/BMI greater than 39.)  I would do it if I was going
to either lose weight or die, but luckily I'm not there and hopefully
never will be.

My whole family has had weight loss surgery (except me). I, for one, am extremely happy that they did. All of them were over 300 pounds.  My mother and sisters went on several diets over the years. They didn't lose more than 10 pounds in 8 years. Since they had the sugery, they have lost over 200 pounds together. My father is at extremely high risk for a heart attack and he also has diabetes. Lossing weight will help with both. I thank god every day that he is around because I don't know if he will leave today or in 20 years.

I feel WLS is good for obese pts that need it to save them from death.  My 31 year old neice is planning on getting it next year and I know she could loose it natually but is lazy and it taking the easy way out.  It is frustrating but at the same time it is encouraging me to do well and show her there are other healthier ways.  She is 101 lbs overweight and needs to be 100 lbs overweight to get it done.  So now she won't even walk to my house which is 3 doors away.  She is also setting a very bad example for her daughters.   She could do it on her own!!!

I know someone who died from an infection three days after the surgery.  I wouldn't encourage someone to have it.

I have considered it.  Even talked to my family doctor about it.  Which he replied, "There is no WAY I am letting anyone cut on YOU unecessarily".  I left his office in tears.  I felt that was my last hope.  I have had 4 people in my family have it done.  And yes, they had complications.  Nothing too serious.  They are alive today.  My mother, one of the 4, had it done about 10 years ago.  She had gone down to a size 6, but had all the skin hanging on her.  Insurance paid for the tummy tuck and the back tuck.  They wont pay for anything else.  So she has to come out of her pocket to get the rest of the excess skin taken care of which she has not.  She has also gained back some of the weight.  She still not as obese as she was, but it is a continued struggle.  She still eats junk food and does the mindless eating.  Though she can't have too many sugary things now and she stays away from those things pretty well.  So really for her, she didn't learn how to be healthy, just how to loose weight.  People are generally really good at loosing weight.  It is the keeping it off that is the problem. 

So I figured, if I have to change my eating habits and life style to loose weight with the surgery and struggle the rest of my life with the weight issue, then why not change my eating habits and life style now and not go through the hassels of the surgery.  It still should work, just slower and I probably wont have as much excess skin hanging off of me.  Not to mention, that I will have conquered something that has eluded me for most of my life, a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE.

I just feel that the surgery which was once for medical reasons has become a cosmetic thing.  Sad, it is the new "magic pill" for most.

Original Post by armandfrvr:

I don't mean to be critical of the people who do this, but it seems to me like they are taking the "easy" way out because they can't be bothered to learn to eat healthfully and to make time for exercise. I mean there are probably some people with a weird gene disorder or something who for some reason couldn't lose any other way, but... it just seems like a shortcut to me.

Weight Loss Surgery, must be careful.

I think learn how to eat low fat and eat more healthy food would be nice.

But you must read this about weight loss surgery, risks of it and how to make decision and what you have to aware. Also you can find some other diet plan and weight loss information. Click here....!!!!