How is WLS a tool?
On July 7, 2010 at 10:55 AM Pacific Time, happytrails wrote:
Person1: You should lose weight before surgery so that surgery is easier and so that the adjustments are easier afterward.
Person2: You will lose 60% of your excess weight owing purely to surgery alone.
Person3: WLS is not a guarantee of weight loss. It is a tool.
So here's my pea-brained confusion.
I've been trying to lose weight for a long time. Tried harder since January while prepping for WLS. Last week tried to be very careful, felt very at peace with food choices, exercise and all. Gained 1. (Don't say it's muscle.)
So If I lose *Nothing before surgery*, Am I qualified for the tool? In a perfect world, I'd have the surgery, I'd drop the weight, I'd use the reduced appetite to change habits and increase exercise and that would lead to new habits and lifestyle that were healthier. ( Right now, I'm kind of restricted in movement because of my arthritis -- losing weight will help.)
So, is that how one uses WLS as a tool? From a place of unsuccess on the scales to a place of successful lifestyle changes? Using reduced intake as a time to do the head work for real? I gather that the usefulness of surgery goes down with time as the pouch heals and sometimes enlarges.
The last thing I want is to have this surgery and then be unsuccessful at losing weight and becoming more active.
I strongly urge you to reconsider your choice of surgery type. Your BMI is 56, and you have arthritis---you really need to consider the DS. If you're gaining weight while on a diet, your metabolism is waaaaay too efficient, and needs to be adjusted, permanently. The DS is the only form of WLS that will do this for you. And while losing weight will help you be more mobile, it will NOT cure your arthritis. Frankly, I have more arthritis pain now than I did pre-op (but I'm also MUCH more active, so you might say I "earn" the pain. *grin*), and I NEED NSAIDs every day. With my DS, I can do that---with the RNY, I wouldn't be able to.
I didn't want a 'tool' that I had to 'work' for the rest of my life. I wanted something to permanently cure my overly efficient metabolism, and that's exactly what my DS did. Any form of WLS will help you lose weight---but the DS makes it easy to maintain that weight loss long-term. I'm 6.5 years post-op, and have had zero regain---in fact, I'm still losing a pound here and there.
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