I read an article a few months ago which has played on my mind so i am just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts on it.
Basically i have considered having the surgery however this article was discussing people who did not have weight loss surgery but still followed the same lifestyle as someone who had. Basically eating only the minute amounts etc but without surgery.
The reason i liked this is because people who have weight loss surgery always seem to have incredible weight loss journeys and end up looking stunning at the end, and i was wondering if this was possible or if anyone had heard of it?
I think it could work if you stick to it. However, your stomach will still be the same size, so youll be hungry more often causing you to want to eat more. So I am not sure if it would be a good long term idea. Sounds interesting though!
Have you not ever tried an extremely strict, starvation diet plan before? Most of us have, and it is nearly impossible to stick to without the physical changes inflicted by the different surgical procedures. If it were really as easy as "just eat less," hardly anyone would be getting surgery, right?
i know people try this 'just eat like you've had surgery' strategy, and it's not practical. one of the truly key points to remember is that, even with a restrictive procedure like lapband or gastrectomy, SOMETHING METABOLIC happens. there's a lot of research about just what goes on, but it's clear that surgery-related weight loss is not only about eating less.
i know people try this 'just eat like you've had surgery' strategy, and it's not practical. one of the truly key points to remember is that, even with a restrictive procedure like lapband or gastrectomy, SOMETHING METABOLIC happens. there's a lot of research about just what goes on, but it's clear that surgery-related weight loss is not only about eating less.
no one knows exactly what happens, though.
jiffy's right - with the RNY and DS, there's obviously major changes by way of intestinal rerouting in both malabsorption and a change in the body's production and release of certain checmicals and hormones throughout the digestive process. With the VSG, the amount of ghrelin ("hunger hormone") is greatly reduced initially, which has multiple effects (including lack of hunger sensations, reduction or lack of appetite, etc.). With the band, some say the band actually presses on a certain nerve in the stomach that helps patients to feel hungry less often (doesn't happen for all patients, but it does for some). So, there's more going on with each procedure than simply eating (and/or absorbing) fewer calories.
I've tried nearly every way to lose weight there is short of wls (and I would have tried it by this point, if I didn't have medical issues that make me a poor surgery candidate).
I have tried starvation diets repeatedly, and I blame much of my weight gain on them. They contributed far more to weight gain than they ever did to weight loss. I believe they reduce metabolism (wls does also, or it would be virtually impossible to regain all or more than originally lost). If metabolism were unaffected, it would be impossible for a wls patient to regain all or most of their initial weight loss, unless they didn't just return to old habits. In theory (if metabolism isn't affected) bypass operations should require eating habits that EXCEEDED your prior intake in order to result in weight gain (that doesn't appear to be the case). I have a couple friends who had wls, and one regained nearly all her weight, yet eats only about half of what she did before surgery. If she returned to her old habits, she would exceed her pre-surgery weight.
When I was in high school and college I crash dieted, eating far fewer than 1000 calories per day. Sometimes going days without eating anything but lettuce and low-calorie dressing. Oh sure, you lose weight on vlcds - but not as much as with wls. With the lapband (because the digestive system is left intact), it would be theoretically possible to lose the same amount of weight without the surgery, but with the other types of surgery - part of thte digestive system is "skipped" or bypassed - that is if you're eating 400 caloried per day after surgery, you're going to be absorbing far fewer than you would if you ate those same 400 calories with an intact, whole digestive system.
And you're going to be hungry. Not mildly hungry, not even just really hungry..... crazy "I'm going to die or kill someone" hungry: Light headed, weak, nauseous, dizzy. You may even pass out (I did, several times). And the headaches, you'll swear you have a brain tumor. You're likely to lose hair - in clumps (it's common with surgery too, but the difference is with surgery, you may regret it, but there's little or no opportunity to turn back). Without surgery, you always, at any time have the opportunity to turn back, and when frightening symptoms occur, it's going to be very hard not to turn back.
People who lose weight extremely rapidly don't always end up looking "stunning" at the end. They can, but they can also have side effects that can make them look quite sick. Seeing huge clumps of hair fall out, seeing huge dark circles under your eyes, you'll be tempted to turn back. With surgery, if you're not happy with how the diet is affecting your appearance, well that's too bad, you're stuck for the long haul in most cases.
Yoyo dieting is almost impossible with wls. You're on an extremely low-calorie diet, but you can't change your mind and go off the diet every other day. With a voluntary vlcd you can. I think it's the yoyoing that causes the most metabolic damage.
When I say I've tried the starvation diets, I don't just mean I tried them once. I tried them dozens and dozens and dozens of times over the course of decades. I never succeeded for more than a few months. The painful and frightening side effect were too much, and I eventually turned back every time. I have too much survival instinct to force myself to live with that kind of pain.
I have health consequences that may be a direct consequenace of the repeated starvation diets. Despite a healthy, adequate diet (I've talked to dietitians, not just doctors) I have a tendency towards vitamin and mineral deficiencies (such as sodium - and while I eat a fairly low-sodium diet it's not low enough to explain why my body doesn't hold onto more of the mineral). I have fibromyalgia and cfids, which is often triggered by an illness or trauma. It's possible that my years of yoyo dieting was the trauma. I have autoimmune disease - the causes of which are poorly understood. It's possible that the years of yoyo dieting did permanent damage.
Possible? Maybe, but not likely. As difficult as wls is, trying to do it without the physical assistance of the surgery is going to be many times more difficult. If it were easy, no one would consider the surgery.
One part of my current plan does mimic wls in one small way - I chose to eat very small meals, but didn't cut calories as severely. Instead of a smallnumber of tiny meals (however many doctors recommend after surgery), I ate tiny meals quite frequently.
This did help "shrink" my stomach more rapidly than when I followed a three meal approach. It didn't however result in rapid weight loss, but I was ok with that. I had to be, because surgery isn't an option for me, at least at this point.
Good luck with whatever you try, and no matter what you decide to try - educate yourself first. Know what risks and side effects you're likely to experience, so you're prepared for them when they occur.
Is this possible?
