Hi everyone. I am a 60 year old female that is 240 pds and only 5 feet tall. I have been battling the weight for over 20 years and Im just plain tired of dieting and want to get off this diet roller coaster.
My problem is I doubt my doctor would recommend the gastric bypass because of my age, but God I would love to lose weight. I am on high blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication and have taken Nexium for years because of acid reflux and I have joined Weight Watchers so many times I can't count and Ive just come to the conclusion I aint gonna lose this weight.
I know a couple women here where I live that have had the gastric bypass and they look good and don't seem to have any complications. The problem might be that my insurance won't pay either. Its Aetna Insurance and they are hateful sometimes about paying. This would be true freedom for me, freedom from obsessing over the diets and perhaps I might live longer if I have this surgery, but do they have an age cut-off on the surgery.
Any suggestions or help would greatly be appreciated. Im scared even thinking about it, but Im scared of dying from being obese also...bj
From what I understand (I have a sister in Law who had GB a couple of years ago) the main factor in the weight loss is SEVERE portion control, as well as really watching what kids of things you eat. It seems to me, that you could bypass the risks and costs of the surgery and just force yourself to behave as if you had the surgery...and it should work the same.
Does anyone else have any better insight?
In your post, you were talking about the surgery for weight loss and you said:
"This would be true freedom for me, freedom from obsessing over the diets and perhaps I might live longer if I have this surgery..."
But, I have a question. The people who have weight loss surgery DO have to worry about what they eat, don't they? Perhaps even more so. It is my understanding that eating is extremely limited after having this surgery.
My belief is that if you eat clean and healthy, exercise regularly and just change your actual lifestyle rather than worrying about a "diet" per say, you will have as much success if not more than with surgery. Of course, that is my opinion. Have you researched the surgery? The risks involved?
hey there - interesting comments. and here's what i know -
first, being 60 years old does not automatically disqualify someone from having the surgery. it all depends on your insurance. as does everything else in this world!!
an honest, open discussion with your doc is in order. even with the surgery, you DO have to make dramatic changes in your eating habits. and you DO have to exercise, and do a whole bunch of other things, like watch your proteins and carbs, and drink lots of water, and take your vits, and subject yourself to increased monitoring
whaddaya think? are you up to the challenge of WLS??? as for eating just as if you had the surgery - that doesn't often work. some people lose just a little weight, and then regain. many of us who have qualified for the surgery have literally hit the wall in which nothing works. i gained weight on 800 calories a day [an ENFORCED 800 calories per day]
sooooo, ms WV lady - ya gotta take a good hard look at yourself, what you're doing, what you're not doing, and then talk with your doc. wls might be a good option for you, but then again, it might not!!!
In your post, you were talking about the surgery for weight loss and you said:
"This would be true freedom for me, freedom from obsessing over the diets and perhaps I might live longer if I have this surgery..."
But, I have a question. The people who have weight loss surgery DO have to worry about what they eat, don't they? Perhaps even more so. It is my understanding that eating is extremely limited after having this surgery.
KitKatBahr and Momica,
She means freeing herself up from the diet rollercoaster. Many of us obese people are putting ourselves at risk because we yo-yo so much. At 36 years old I was very tired of the yo-yo. I had been dieting since my teenage years when I went in the 200 lb mark.
I had done every diet on the planet including those designed by doctors/nutritionists, Weight Watchers (about 4 times), TOPS for over 4 years, diabetic exchange system, every single fad diet/nutrition book, joined a gym.
I did the "diet thing" many, many times over -- called of course "a lifestyle change" but found that I could not sustain myself on it. I would lose 25 lbs, 50 lbs, 75 lbs only to gain it back and more.
Obese people know how to lose weight, we often just cannot sustain the effort.
Over the years, I admit it - I abused my body. I severely stretched out my stomach to the point that when I did a normal portion plan, I would be starving, just starving all the time.
If you can do it without surgery, good for you but many of us cannot sustain weight losses and end up getting to the point that we are constantly feeling starved.
After my mother had a massive heart attack, it made me realize after many, many years of going up and down, I was clearly in the risk factor group now for my own future heart attack. Then I began MY research into gastric bypass.
The new stomach and its restriction really change your relationship with food. You are no longer constantly feeling starved. You have the opportunity to feel full on much smaller portions. It's amazing for those of us who used to eat alot of food in order to feel satiated.
There is alot of rule following needed. You have to commit to the plan because at first it is quite rigid and restrictive. You have to eat proteins first, have rules about eating and drinking and you must further make the resolution to get into exercise.
Gastric bypass gives you the chance to lose a lot of weight quickly, to become more mobile...but it is up to you to keep it off and get more off by going to the gym or exercising. Once you are a year out, it becomes a lot more work and that self discipline comes into play again.
I was able to go from 288 lbs to 256 (day of surgery) and am now 140 lbs. Now it is a challenge to keep it off but I've made the commitment.
I should clear up what Momica said about severe portion control. This is true early out, but now at a year out, I can eat a pretty normal serving of food - about 1-2 cups of food. People that would eat along side me would not notice that I eat any different. I attend workshops for my work and no one has ever commented. I am just not eating HUGE portions like I used to. I feel much more content faster than I used to.
My suggestion is to check around at the hospitals where you live and see if they are offering seminars on the WLS. I went to three of them and the first one I went to was in my hometown. They were accepting Aetna insurance at the time and I was going to have my surgery there. Unfortunately my husband retired two months later and that surgery went down the drain. I began looking for another way and found Medicare and got my surgery through them a year later. I am 69 and had my surgery this year, so no, you're not too old to be accepted. There may be other reasons but your age is not one of them according to our hospital.
Good luck if you make the decision.
Tell me Im crazy.....
