This Is Me Ranting. Why Did You Have Surgery?

[JAMIEINGOLD 16]

So here goes my rant! I've been wanting to post this for a while but thought I might be attacked by others, well screw it! I have noticed in quite a bit post here and on other forums, how some people eat and exercise and get to goal in 6 or so months and just seem so perfect. No sweet, no carbs, only salad, Protein and Water.< /p>

Well my question to you is WHY did you have surgery????? you seem not to have any issues losing weight, seems to me you could have surely done this on your own. I'm starting to feel like weight lose surgery is becoming the next diet fad. I am not perfect, nowhere it. I could never follow a diet for more than a month. It may sound like I'm envious, well your right. I'm 9 months out and still have food and head issues.

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

Well my question to you is WHY did you have surgery????? you seem not to have any issues losing weight

hi JAMIE

I promise not to rant at you, and hopefully no one else will.

Many, many, many of us are successful at losing weight. I have many issues after the weight los we've lost the weight, in my case i can't keep the weight off for long.

I could never have dropped this weight without the help of the sleeve, mainly keeping it off. i use the sleeve as my tool to help me lose my weight My serious problem is that i could never keep the weight off before.

I am not at goal yet, but when i get there i am totally optimistic that i will continue my life with success in dealing with maintenance.

you are 9 months out, were you successful at losing weight?

I don't think WLS is the newest "fad"

i hope you "feel" better soon and continue to try and attempt your health and food issues

kathy

[MegInNOLA 531]

Oh, Jamie, hugs to you. I don't think anyone is perfect... and everyone's motivation and progress is so individual. As you have discovered, the sleeve isn't the magic cure.

I think I understand what you're saying--it seems like maybe if we had exhibited the same sort of discipline we use now before being sleeved, we wouldn't have had to be sleeved. I agree for myself--if I had eaten then the way I eat now, I wouldn't have had to have surgery. I was absolutely so furious with myself right after surgery for having gotten so far gone that I had to have part of my stomach cut out in order to lose weight. All I had to do was eat right and exercise, and I knew that with my head. But I didn't do it; it wasn't part of my life then. That's why I had the surgery--I knew I couldn't lose the weight permanently without a drastic change, and that drastic change wasn't going to happen over the long term without assistance. My sleeve imposes a set of limits that helps me achieve my goals, but I still have to work within those limits.

I had the surgery because it would impose a level of discipline on me that I wasn't able to do by myself. My sleeve does not allow me to overeat or to eat certain foods (it will reject them)--and those foods include things that aren't very good for me or that I had trouble with in the past. I absolutely knew what to do to lose weight before being sleeved, and did lose it, frequently; I gained it all back once I stopped devoting excessive time and energy to it. As a teacher, my summers were usually spent on one diet or another, exercising, losing weight; when school started up again and my schedule got busy, that was the first thing to go, and it was back to convenience/fast foods, "no time to exercise," and the weight came back. Since the sleeve, it doesn't come back. I've been forced to eat in a way that I should have been eating all along, and I'm really grateful to have the sleeve's restriction.

You're close to me--if you'd like to get together and meet up for coffee or just to talk, IM me. I work in New Orleans and would be happy to get together. I don't like that you sound like you're feeling alone with your struggles. You're definitely not alone. We all have issues, just different sorts.

[Lila21 36]

I hear you! I read the posts where people have lost all their weight in what seems like a miracle month, and I still struggle along. I think there are a few people who are so lucky, but I'd say it's still a lot of work for must of us.

Honestly, if you just looked at my stats, it looks like I've been pretty successful. I've lost 125 lbs, but I *still* have 25 lbs to go, and the number doesn't show how much work I've put in or the amount of exercise, counting and careful work it has taken to get here. I think it's better not to compare ourselves to others because there's always someone who is losing faster or slower than us. You can do this, the important thing is just not to give up!

[Chimera 644]

I enjoy a good rant

Like most folks here - I have done everything under the sun - every diet, Optifast, working out with a trainer for months on end, you name it and while there would be success I was never able to maintain it, nor was my husband in his own efforts.

when we attended our bariatric WL seminar - my surgeon started with statistics, that the reality of someone losing 100+ lbs and maintaining such a loss is about 1%, about the fact that if one's BMI is over 40 and you do nothing that the chance of dying is much higher than after bariatric surgery, and then the high success rates of surgical patients. When the very slim couple stood up and told the group they had both lost about 130 lbs each in the last year, and were unrecognizable from their before pictures my husband and I were convinced.

Pre-surgery I struggled with diet and excersize as I always do - slow, arduous - always knowing in my heart that once again I will fail - that it is my destiny. With close to 200 extra lbs. to lose it is not easy to feel one will evr reach goal - and I never have. I have never reached my WL goals ever.

Post-surgery - the other day I said to my husband "Oh my gosh - we are really going to lose all of our weight" -for the first time in my life I know that I will succeed. Pre and post surgery is dramatic, and I mean DRAMATIC. While I may have head hunger there is no possible way I could ever again eat the way that I used to - it simply is not possible physically. Whereas I was always a volume eater before - 4 oz of liquid makes me feel like I have had a Thanksgiving dinner lol.

My tastes have alos changed since surgery - very few things tastes good - sweets are waaaay to sweet, luckily things that are good for me are tasting okay. The Protein shake was was so nasty right after surgery is getting a bit better to get down.

Just my thoughts - I am pretty early out, 3 weeks from my VSG. Perhaps I too will have more issues the further out I get - I know I will always struggle with food addiction. I am sorry that any of us has to deal with this junk.

I always try to keep in mind the great quote Eggface has on her site: "There is NO finish-line. Healthy food choices, move your body, work on the head. Rinse, lather, repeat. Forever."

[Ready4success 380]

So here goes my rant! I've been wanting to post this for a while but thought I might be attacked by others, well screw it! I have noticed in quite a bit post here and on other forums, how some people eat and exercise and get to goal in 6 or so months and just seem so perfect. No sweet, no carbs, only salad, Protein and Water.

Well my question to you is WHY did you have surgery????? you seem not to have any issues losing weight, seems to me you could have surely done this on your own. I'm starting to feel like weight lose surgery is becoming the next diet fad. I am not perfect, nowhere it. I could never follow a diet for more than a month. It may sound like I'm envious, well your right. I'm 9 months out and still have food and head issues.

I've lost 40 pounds too many times to count, I've lost over 100 pounds twice in my 36 years, and gained every pound back plus some every time. I obviously can't lose 100 pounds a few more times as I get older. Also, the 100+ weight gain this time bought me a diagnosis of both hypertension and diabetes. The time to "do it myself" has come and gone. I need this surgery just like the person that can't lose 2 pounds.

[AliveAgain 283]

Hi Jamie, welcome to VST!

I was confused much by the same thing when I was considering this surgery. I first heard about it months before I had my first consult, when I wasn't even looking for it. I had gone in for a consult for breast reduction, and that doctor pretty much refused to do surgery on me until I lost a lot of weight because I was too high of a risk for complications. I had a few doctors tell me over the years to consider the surgery, but I thought it was too drastic -- I can do it myself. Well, after multiple attempts to diet and exercise properly, I realized I didn't have everything I needed to make this a success. Too often life gets in the way: Work stresses me out, I don't get enough sleep for weeks on end killing my will power, my family creates drama and I eat to cover up my feelings. You name it, I had a lot of barriers ahead of me. Yes, I was eating a lot of the right stuff, most of the time. But usually still in too large of portion sizes. And I still had moments of binging on the wrong stuff (pasta, rice, bread) when my emotions got the best of me. After years of therapy to reduce my anxiety, I still wasn't getting the eating thing under control. And so long as I was 130 pounds overweight, every attempt to exercise just caused pain and injury.

So I decided to have this surgery. And it's the best decision I've made in a long, long time. The surgery doesn't remove any weight at all (except for the excised stomach, which doesn't count!) It's not like liposuction where someone else is REMOVING the fat cells for you. It's merely giving me a smaller stomach so that I can't abuse it's volume any more. It's like having a coach with you at every meal, deciding your portions and telling you when you've had enough. It's this little reminder that now that you only have a small amount of space, you'd better fill it with healthy food that will give you energy, nutrients, and sustenance throughout the day.

Believe me, I would not have made it more than a few weeks on a 600 calorie diet with less than 40g of carbs. I would have broken down 50 times since my surgery when life got my emotions worked up, when I felt like I wasn't losing enough, when PMS came-a-calling.

This allowed me the "OOMPH" I needed to deal with my head issues, start and KEEP to a healthy eating schedule, and feel proud that I was keeping on the "straight and narrow." With that came the initial 30-40 pound loss that helped me start walking, biking, etc. without pain. And with the new diet, I found I had more power, less illness, and more willingness to be more active.

I hope this helps you!