Weight Loss Surgery If you've had it, or are considering it, share your discussions here

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Old 01-07-2009, 05:38 PM   #1  
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Default A Cautionary Tale From the Biggest Loser

By now most of you have probably heard that there is a participant on the Biggest Loser this season that has had some kind of WLS and is now around 400 lbs. I didn't see the show and am catching bits and pieces from all my many WLS buds. I don't know the exact type of surgery he had, but it is being reported that his pouch is still pretty small. So how did he get back up to 400 lbs? Did he ever reach goal? What was his type of surgery? Does he have other health issues? Well, why even write about something with so many unknowns well.......because WLS is just a TOOL! My blood runs cold just to think that if I don't keep that in mind that I could be at the same place this person is.

Some of the older WLS people can tell that regain is possible. Why? Because they forgot the basics and didn't do protein first, carbs second, water after meals and exercise. NO GRAZING. I know this fellow's circumstances has struck fear into my heart!!!! So what you are suppose to do newbies? Set up good habits now and don't "test" the waters with sweets, carbs, fats, etc. and then you won't be sweating about rather you are going to regain, how will you take the extra weight off you regained, and start to see health problems popping up because of obesity. Some of you are going to fail, because that is the way the statistics read, but don't let that be you. I know my sister is getting heavy and she is about eight years out and has turned a blind eye and ear to anything that is being said about her need to get back on the wagon.

WLS IS JUST A TOOL. Get good nutritional advise and good counseling and things will go well for you. I'm not preaching at you all, I'm talking to you and mainly to myself!

Last edited by nanj; 01-08-2009 at 09:03 AM.
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Old 01-07-2009, 07:15 PM   #2  
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I saw it last night. He said he had a gastric bypass, I believe, and had a very small stomach. He didn't say how he gained it. I think it was the doctor (examining him) who commented how he just ate and ate and gained a lot of weight.
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Old 01-07-2009, 07:51 PM   #3  
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Missed the beginning of the New season! Darn it! But having very easily eaten 2000 cals in one day without trying, I can see that it would be easy to gain weight back!

I'm scared of that too, Nancy...and though I knew it was a tool when I had surgery and I'm getting better and better at swinging that hammer and hit the mark a good lot of the time, now, I just have to remember to take an honest look at why I eat over the stress and crap in my life when it doesn't help, it just makes it worse! BUT we all can look fear in the face and yell "Woohoo!" as we treat ourselves well with good food and regular exercise!

Angela

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Old 01-07-2009, 11:57 PM   #4  
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OK I dont think I can post links yet but I know that the biggest loser is on surfthechannel.com
I dont know if the one you are looking for is there, I do know that there is tons of stuff there about it.
Personally I dislike the show, I hate how they treat big people like crap and sensationalize this.
Have any of you seen DietTribe on Lifetime? (mylifetime.com) it is about 5 friends who have gained and one of them had the by pass 3 years ago and regained and all I could think about is ...wow really?!? If you had a by pass why aren't you dieting NOW?!? Why are you JUST learning how to work out? She says "oh they dont tell you that the 150 pound weight loss is not normal" And I thought "YEAH but they DO tell you that you will have to WORK hard, diet and that it is for life." My dr says that for this to work I should be doing 60 mins a day 5 days a week of exercise.

Nanj is right it is a TOOL, a powerful and somewhat extream tool but tools only work as well as the person who uses them.

Even so I perfer DietTribe to Biggest Loser
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Old 01-08-2009, 12:15 AM   #5  
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I don't really understand it that well. If you have a gastric bypass and still have to eat right and workout, why not just eat right and workout in the first place? Doesn't cost a thing
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Old 01-08-2009, 01:12 AM   #6  
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If that were the answer RN I would have. I was in a downward spiral, circling the drain...Like stirring a large kettle until the soup is moving in one direction. The surgery is like the wooden spoon that gets it moving in the other direction...it can help change the body's chemistry to be more resceptive to insulin, because, in my case, I just CAN'T eat sugar and simple carbs for the first year without consequenses. It can help one to change ones habits concerning diet and exercise but it doesn't change the soup...we still have to keep up the work...add the protein then veggies then the TVP ....that's why we stress that it's a wooden spoon, or tool, to change the direction of ones life, not a magic "eat what you want and still lose weight" potion.

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Old 01-08-2009, 01:38 AM   #7  
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He said his stomach was reduced to the size of an egg. Yet he still overate and continued to gain. Because of this Dr. H. said WLS as such is not a panacea.
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Old 01-08-2009, 07:56 AM   #8  
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Miss RN: From one RN to another....Are you nuts?!?! Working in a hospital, nursing home, healthcare, etc...you have probably noticed there are tons and tons of people who are obese and suffer the health consequences from obesity. I'm 57 y/o and lost 100#, 98#, 58#, etc on Jenny Craig ($114 a pound), diet pills, low fat, low carb, Nutrisystem, TOPS, WW, nutritionist, Opti-fast, exchange diet, physician supervised diets, high multi-vitamin diet shots, etc. Paid for exercise and swim classes, done it on my own, and still stayed morbidly obese and just about unable to care for myself. Now ask again why I didn't just eat right and exercise? I'm not being smart here, but given the option of living the last, hopefully, 20 years immobile in terrible physical pain, diabetic, heart disease, and God knows what else was coming my way, I chose RNY. It is a tool, I do have to work at it, the weight doesn't just fall off, but it gives me a chance at a normal weight and life. I'm ALIVE and can't say that would have been the case in a few years. Sure I would have loved to have done it without the surgery, and from all listed, I think I tried and thank God everyday for my RNY. I knew going into it that I could regain, this man and my sister are a prime example, and I hope to that I can remember these people and my pain of MO and not regain and eat myself to death. If it were so easy, then why are you and me and so many like us here at 3 Fat Chicks, because it isn't easy. Did you happen to notice all the different plans and weight angles here at 3 Fat Chicks, not a one of them are foolproof. As for the cost of dieting before RNY, I would probably be a millionaire by now with all that I have invested in not quick weight loss schemes, but tried and true methods, that unfortunately didn't work for me. Remember when you are working with an obese patient, that they don't wish to be this way, but unfortunately they are and need all the kindness, support and encouragement that you can give them. I'm responsible for being obese, and simply couldn't get out of it without the RNY and I know that there are many who are in the same boat. I'm wonder if this obese RNY patient will be another thing for Oprah to crow about or has she finally realized that rather you have a thyroid problem or not, RNY or not, you still have to work at it. Even with all her helps, money, and availablity of the right things to eat, it is a lifelong hassel. Like to see her get off her high-horse about WLS and give WLS it's due, that it does save lives, is a tool, can be effective if used right!

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Old 01-09-2009, 11:54 PM   #9  
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Bob and Jill were on Oprah and alot of the people on the bL have regained their weight as well. The guy who won season three (I think his name was Eric) was on The Biggest Loser exercise show on comcast on Demand and he looked like he gain atleast half of his weight back.
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:06 AM   #10  
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Look at the drug antabuse - it's used as a tool for alcoholics so that drinking alcohol makes them sick. As a probation officer, I saw alcoholics drink through the sickness or just decide to stop taking the antabuse.

Antabuse doesn't cure alcoholism any more than wls cures the many factors that contribute to obesity.

In a sense, wls may work because it makes "not doing what you're supposed to" so darned unpleasant. If you overeat, you're going to get extremely ill. If you eat the wrong kinds of foods, you're going to get extremely ill.

As much as I know it's not the right choice for me, I support the decision of anyone choosing it, because it's one of the few "obesity treatments" with significant success rates. The success rate may "only" be 40%, but with the failure of traditional dieting being somewhere in the 95% plus range - you can't argue that it doesn't work.

If I were at the point that living another instant in the body I have was worse than death to me, I would opt for surgery in a heartbeat. It's taken me over a year to lose 40 lbs. I have a graduate degree in psychology and have helped people change their lives, and I have just as much trouble changing my own as the young adult drug users I worked with.

You can "know" everything you need to, and still find change difficult. There's no magic cures for any ills in life, as much as people on the outside will say "just do it." If it were that easy, we'd have no social ills in the world at all, we would all do what we know we should be doing, and everyone would be happy. There'd be world peace and we'd all be living eco-friendly in harmony with nature and each other.

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Old 01-10-2009, 10:52 AM   #11  
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This is interesting. I don't watch the biggest loser but I thought this was about someone having WLS and then going on the show rather than having WLS then regaining it all back.

For me, I did everything as well, went to Jenny Craig (was on it a year and lost 30 lbs), went to Weight Watchers, tried diet pills, etc. From the age of 9 on, I had been dragged to nutritionalists and doctors about my weight issue. One of the last thing I did was go to weight counseling courses at Kaiser permanente. I met a lot of WLS candidates and even though I had never really considered WLS, I decided it wasn't the right thing for me at the time. Despite being heavier than most of the WLS candidates, I was much healthier than most or so it appeared. Then one day, I had a moment in which I knew I was going to lose weight and keep it off. Of course it hasn't been an easy path, a lot of it is mental and its taken me nearly 5 years to get where I'm at. I don't know if I'll ever reach the mid 100s but I'm happy with my weight loss. People look at me and see me as fat but this is my own struggle, not theirs.
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Old 01-10-2009, 12:21 PM   #12  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kaplods View Post
In a sense, wls may work because it makes "not doing what you're supposed to" so darned unpleasant. If you overeat, you're going to get extremely ill. If you eat the wrong kinds of foods, you're going to get extremely ill.

As much as I know it's not the right choice for me, I support the decision of anyone choosing it, because it's one of the few "obesity treatments" with significant success rates. The success rate may "only" be 40%, but with the failure of traditional dieting being somewhere in the 95% plus range - you can't argue that it doesn't work.
This isn't aimed just at you, kaplods, but anyone who may be reading and considering WLS. These ideas and stats are true for some procedures, but there are multiple WLS prodecures, including one with an 85% success rate, so dumping syndrome, and no narrow passages for food to get "stuck" (and up to 98.9% cure rate for type 2 diabetes, which is why I'm getting it). Not to say any suregry is better than another, though, as there are other tradeoffs (like having to take more vitamins).
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Old 01-10-2009, 12:27 PM   #13  
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Nanj, I'm just saying.. I eat tiny meals like someone who has had WLS, tiny meals, packed with protein, no sugar, no breads etc and I feel as if I'm getting the same results without the surgery.
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Old 01-10-2009, 12:57 PM   #14  
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Quote:
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Nanj, I'm just saying.. I eat tiny meals like someone who has had WLS, tiny meals, packed with protein, no sugar, no breads etc and I feel as if I'm getting the same results without the surgery.
As someone who hasn't had the surgery, I think the overall point of WLS (or any weight loss method) is that everyone's weight loss is different. When you are morbidly obese, weight loss is largely a mental game and for some WLS may help them with getting over some of the hurdles of that mental game. Of course there are others who have physical issues as well. I know for me, without being on BCP, weight loss was nearly impossible and I think it gave me a little help to deal with some of the PCOS issues in regulating my hormones.
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Old 01-10-2009, 01:10 PM   #15  
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Nanj, I'm just saying.. I eat tiny meals like someone who has had WLS, tiny meals, packed with protein, no sugar, no breads etc and I feel as if I'm getting the same results without the surgery.
Even those with similar heights and weights can have different obstacles in losing extra pounds. Mental as well as physical obstacles.

It might be cheaper for someone to follow the plan without having the surgery, but what if not having the surgery means that they never start the plan? I would say it's much better for someone who has decided that surgery is the right choice for them to get the surgery and follow the plan than to think "But it'd be cheaper to do on my own" and never get started or never succeed.

Weightloss is so individual and so personal. We have to decide for ourselves what we're willing to do to get it.

As an example, there are many Low Carb members around 3FC who are having some brilliant success. And they're probably doing it a lot cheaper than myself who is paying to go to Weight Watchers each week. And I know that I probably could lose weight doing Low Carb... but I would never start. I would be setting myself up for failure.

I choose to pay for Weight Watchers and attend meetings because it's what works for me. And the price I pay each week, even if I had to pay it for the rest of my life, is worth it.

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