Weight Loss Surgery & "Starvation Mode" ???

I was wondering, after someone has weight loss surgery (i.e. Gastric Bypass) how does the body not go into starvation mode?  This is something that puzzles me. 

Dena

I think I read someone else asking that question yesterday too... and the answer is... I think they do. I have not heard of very many people who have had the surgery and successfully kept down the weight. The problem is that, it might make you lose fat more quickly, but it sure as hell doesn't fix your bad eating habits or make you exercise regularly! :D

jayd,

You are so right, it does not change eating habits.  I have often fantasized about having the surgery (I knew I never would!) and just watching the pounds melt off.  It seems too good to be true!

But in the end, what is going to stop you from having the soda you are not supposed to drink EVER AGAIN afer that surgery.  Nothing but will power.  So why not just try to eat like you did have the surgery, meaning healthy, not micro sized portions.

So that is what I am trying to do.  I have cut out all sodas and have changed my eating habits drastically to a much more healthy diet. 

I still have a long way to go, but I will get there!

Thanks for the response!

Dena

that's where the pre-surgical screening is soooo important. if the candidate has not shown an effort BEFORE the surgery, it should not be done....tough love? maybe, but it would sure help a lot of people if it was done for the right people with the right motivation.

I think they do go into starvation mode, but its ususally a life or death scenario and if they don't lose weight fast, they haven't got long to live. Well at least that's the way it is in the UK. Many people get it free on the NHS and there have been loads of documentaries recently, about people who've had it done and kept the weight off too.

The people on these programmes though, they threw up if they ate too much, so they didn't have a choice in it not working because their lives were just miserable, puking all the time. I think it was different to a bypass...wish I'd listened better...but they had no option to eat too much.

I know two people who have done the surgery.  The first person went through all of the pre screening counseling and nutritional meetings and after the surgery would go to support group meetings to stay motivated to eat healthy and she was able to keep the weight off for the most part.  I think she may have a 10 to 15lb fluctuation but it allowed her to lose enough to be able to exercise, etc.  She still has about 50 more lbs to lose and she had the surgery three years ago.

On the other hand the second person that I know who had it did the prescreening counseling and had the surgery. She ended up expanding her stomach back up and causing major gastric problems.  She can't even lie down without vomitting due to all of the gastric problems.  She had the surgery again to fix her stomach and again she ended up stretching it back out. 

Even though I have seen both sides I would never opt for the surgery because I want to change my lifestyle not just lose the weight to gain it back because I did not learn new eating habits.

My sister is about to have that surgery.  I have been trying so hard to talk her out of it.  I just dont understand it.  She is about 5'6" tall and about 375Lb.  She has been going to all these classes with the doctor and in a couple of weeks she will submit to her insurance for approval.  I asked her why she just didn't diet and exercise.  She told me she has.  I know for a fact she has not.  I have never seen her walk, its like this upcoming surgery is an excuse to eat even more.  My daughter ran into her at the grocery store.  She was in the cereal isle trying to decide between honey nut cherios and cookie crisp.  My daughter suggested grapenuts.  So my sister bought the cherios and the cookie crisp.  She told my daughter that after her surgery she wanted to share clothes with her.  My daughter is 5'7" and weighs about 120lbs.  She is a competive cheerleader and a BMX racer.  She has a very athletic build.  My daughter told her "No, my Daddy won't let me wear slutty clothes".  I like to have died when my daughter told me she said that to her aunt.  I just don't think that my sister will keep the weight off.  My daughter asked me about the extra skin that her aunt would have after the surgery.  I told her I didn't know how that would pan out.  I know her insurance won't pay for cosmetic surgery.  My daughter asked me if having that surgery and the weight loss would be worth it if you looked in the mirror and saw flabby skin.  She's afraid that it would do more damage to your self esteem than being overweight would.  I know at least my excess weight fills in the skin!!!! LOL

My husbands aunt had that surgery.  She weighed almost 400 pounds when she had the surgery done.  She has lost the weight very quickly and I think now she about 180.  But..... She told me the other day that her insurance would not pay for the excess skin that she has, she also told me that if she would have that skin taken off, she would lost about another 40-50 pounds.  She can only eat like 2 ounces at a time, she can have very very limit sweets.  She came to my sons birthday party and had a very tiny bit of the cake we served, she said that was all she could have.  I guess she's healthier than she was, but I don't know about the surgery, I think I would rather it take longer and be more effective and not have all that skin hanging from the sudden weight loss. JMO though.

There is a person whose blog I read occasionally who had the gastric banding done.  I seriously doubt that after the band is deflated, she will be able to maintain her weight loss.  She had to have it deflated due to a complication recently, and she immediately gained weight.  She hates to exercise.  She is a total foodie, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but when your love of food outweighs just about everything else in life, it's hard to maintain a moderated calorie intake.  ( I should know ;))


Plus, when she writes, she indicates she has some complex emotional baggage associated with the whole food/ weight/ eating thing, as many of us do.  If you don't deal with that, how can you maintain a healthy relationship with food?  How can you maintain a 100+ pound weight loss without actually practicing good nutrition for a while, without dealing with the very demons that trigger disordered eating?

I dunno.  I really hope this does the trick for her.  It just seem so unlikely that it will.