I have a friend at work who lost 184 lbs. When I asked him how he did it he said he was eating low carb. I was really impressed. He became my new low carb hero. I know there are people on this site who have lost as much or close ,but this was someone i saw everday and saw his before pics and was really impressed. Then i overheard him telling some girl at work that he had gastric bybass. I confronted him and he said " i didn't say i lost the weight low carb, i just said i was eating low carb" Well he sure didn't offer up he had the gastric bypass either. I felt a little betrayed, and i can't help feeling like people who have gastric bypass are cheaters. I mean i lost 77 lbs over 2 yrs busting my butt exercising and low carbing. People who get an operation don't have alot of choice but to eat very small meals and loose weight. I know someone is going to say, yah but if you start to over eat you can stretch out your stomach again and gain back the weight, but that still doesn't change the fact that it's alot easier. Does anyone else feel this way? My friend says well it was either get the bypass or die. I still think it's the easy way out.



Jon

If it makes you feel better, Jon, you gain a lot more for your body and health by busting your butt! You are truly regaining your life and changing your habits in a very healthy way. It's unfortunate it wasn't possible for your friend to do it without serious surgery, but you shouldn't fault him (or be jealous). Just know that, in the long run, your way is better for YOU and stop worrying about him.

Congratulations on your weight loss! Don't you feel so much better knowing you didn't risk your life and restrict caloric intake to do it? You're on a great path and you should focus on yourself.

Keep up the hard work... you know it's worth it!

Best to you.

Unfortunately, for many, it's get the bypass and die.

Weight Loss Surgery brings up strong feelings for a lot of people (on both sides of the debate). Personally, I think it's too dangerous for all but a very few to even consider. And those few consist of the people who have literally tried everything and had no success in alleviating the health issues that accompany their weight.

There are certainly people who undergo WLS--and I know no less than 5 who have gone under the knife in the past year, and 3 more scheduled for the coming months--who truly are looking for an easy way. It is not entirely uncommon for people to "cheat" in order to qualify for surgery. ("Cheating" can include purposely gaining weight, lying to doctors and therapists during diet history interviews and psych evaluations, and even strapping weights to their body during doctor's visits to make the scale read higher to ensure that they qualify.)

There are those who call it physician assisted bulimia. Some who even call it physician assisted suicide. And still others who believe it's a godsend.

I tend to think of it as medically sanctioned starvation, and just another form of self-mutilation.

But, like I said...lots of strong opinions all around.

Hi Jon,

"but that still doesn't change the fact that it's alot easier."


I know your frustration!.....But, is surgery really easier? I'll bet a lot of people on this site and others have actually considered this option....out of total desperation and frustration. This is the last resort!.....Have you ever had your stomach cut open for any reason?.......There is a lot of risk involved.......and a lot of "discomfort" as the medical community likes to refer to it!........

I think where this person failed was not to mention up front that it was the "bypass" that got them to where they are now. But, that shouldn't stop you in trying to reach the same goal without surgery. It may take a little longer... But, you'll be doing it a lot safer! There are a lot out there that took the knife as a decision, and have regretted it! But, others that really had no alternative. It certainly requires more work. But, I'm sure you can do it! You've accomplished a lot!.....I admire you!.....Keep up the good work.......I wish you happiness!

Anyone who has lost a goodly percentage of their fat knows that you bust your butt while doing it. Then, you continue to bust your but to maintain it. We're with you there Jon because we know what it's like and got what it takes!

I think WLS is pathetic and sad. To alter so horribly what has been given to us in good faith and for our benefit... and to not come to grips with our fears and learn to deal with whatever ails us...

It's the cowards way out.

Karen

I considered gastric bypass for a second. Not even a second. Maybe .00001 of a second. There is no way I'd have major surgery for something that I KNOW I can do by smacking myself into the reality that increased carbs is what made me obese. Period. I'd sooner get my mouth stapled than my stomach.


Cheer yourself up with the thought that you are doing right by your body by: A) Not having it traumitized by surgery, and B)Are now treating it right by not poisoning it with too many carbs.

I was considering surgery before I found this diet, I knew if I stayed obese I was going to develop some health problems and die from those. But I am a huge scaredy cat when it comes to surgery. Not only is there a mortality rate with it, you have the pain of surgery, recovery time which is months and you have more of a chance of excess skin. I have a little different views on it, I personally dont think it is pathetic I think it is sad though but it as an alternative for some that low carb isnt.

We are all needing to get to the same point, being thinner to prevent us from getting heart attacks and diabetes in our future.

If it takes low carb for us great, but some others it may take more. Me and my doctor had a talk about this just the other day when I saw him. He said that my skin is so much healthier looking and supple then a person with gastric bypass, he stated that they looked like they had cancer basically a balloon that had been popped. It takes us alot longer but it will
be worth it for your skin to be in much better shape and for us not to have to go through the worry of surgery and body altering. Plus you will survive a diet take a look at obesityhelp.com there is a memorial section full of people that died from the surgery or complications from it. Unfortunately, they were to that point as to where thats it or nothing. I cant fault anyone for not sticking to a diet I have tried various ones over the years that worked for other people that I wasnt able to stick too, I am just happy I found one that I could.

I think the statistics are somewhere around 1 in 200 people who get the surgery die. Those aren't exactly great odds if you ask me.

This is from a weightloss site not promoting it.



The mortality rate in the nonoperated obese group was 28% compared to 9% in the surgicaly treated obese group (including perioperative deaths).

In my eyes it is still better to have the surgery if it is the only way for them compared to staying obese.

The risks of gastric bypass surgery are tremendous, especially given that to qualify for the surgery you have to be 100 pounds or more over your ideal weight. I would have qualified for it 2 years ago.
Once the surgery is over, you're still not out of the woods. Many people have ongoing health problems afterwards, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and malnutrition. Basically, it's weight loss through starvation, and guess what that does to your metabolism, not to mention your lean body mass. Life is never "normal" for these people again. Even if the bypass is later reversed, they will have a lowered metabolism and have to live on very few calories for the rest of their lives or risk regaining the weight. Then there's the psychological aspects of all of it; a lot of people just can't handle losing that much weight that quickly psychologically, nor can the people in their lives; it has resulted in divorces and broken friendships galore. Think about it...if you were using your fat to hind behind and feel "safe" what happens when that "shield" is gone? What do you do then?
People who lose weight through WLS often require plastic surgery to deal with the excess skin that resuts. I'd rather not have my weight loss result in several scars and even more self-image issues to deal with.
This truly is a last ditch effort and it's unfortunate and sad that many are using it as their first resort instead of the last one. OTOH, many people who undergo this procedure honestly believe that it is their only chance to get the weight off and save their lives; if you had tried conventional diets and failed and your doctor told you that low carbing was going to kill you or make you sicker (and you trusted your doctor's assesment on that), what options do you have left?

I'm really sorry about his but I've found this thread really interesting - but I don't actually know what a gastric bypass is. Could you tell me what happens and which part of the digestive system is bypassed.

Robert

P.S. On the 'cheating' scale how do you guys think it compares with liposuction?

There was a discussion last year about a woman named Patricia who had the surgery. The link to her site doesn't work any more but part of her diary was transcribed to the thread.

The most horrifying story! The downside of gastric bypass surgery.

It was a really sad story that ended with her dying.

One of the things that stuck with me after reading her diary was that after losing weight and then having her excess skin removed, she was depressed that her husband didn't want to have sex with her. God! What a lonely and alone place to be...

Karen

Gastric bypass is where they go in surgically and "bypass" part of your stomach to make it smaller and therefore force you to eat much less.

I have a friend who did this and lost a lot of weight-like 100 pounds. When she came to visit I noticed she had not changed what she ate at all, only the amount she ate. She had steak biscuts for dinner and wanted to go and get ice cream (I vetoed that!). To me, she still has not learned to make smart food choices.

At least your friend is changing what he eats now. That will help him get healthier and keep that weight off. Is it cheating? Shrugs. I would rather change my way of eating than go under a knife, but that is just me. My friend went through a lot of pain due to the surgery.

As far as liposuction is concerned-I suppose it is all in why you are doing it. I have another friend who is planning on getting some done. She has fat deposits on her upper hip that no diet or exercise will get rid of. Causes her clothes to hang kind of funny and kills her self esteem. She is doing all the right things to get rid of her excess weight, but even at a goal weight, those fat deposits will still be there. I guess she is doing what she has to do. I personally think that all the media crap on what we should look like causes people to run to get stuff done. I have NEVER had a flat stomach, not even at my lowest weight in college of 107. So what? I am too scared of any of that lipo stuff to bother. I'll just keep my cute belly.

One of my closest friends underwent gastric banding (less severe and more reversible than the bypass) almost two years ago, more as an infertility treatment than anything else. She suffers from PCOS, and sure enough, after losing about 75 lbs., she got pregnant. However, I wouldn't wish what she went through during the pregnancy on anyone -- horrible nausea and vomiting blood the whole nine months, and a constant struggle to consume enough food to keep herself going. She actually lost 25 more pounds during the pregnancy; at about six months, her doctor ordered her to quit work, stay in bed to burn as few calories as possible, and eat all day long. The poor girl literally spent about 4 hours a day just trying to eat. It was horrible -- we were all worried sick about her and the baby both, and were thrilled when she got the band removed six weeks after her son was born.

Interestingly enough, she was pretty much eating LC by default while she had the band, because carbohydrates just take up too much room in the stomach. The volume-to-calorie ratio just isn't worth it -- protein is denser than bread or rice, and fat is denser still. She went right back to "normal" eating after the band was removed, and put on 25 lbs in just a couple months (which, frankly, she needed -- she went from being seriously overweight to legitimately underweight). Happily, she is now back on LC, doing an Atkins maintenance with some CAD, and is successfully keeping the rest of the weight off.

My friend and I have talked at great length about the whole experience, and she says that the one thing the band really did for her was convince herself that she wasn't just destined to be fat. She thinks she might have managed to lose the weight by eating LC, but that she doesn't think she would have brought herself to try it, and might have sabotaged herself if she had. The psychological difference in her is amazing -- not believing you can lose the weight is a vicious catch-22, especially when you compound it with years of trying and failing at low-fat low-cal diets. Once you break out of that thinking, you find the mental resources to lose the weight, but she just didn't have them to start and credits the physical transformation of the WLS with helping her find them. There was some good in it for her as well, although I do think she was fortunate to have chosen a relatively non-intrusive form of the surgery.

After seeing what she went through with the surgery, I'd never have considered it myself , even before finding LC and losing my own weight. I was a little jealous of my friend for losing the weight so quickly (because I was still stuck in "fat mode"), but it certainly wasn't effortless for her. If you're feeling "betrayed" by your co-worker, ask yourself whether you'd rather be busting your butt with eating right and exercising, or vomiting blood and suffering constant nausea. "Easy" it's not -- it may be initially mentally easier than changing one's diet and exercise habits, but it brings along physical and emotional issues of its own.

Karen, I remember Patricia vividly. I was the one who started that thread and to this day I can't get Patricia out of my mind.

She was very, very overweight and went down to being a very attractive, thin young lady. But those pictures were extremely painful to look at and the sadness in her words was almost more than I could bear just reading them.

As I said in that thread, my brother died after having this surgery. Of course, he died of throat cancer and some would say that he didn't die from the surgery, but I would never believe that there wasn't a connection. He got to where the only things he could keep down was cream soups, ice cream and potato chips. I think that the fats must have coated his stomach enough that it didn't nausiate him. The last time I saw my brother was 6 mo before he died and already he was POW thin.

Carol