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What made the difference for you? Were you less hungry? Or was it fear of the consequences of eating too much? Was it a mental/emotional change in your relationship with food?
I've seen some friends have weight loss surgery and do very well, and others have the surgery and gain the weight back. I'm curious about what makes it successful in some and not in others.
It's a combination of a number of things:
I didn't experience physical hunger for about 6 months. The ghrelin hormone production is greatly reduced during your healing phase. At nearly 5 years out my physical hunger is extremely different than it was pre-op.
1- you physically cannot eat the volume you did before.
2- you overeat- you're puking
3- puking makes you feel really crappy
4- I have dumping syndrome so too much fat or sugar and I want to die. Quite literally have such a strong physical reaction I have several times wished for death.
From the emotional perspective, I don't believe I was ever an emotional eater in terms of eating from stress, upset, etc. I was definitely a celebratory eater- I loved (and still love) whole "family/ happy" experience of a nice meal. I just view the food of that meal very differently.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oh-eve
Stupid question from a slimmer person:
Why didn't you change your lifestyle before the operation? I always wanted to ask that question. If you are able to change your eating habits why didn't you do that the past X years to lose weight?
I actually was never a junk eater- it was rare for me to eat sweets or even "bad" foods. I was and am a carb junkie- potatoes and bread. I'm just much more cautious in the amounts of carbs I eat. I ate VERY well for someone 250 pounds. It was the volume of food and the frequency in which I ate that volume of food. While I was physically active it wasn't enough to compensate for the over abundance of calories. So cutting my stomach to the size of an egg limited the volume.
I also found I'm extremely ambivalent about food now. I rarely crave anything in particular and have no enjoyment from food. I eat because I have to and there are times where I'll realize,"Hey, you haven't eaten anything today" and it's 8pm or later.
It's easy to re-train the brain into not doing/eating things when 1- they will make you physically sick 2- you dedicate yourself fully to being healthy. 3- for a long time you have zero appetite.
The prime push for me to have surgery was being put on meds for my type 2. I was always able to control my A1C relatively well with just my lifestyle. Once I hit my mid-30s it became far more of a struggle to do that successfully without intervention. With a strong family history of heart disease and diabetes and young deaths I was very afraid.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Wife's cousin got it and nearly died a month later. He lost some weight initially but now is stable at a still unhealthy weight. You must change the quality and quantity of food and your lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight or else something like GBS won't work.
Wife's cousin got it and nearly died a month later. He lost some weight initially but now is stable at a still unhealthy weight. You must change the quality and quantity of food and your lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight or else something like GBS won't work.
What happened that he "nearly died"? Everyone knows someone apparently, when statistically it's a pretty safe procedure.
I know two people who had gastric sleeve. They both went from very overweight to downright skinny within a year. Both of them look great. I never would have thought I'd see either of them so thin. They don't look sick thin. They look healthy thin.
Friend of a friend did it. I don't know the why but she started at about 260 and is still working on getting to her goal and is at about 135-140 now (I think). She wants to lose another 10-ish pounds. She has kept it off for about 2 years not other than gaining around 10 pounds.
She added a lot of exercise - 5 days a week at 5 AM. She has gone through waves of running, Zumba, dance classes and combines weight lifting. She did feel sick when eating too much sugar or fat at the beginning. She eats few carbs now. Plans every meal. It was a huge shift in lifestyle and she is very strict. She knows it is a lot harder to maintain as a formerly larger person. She looks great now and is still working hard to hit her own goals.
If you want to keep it off and be a success story it is hard work. She has a support network and participates regularly in groups meetings, Facebook groups and more. She also added new friends to her life that are involved in fitness. One of her workout buddies just won a fitness model contest - bikini level. She got her mom on the bandwagon and they plan and prep meals together.
Her tips are plan meals, eat well, exercise and get a support network. It is a long journey and you need help.
The most surprising thing that many post-op weight loss surgery patients have is - their cravings are still there and/or they come back. They might have thought the surgery would fix them, however, the surgery doesn't cure that part. it lowers your ability to put as much food in your stomach. But people still have to watch or they will slowly regain the weight and stretch their stomach. Best to stay with the way of eating the doctor tells you, before and after surgery.
I know someone who had it done and they lost 90 or so pounds right away, then continued to eat like they were in the Tour De France and gained it all back plus.
My sister is currently going through the process to get bariatric surgery at a military hospital. They have made her get counseling with a lady who specializes in eating disorders. I've noticed a real difference in her. I am so glad this is being required prior to surgery and maybe it will help her avoid what your friend did. I think anyone who is trying to have bariatric surgery should be required to do this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oh-eve
Stupid question from a slimmer person:
Why didn't you change your lifestyle before the operation? I always wanted to ask that question. If you are able to change your eating habits why didn't you do that the past X years to lose weight?
Because it is too easy to fall off the wagon and it spiral out of control. What my sister has been told is that it will give her a year to 18 months of less hunger, physical barriers to gorging, makes some foods such as sugar undesirable, and there is speculation that the surgery helps re-set the body's set point weight. I sincerely hope all this is true, I have watched her yo-yo for decades, and it seems as if every cycle brings more weight and lower self-esteem, I bet she has lost over a 1000 pounds in her life. She has eaten and dieted herself to over 300 pounds and it has in the last decade had a profound impact on her quality of life. I think people who have normal "I'm just a little tubby" issues have no appreciation for how difficult it is for the chronically obese.
I have trouble keeping weight on, I know it is never as simple as calories in for some people. Both my sister and I are among those some people, just at opposite ends of the spectrum.
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What happened that he "nearly died"? Everyone knows someone apparently, when statistically it's a pretty safe procedure.
Most often, it's a 'leak' in the intestine or stomach where they reattach it which can be deadly in hours OR people often throw a blood clot to their lungs or heart or brain which kills them. ANY time you have surgery it can happen. I had GBS 27 yrs ago and went to another state to have it done by someone who had been doing them for 25+ yrs. When I returned home a 36 yr old woman had the same surgery in the hospital I worked in and died on day #3...from a blood clot in her lungs.
GBS is a TOOL. If you are not going to find out the reasons for your eating like you did pre-op, exercise or walk post-op, and eat in much smaller amounts and ways, DO NOT HAVE THE SURGERY. You absolutely WILL regain all the weight and more and can stretch the stoma side of the stomach outlet and there is NO good surgery to 'fix; that as of yet. I hated being fat so much I did every thing they asked me to do and MORE, and 27 yrs later I have kept 212 lb OFF and am happy despite the "complications" that I had with this type surgery, and the surgeries to "fix" those problems. Would I do it all over again....YOU BETCHA! My son grew up not knowing me as 'fat' and his friends never teased him about his mom being so. I did lose a husband over all the weightloss, but hey...if he could not support me in being who I wanted to be...it was HIS loss.
Most often, it's a 'leak' in the intestine or stomach where they reattach it which can be deadly in hours OR people often throw a blood clot to their lungs or heart or brain which kills them. ANY time you have surgery it can happen. I had GBS 27 yrs ago and went to another state to have it done by someone who had been doing them for 25+ yrs. When I returned home a 36 yr old woman had the same surgery in the hospital I worked in and died on day #3...from a blood clot in her lungs.
GBS is a TOOL. If you are not going to find out the reasons for your eating like you did pre-op, exercise or walk post-op, and eat in much smaller amounts and ways, DO NOT HAVE THE SURGERY. You absolutely WILL regain all the weight and more and can stretch the stoma side of the stomach outlet and there is NO good surgery to 'fix; that as of yet. I hated being fat so much I did every thing they asked me to do and MORE, and 27 yrs later I have kept 212 lb OFF and am happy despite the "complications" that I had with this type surgery, and the surgeries to "fix" those problems. Would I do it all over again....YOU BETCHA! My son grew up not knowing me as 'fat' and his friends never teased him about his mom being so. I did lose a husband over all the weightloss, but hey...if he could not support me in being who I wanted to be...it was HIS loss.
If you read previous posts in this thread, you’ll see I’m nearly 6 years post op. You’re preaching to the choir.
I had gastric bypass Feb 2008 and dropped 145 pounds in ten months and almost 10 years I have maintained that loss, had Tummy Tuck/Breast Reduction/Lift and outer thigh lipo 2012 and look and feel great and people always mistake me for being under 35 when I am 44 lol. Hey works for me :-)
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