You can ask Vel. I know she considered it.

no not Gastric Bypass Surgery. Liposuction had crossed my mind, but I'm too cheap to pay for that when this WOL works so well!!!

I have a friend who just had it done. She has done remarkably well (lost 70+ lbs. since Nov.), but honestly I've prayed for her just about every day, cause it scares me so much.

I think it's something that can be very appealing, especially as you climb in weight. But like I said, I'm a big chicken.

I very seriously considered surgery. My sis-n-law had it done last summer and she has lost so much weight. The draw back is...at Christmas she was still only able to eat 3 or 4 bites of food at a meal. That, to me, is NOT healthy. She has to take all kinds of supplements cuz she is not getting them in her daily intake of food. She says she still craves food but just can't eat or she ends up vomiting and that definetly is NOT healthy.

I have had 15 surgeries in my life that I HAD to have, I just can't see having one for something that I can control myself with a little will powerand determination. But that's me and just my opinion. Everyone has to make their own decisions.

Let me just say that having this surgery won't cure you of your old ways of eating. Yes the surgery works and you lose wieght real fast. But you go through alot physically and emotionally just to get thinner. You can lose weight on your own without the surgery, you've proven it to yourself already. Just look at how much you've lost already. Wouldn't you want to feel like you accomplished something and didn't take the easy way out. Which by the way isn't EASY! You CAN gain the weight back. YES YOU CAN! I've seen it happen. Like I said before, you may lose weight and fast, but what's the point of it if you haven't learned to eat properly which you do learn to do overtime with Atkins.

I considered this too and prayed about it but GOD said NO when he let me get pregnant. I knew then this wasn't right for me. (sorry if I hit a religion sore spot with this one....I'm Christian and believe in praying and waiting for an answer)

I've lost 24 pounds since November 2003 on Atkins and I feel like I really accomplished something. Without the help of surgeons.

I would not recommend it unless you are the type of person that just can't lose weight no matter what you do. Which you can by your stats'......Or if you are near your death bed cause you are so overly overweight that you need this urgently. Which your not.

You have to meet certain criteria's to have this surgery by the way. You have to be 100 pounds overweight or more and have health problems that are associated to the weight. I was 100 pounds overweight at the time I requested the surgery but because I was perfectly healthy other than being FAT they denied me. Don't be fooled by your doctor saying this is the only way you can lose the weight, it's not true. He may just be after the pay he'll get if you do it. (not saying he is but hey, chances are right)


This is my opinion though.

I posted a link about aftercare for gastric bypass surgery while back. Before reading it I didn't realize that after the operation one is supposed to follow a high protein/low carb regimen!
Gee, you just skipped the life-threatening surgery and went straight to what works!

http://www.mills-peninsula.org/obesity/now_a.html

Those are the diet changes after surgery. Its pretty scary to read and you need to diet and watch what you eat anyway after and if you dont chew a piece of food enough it could cause blockages. Its pretty scary. I know if I could I would love to be at my goal tomorrow but in reality... whats the race? Unless you have some pressing health concern. I started at 245 and I am at 186 now and its taking time, but I am learning how to eat for the rest of my life and unlearning bad habits and doing it naturally. I feel its also far more rewarding to really lose it yourself without surgery.

That said I know 3 people who had the operation done. They all lost a ton of weight. One of them has a flap of skin down to her knees that she needs to wait till she can get a tummy tuck, and then had to get a boob job and an arm lift etc because of all the loose skin and she is covered in scars.

I dont think its something healthy and it can be done on your own. Whats the hurry?
you are doing great! keep it up!

MJ

I almost started the process too but was too scared of the health issues involved and the HUGE scar... NOW..you and I are nowhere near qualifying weight wise! congrats to you and ME for doing it a MUCH safer and less expensive way.

My doctor wanted me to have this done back before I began to lose weight. I had tried low fat because I had done Atkins years before and was having a hard time motivating myself to do it again as I have a family of six. I only lost a few pounds in the last few years trying to do this. Then 8 mos. ago I developed a pretty serious heart condition. Now my doctor really wanted me to have the gastric surgery to get the weight off before my heart surgery. I still said no. As of October he said he'd give me six months (as long as my heart condition stays stable) to see what I could do on low carb since low fat did not work. He came right out and said he did not think I could do it! I have lost 48 lbs. and am now under the 100 lbs overweight you have to be in order to qualify for the surgery! He can't try and force the issue anymore. I know of people who had this surgery, lost weight, had complications, still ate high carb, stretched the surgery back out, and gained the weight back and are even more unhealthy than in the beginning.

I can't wait to go see my doctor in April and let him see that I you can lose weight doing it low carb versus the traditional low fat way.

My 53 year old sister is going thru the approval process for this surgery now. She's 5' 5" and weighs 295 lbs. She just passed the required psychological testing and has received the papers you need to send to the insurance company for approval. She's gone thru the classes that tell you what to expect during and after surgery, how to eat, what quantities, how you have to literally make your food into mush before you eat it, etc. I know she's praying that the insurance company approves her, but I'm praying that they don't. While I try to be supportive of her and her decision, I have to tell you that it scares the beejesus out of me. I'm so afraid that something will happen to her during or after the surgery. While I'd love to see her lose the weight, I just don't want her to do it this way. She's been on WW and lost about 50 lbs, but gained that and more back; she's been on Meridia (sp?), but that apparently didn't work. She's tried low carbing, but claims that didn't work (she lives with my mother and I KNOW they weren't strict about what they were eating). I'm just really torn about this whole thing. I want to be happy for her, but it's very difficult.

I read a thread here a while back that dated back to May '03, I believe. In it, the male poster was talking about an old friend of his who had the surgery, had lost a lot of weight, but just didn't look "happy" anymore. I'm so afraid this will happen to my sister. I know she's happier on the outside than she probably is on the inside, but I guess one of my fears is that she won't seem like my sister anymore. Does that make sense?

This won't be a happy post...

Please don't consider this surgery. It IS NOT WORTH THE RISK - that's it, period. I know two people who had this surgery done. Both of them lost loads of weight (each was over 400 lbs), but at the expense of their health. Yes, that's right, as they lost the weight, they became more and more sick with more and more complications. One of my friends has gone under the knife 3 times in addition to the original surgery because of the complications.

The reason this surgery is so popular is because physicians (most of which I believe are crooked SOBs, but that's another story) are taking advantage of the average first world citizen's desire for immediate results. We want what we want, and we want it NOW.

So, when you lose the weight, what then? You can still only have 6 oz of food and/or drink at any given meal. And it is more likely than not that more and more complications will arise as you get older and older.

I beg of you - and remember, this is a complete stranger - please do not consider this surgery.

Do a search on this bored. There is one woman who lost her father to the surgury. I can't remember who it is off the top of my head, but a search may turn her up.

I know it is hard to wait on slow weight loss. Losing slower though means less saggy skin, fewer stretch marks, and a better chance of keeping it off. While the surgury may help you lose faster, it can also carry alot of health risks and there is a danger to any surgury.

Since your doctor is promoting it, why not ask him to giv e you a chance since you are already losing. Stick to a strict regiment that doens't include bars, sugar free candy, much processed food and lower dairy. The weight will come off with patience.

Amen, LadyBelle. When I started reading about it on the web (thanks for the link, MyJourney, I think that was the one I was talking about...) I was amazed at the rate of complications, the death rate is now 3 out of 200, and you wind up with scars, adhesions, bowel problems, AND eating low carb!
Why not just cut to the chase???
What really burns me is that many doctors claim they do not support the low carb WOE because of the risk of "unknown long term effects."
Yet a lot of medical places are pushing gastric bypass surgery, which has KNOWN long term effects, which are BAD.
Partly I think it's greed sure, but I also think the physicians are so exasperated at the patient's previous, unsuccessful weight loss efforts, that they do think this is the only resort left. This surgery forces you to eat less, and maybe the patients are so desperate they are willing too.

I have a friend who had gastric banding, which is a less dangerous surgery than an actual gastric bypass, but watching her experience was still enough to scare me. At first, she was losing right and left, and within six months of the surgery, almost all of her excess weight was gone. Then she got pregnant, and she had an *awful* time -- literally spent all day long trying to eat, got forced into bed rest so she wouldn't burn as many calories, threw up constantly, and wound up in the hospital a couple times with dehydration. She continued to lose throughout her pregnancy, which really upset her doctor, although her baby wound up doing just fine. She wound up having the band removed shortly after she had the baby, but I shudder to think what would have happened to her if she'd had a non-reversible surgery. She'd gotten down to a healthy weight, but she was not a healthy person at all; I don't think she could have lived 10 more years in that state, let alone her natural lifespan. I worried about her constantly, and was so glad when she got the band removed. Being thin just isn't worth that.

And yes, it is possible that the surgery will not work for you as well as you think it will. My friend lost all of her weight, but another friend of hers had the same surgery done at the same time, and lost maybe 50 of 150 lbs. She stretched her stomach capacity back out to where she can eat pretty much normally instead of starving herself, but that means that she didn't lose all that much weight. I can't stress that enough, BTW -- you will lose weight because you are STARVING YOURSELF. You will have a difficult time getting in subsistence levels of important nutrients, for the rest of your life. You will never be able to eat normally, or eat certain foods -- breads and pastas are pretty much out, too much volume for not enough nutrient -- or even drink a can of diet coke. If you're unhappy with the level of food restriction involved in Atkins, weight-loss surgery is probably not a good idea for you.

Also, you'll lose a tremendous amount of muscle along with the fat, which will serve you in very bad stead if you do regain the weight. And with 90 lbs to go, you're going to have some skin issues -- my friend was seriously considering a tummy tuck when she got pregnant, and had problems with her arms and thighs as well. You may get to goal and look fine in clothes, but you're not going to have a body like a lingerie model, or even like someone who weighs 130 and has never been significantly overweight. To be frank, judging by my own results, you're not going to totally get that with Atkins either -- I have stretch marks and a bit of loose skin here and there from my 80 lbs. But the slower you lose the weight, the happier you're going to be when you get to goal.

Please, don't do this to yourself. You seem to be losing very well -- is it worth jeopardizing your health just to have it a little bit sooner?