Living Maintenance - Guess what I learned today?

I learned in a lecture this morning from a bariatric surgeon that long term significant weight loss is impossible without WLS.


Shall I introduce her to 3FC?

whats WLS?

Weight loss surgery. And I think you shall!

Oh .........i was thinking to myself it meant weightloss support!!!

But Surgery ????????????? Noway

I love people who make sweeping generalizations.

...gosh, he forgot to mention that it's often impossible WITH WLS...

It is as I have always said. Surgeons will always suggest a surgical solution. Supplement dispensers will always suggest a supplement. Trainers will always suggest training sessions. It's how they make their living. Buyer beware!

Jay

This is what I think of that person:

:mad: :mad: :mad: :nono: :nono: :nono: :tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum: :bomb: :bomb: :bomb: :blah: :blah: :blah: :frypan: :frypan: :frypan:

:lol: Jessica, please tell us how you really feel!!

BTW, I do think WLS has its place, I was just taken aback by the "impossible" to do it with nutrition and exercise part.

A bariatric surgeon said that? Shocking. /end sarcasm

Did you call her out? Throw your lecture materials at her? I would've definitely approached her afterwards to discuss her evidence to this.

Unbelieveable, and I'm sure this same surgeon thinks that WLS works in every situation...yeah, sure it does (do you sense the sarcasm?!?) Weight loss works when you work on the reason you were overeating in the first place. I know people who have had the WLS and have begun to gain it all back because they have stretched out their "new" stomachs and began eating more.

:lol: junebug, I'm considering shooting her an email. She's actually a general surgeon who has recently started doing lapbads....And Maddiesmom, I think she thinks lapband is a bandaid for all obese people! She briefly discussed gastric bypass, listed it's drawbacks, and then sang the praises of lapband. Didn't even touch on duodenal switch, which I have learned from the WLS forum here can be a better choice depending on a person's individual health needs.

Hmmm, my sister had a lapband, and no end of problems with it. She eventually lost about 2/3 of the weight she needed to, and had the band removed because of the problems. She's working on losing the rest of the weight the good old fashioned way! :)

My cousin (an anaesthetist) participates at some types of these surgeries. He sees it as a way for the morbidly obese to start their weight loss when all other methods have failed them. He does not see it as a permanent solution.

He doesn't voice these opinions when he's around the surgeons.

Dagmar :dizzy:

I should let her/him have a talk with my physician who's jaw drops every time she says me to this day.

That would be my physician who told me that in order for me to lose all the weight that I needed to it would be impossible without wls.

Yeah. Right. ;)

ETA: I think what you really learned is that lots of people lie, mislead, are terribly misinformed, ignorant and don't know very much about weight loss and just what we humans are capable of. And I think that is sad.

Well opinions are like @ssholes, everybodys got one! :) If that word gets beeped out, I am sure you know what I meant. Lol .......Ahem, The maintainers here at 3 fatchicks are exhibit A, B, C, oh **** we here are the whole rest of the alphabet infact! :). 'nuff said.

What Wendalyn said. :)

Seriously, I've heard that same thing before, from friends who have had surgery and from surgeons who support it. Every person is different - for some it is a great option, but for some it isn't. It most definitely isn't the only option, of which so many of the great folks here prove every day.

Someone trying to sell their services is all, imo. Just like the people who try to sell me Aflac three times per week.

midwife, I would definitely shoot her an email.

I would guess most people that have had to diet frequently and watch shows like Biggest Loser feel that WLS is the only way possible to lose weight....

they see time and time again those that lost a ton of weight and yet a year or two later are back to where they started and maybe even then some...

of course, at least to me, it appears most of the BL people fall somewhere in between from where they started and where they ended up...

Many of you have proved it is possible to maintain....

unfortunately most people don't achieve that level of success....

sad really.

A lot of bad advice out there .....

Keep up the good work of spreading the truth around gals!

You know what irritates me the most is the assumption that people make that if you have lost a lot of weight, that you had surgery. Nobody ever thinks nowadays that you did with diet and exercise.

I myself thought that WLS was the only way possible for me to lose the weight. After pushing it off and contemplating it for years, I finally signed on. And it was the best thing I could have ever done.

Because two weeks prior to the surgery you're put on a low calorie diet in order to shrink your liver, makes access to the stomach easier. I was so terrified of the surgery, that there was nooooo way on earth I was going to *cheat* on this diet. So after adhering to it for 7 days, day number 8 being the day I had to go in for pre-op blood tests - I canceled. And never looked back.

Those 7 days of not *cheating* showed me that I really COULD stick to something once I set my mind to it.

You know what irritates me the most is the assumption that people make that if you have lost a lot of weight, that you had surgery. Nobody ever thinks nowadays that you did with diet and exercise.

Not that the surgery is easy but most people assume others will go for the "easier" alternative. Our society encourages that nowadays. Why do it the hard way, with diet and exercise and vigilance afterwards to maintain?

Because then you know how strong you are and that, if you can do this the old-fashioned way, then you can do just about anything you set your mind to doing.

Dagmar :dizzy:

Ah Lori, we posted at the same time.

Soooo many people spoke to me as if I had done the surgery. They didn't even question it. They just assumed it. It never even crossed their minds that I didn't do it.

And by having the surgery, you have left yourself able to eat very little food. Yes, I know there are people who will push it until they eat back like they did - and then wonder why they gained weight. But a person who has WLS and is committed to keeping the weight off is facing a life of eating tiny amounts of food, and most of it protein.

I also heard an interview with Jillian Michaels awhile back in which she said that the BL folks realize that their contestants cannot keep up the schedule on the ranch. Their main objective is to take away what most of the contestants see as the biggest obstacle to solving their problems - their weight plus give them tools to continue on the path to a more normal weight, so that removing that obstacle will enable them to face the underlying problems of their obesity. I don't think all this comes through in the BL program, but more of it does in Jillian's program that's on this summer.

I never considered surgery. I guess I thought it was only for people who weighed more than I did, like 400 pounds or more. Even when I was 275, I was in denial about the fact that I was morbidly obese. But I never questioned that I could do it by eating less and exercising more, so that's what I did. Of course, now I have to REdo it because of all that weight I regained when I got pregnant, but I know how to do it and I finally am doing it. It's just taking longer than I thought it would!

Anyway, like many of you, when I reached my goal weight, lots of people assumed I'd had surgery and it actually made me really angry. It's a valid choice for some people, but I had run a kazillion miles to work that weight off, and somehow I felt like saying I had surgery wasn't really giving me credit for the work I'd done. I know you still have to do the work after surgery, but it's a different path, and it's one I never considered. I don't think I ever would. And I'm always shocked when people choose it when they have less than 100 pounds to lose.

And I'm always shocked when people choose it when they have less than 100 pounds to lose.

I actually know of someone who purposely gained 20 lbs so she would be 100 lbs overweight and therefore qualify for the surgery. Mind boggling.

Looking back, I think one of the biggest deterrents for me losing the weight all those years was the mere *thought* that it wasn't very doable and that for me it DEFINITELY wasn't doable. And now I think it was simply, yes, simply, a matter of BREAKING MY VERY BAD HABITS. And people don't know this. Break those habits. Work past the initial, temporary discomfort of saying no to yourself. Get used to eating the *right* foods and passing up on the *wrong* ones. Habit. Change em'. No knives, scalpels, anesthesia, doctors, hospitals, surgery required.. :)

...gosh, he forgot to mention that it's often impossible WITH WLS...

It is as I have always said. Surgeons will always suggest a surgical solution. Supplement dispensers will always suggest a supplement. Trainers will always suggest training sessions. It's how they make their living. Buyer beware!

Jay

Amen!
Surgeons always want to cut!