Sucessful Pre-Op weight loss concern

[Cherry 71]

OK follow my stats please:

Small framed 5'3, high weight of 238 (again).

I was 238 on Feb 4 (and diabetic type II).

As of today, 8 weeks later, I am 204 (-34 lbs in 8 weeks) and my blood sugars (via stick) are normal. My A1c is 6

Yes, this is all good news!

So today I am 5'3 204 lbs, normal blood sugar....

My surgery is still a week away and I KNOW I will be under 200lbs by then. My GW is 130, though I would feel great at 145 (so 55 - 70 lbs to go).....

Since I am a yo-yo-er, I once again have it in my head that I can do this without surgery.

CAN I?????????????

Uggggg, I am so scared of the surgery (not the eating issues or future etc) but the actual modification and surgical risks. 3 weeks to 3 months recently, I KNEW this was for me. For YEARS I have known this was for me.

Am I the only one who's a chronic Yo-Yo-er?

My dream about the surgery is that someday POST op, I can eat normal (in a sense) and not have to worry about gaining 50 lbs from a few bites of things.

Hope that made sense

[TinyMamiOf3kids 1,280]

I'm now afraid of gaining weight. I'm 115lbs but I sometimes feel I eat too much.

[Cherry 71]

I'd look dead at 115. At 145 I am a sz 8. At 140 I am sz 6. I am taller than you a lil bit though. I dont recal ever being below 138 though. I was sz 6-8 at that weight. And I was killing myself to maintain it. I did more damage to myself killing myself to be that size than the side effects/risks of RNY most likely.

[Nel 189]

You managed to keep with the diet, not cheat too bad, and lose it because you knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. If you're like me. If you're like me, then you've successfully lost and gained 100s of pounds over the years and always managed to end up heavier than ever. That's the definition of yoyo dieting. Here's a link to my blog about all the reasons I did this http://nellasnails.blogspot.com/2013/03/gastric-bypass.html

If you want to delay surgery and then revisit it, do that. This is a huge life changing step. You will never be the same. Ever. That's what I like about it.

[DLCoggin 1,788]

There is virtually no scientific evidence that the simplistic "eat less, move more" approach often given to folks has any realistic chance of success with people with a BMI of 30 or greater. If going on a diet or starting an exercise program resulted in persistent, long-term weight loss - we would not have an obesity epidemic.

This link will give you some insight into why - http://www.drsharma....or-obesity.html . This doctor is an MD and a PhD, Professor of Medicine and Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Clinical Co-Chair of the Alberta Health Services Obesity Program, founder and Scientific Director of the Canadian Obesity Network and Past President of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons - just to name a few of his qualifications. On the same page you'll see more than a dozen other links, most related to the treatment of obesity.

This is a link to a white paper titled "Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments - Diets Are Not the Answer" - http://motivatedandf...s_dont_work.pdf . There is a considerable amount of information in this paper, much of it quite technical. But the following is a quote from the paper which sums up their findings relative to diet and exercise: "First, diets do lead to short term weight loss. One summary of diet studies from the 1970's to the mid-1990's found that these weight loss programs consistently resulted in participants losing an average of 5% to 10% of their weight. Second, these loses are not maintained. As noted in one review, 'It is only the rate of weight regain, not the fact of weight regain, that appears open to debate."

Another study found that virtually 100% of obese patients that successfully lost weight with diet and exercise regained all of the lost weight, or more, within one year. A fact that will come as no surprise to the majority of folks reading this post!

Now compare all of that to gastric bypass statistics: average excess weight loss for RNY is 80% with 50% - 75% maintained at five years post-op. According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, bariatric surgery can improve or resolve more than 30 obesity related conditions including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Again, I do not question the motives of friends, family and spouses that think diet and exercise are the answer. I do question the validity of their position. And challenge anyone to present any scientific, objective evidence demonstrating any non-surgical option that has an equal or better long-term success rate for the treatment of obesity and the many serious co-morbidities associated with it.

Weight loss surgery has risks. Some of them quite serious. I was diagnosed with an ulcer at the anastomosis at one year post-op. Three months later, a second endoscopy showed the ulcer completely healed. But let’s be clear, obesity also has risks. Some of them quite serious. Obesity is the number two cause of preventable death in the U.S. There are no guarantees. There simply are no absolutes. No one can make the decision for anyone else. Do your own research. I did and came to the conclusion that the odds were overwhelmingly in my favor for a successful outcome following surgery.

Today, I’m approaching eighteen months post-op. Type 2 diabetes – gone. Hypertension – gone. sleep apnea – gone. Cholesterol – low normal. Back and knee pain – gone. 130 pounds – gone. I very purposely never established a “goal weight”. I simply trusted the fact that my body would know when I was at the weight I needed to be at. And I’ve been stable at 155 for five months.

Would I do it again? In a second.