Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who posts here it is very helpful even if you think sometimes its not. I have been reading and this is my 1st post. I have battled my weight for my whole life since childhood starting at 501pounds now at 240pounds, I still do on a daily basis. It is a struggle even with weight loss surgery. There is no magic trick to weight loss, the only solution I have found over time and much experience is a balanced healthy diet along with excersize. No "diet" or surgery will work without a change in attitude, thought process and surroundings.
I have to admit that, based on the title of this thread, I was afraid it was going to be a post berating us for having surgery and taking the "easy" way out - I'm so glad that was not the case!
Hi Jill, I would never bagger anyone for any choice they made. I had weight loss surgery and frankly in my opinion i was the HARD way out, by far the easy way. At 501pounds i had already suffered a heart attack at 18yrs old and couldnt move it was my only option to survive. It was the hardest decision i ever made, pre opp was hard, my hospital stay was hard and post opp my incission was infected and i had it wide open on my stomach and had a nurse clean and dress it 4 times a day and it took 8 months to heal. (they didnt do laroscopic then). Learning how to eat correct and still excersizing with the issues I was dealing with was hard, some days i wanted to give up just like any plan that a person battling a food addiction goes through. So if you have had weight loss surgery in my opinion its not the easy way out its just a different route, no different than one person choosing weight watchers over Atkins. In the end if we dont KEEP focused and stay on course making right decision in our eating habits and moving our body to burn calories we will all go back into the same spot we started. Whatever lifestyle a person chooses, dedication, determination and a change HAS to be made. That my friend is not easy, so never think you took an "easy" way out ;P
Oh, I DO think that WLS was the easy way to lose weight for me personally. I think it's ridiculous when someone picks on us for taking the "easy way out" when I sure don't see them not using microwaves or remote controls or cars or any of the other things that make their lives "easier."
Not that the actual physical surgical procedure was easy, but I sure couldn't lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off without the help of the surgery, so my surgery did make my weight loss and maintenance (so far) much easier for me. I absolutely had to change some habits, but my smaller stomach made those habits easier for me to change than before. If surgery weren't going to make anything easier for me, I wouldn't have done it! (heh, could I include any more "for me" disclaimers in there anywhere?)
I have one close friend that went through the surgery in Houston and I can honestly say there was nothing easy for her. So many complications--such a radical life change for her and so much sickness--not to mention her hair, skin, nails and overall health. She has lost the weight though and is looking great these days. In her case though, it was no easy path--just a different one.
I have one close friend that went through the surgery in Houston and I can honestly say there was nothing easy for her. So many complications--such a radical life change for her and so much sickness--not to mention her hair, skin, nails and overall health. She has lost the weight though and is looking great these days. In her case though, it was no easy path--just a different one.
Absolutely - some people have a much harder time with it than others. I was very fortunate to not have any complications or negative side effects. My health is significantly better now than before my surgery - my type 2 diabetes is undetectable by normal measures (fasting glucose and HBA1C labs are all ridiculously normal), I'm off of all medications, my total cholesterol is closer to being too low than too high, and my vitamin/mineral levels are superb!
Of course, I do a LOT of work on my own to keep all of these things true; for example, I take more supplements than my surgeon's office recommends as standard, I demand more labs than my surgeon's office normally orders, and I get copies of all of my own lab results and track them in a spreadsheet to watch not only for highs/lows (which is all a doctor would ever notice), but also to monitor TRENDS so I can prevent problems as opposed to treating them after the fact. I've also had to do a LOT of research for doctors (even just a PCP and now an OB) and have had to change doctors more than once to find ones that were fully supportive of my proactive research and monitoring and means by which I choose to control my personal health conditions.
no magic trick to weight loss
