Different Opinions about Weight Loss Surgery

Aging and hormonal changes are not friends to weight loss.

Good point! I don't consider myself a vet, but I do what I can.

I agree, there are many differences in LIVING it AFTER 24 months than the "Wow-Moments-I'm-Losing-Weight-And-Everyone_Notices" time.

So I'm confused...do the vets in this thread still recommend the surgery knowing now what long term living is like?

Can this tool still be effective with proper diet and exercise long term or are we all doomed to regain again anyway?

"Can this tool still be effective with proper diet and exercise long term or are we all doomed to regain again anyway?"


If I had to do it all over again, I would have WLS in a heartbeat.  The tool works.

I guess the biggest thing I can't stress enough to a newbie is not to become complacent.  Your body is going to become more efficient absorbing calories the farther out you get.  Your pouch will be able to hold more.  Your appetite will come back.  It will require much more effort, especially if you have RNY.

I didn't have DS because I had a fear of having part of my stomach removed. 
What if something went wrong and I needed things reconnected?    Where would they get the spare parts?

Years out, and knowing what I know now, I would probable choose the DS if I had to do it over again. 

I would have DS over RNY in a heartbeat.  Unfortunately because I'm in Ontario, RNY is the only option covered by our healthcare.  The only way I could have DS is to self-pay out of province and I simply cannot do the price tag.

I've been going through the process of being approved for surgery for over a year (Aug 2010) and if I'm lucky I'm looking at a December surgery.  As I get closer the actual fears of long term mainenance are coming to the surface.  I hear from so many in the first couple of years during the honeymoon but very few veterans of more than five years are around to share what they are going through.

It is reassuring to know that if diligent, this can be a long term success.  I don't want to go through all of this though if I'm going to be back in this position again in five years despite being 100% compliant and doing all the work necessary.

I think what folks are saying here mostly is NOBODY is 100 % compliant, especially not at 5 years out. 

Maintenance is something that most of us failed in an epic way before, that is true, maintence is where the rubba meets the road!

We may be doomed, but only because MOST of us do not have excellent histories with diet and exercise.  I mean...if we had been excellent at that, we might not arrived at the point we did before surgery.

HOW MUCH we are doomed--or potentially doomed--depends on the surgery.  MOST OF THE TIME, restrictive surgeries wil mostly just HELP you diet and exercise and maintenance is even MORE diet and exercise.

The malabsorptive surgeries will take you to a lower "lowest weight" than the restrictive surgeries...the RnY patients, on averge, will probaby be a little more doomed than the DS patients because the DSers have more significant malabsorption lasting on into the night.  )In other words, I'm STILL obese and if I had had the RnY instead of the DS for my revision, I'd be MO again...no doubt in my mind.)

Would I do this again?  Yup.

"HOW MUCH we are doomed--or potentially doomed--depends on the surgery.  MOST OF THE TIME, restrictive surgeries wil mostly just HELP you diet and exercise and maintenance is even MORE diet and exercise."

I hear this all the time... that if you get a restrictive only surgery, you will still have to diet and exercise. But the people who say this don't have a restrictive only surgery. And what I SEE does not agree with this assessment.

What I see and what I've experienced is that WLS will lower your set point. If it lowers it to the weight you want to be then maintenance is not a series of diets. It's not a struggle. It's pretty easy. You get hungry, you eat, and then you aren't hungry and that's the end of it until you are hungry again. Your weight doesn't go up or down more than expected due to fluctuations in water weight.

OTOH, if your surgery doesn't lower your set point to the weight you want to be, either people accept this higher weight and are happy or they fall back into the yo-yo dieting struggle where they are constantly fighting with food and alternate being "on a diet" with periods of letting go.

And I see this happening with every surgery type. Yes, even the DS. Your chances of getting to weight you are happier with goes up with the DS but it's not 100% and it's not 0% if you get another surgery. I definitely see plenty of people with VSGs and RnY who get to a happy weight and maintain it with no more effort than someone who has always been thin. I also see plenty of people with RnY, a malabsorptive surgery, who are still dieting and fighting their weight many years out.

"The malabsorptive surgeries will take you to a lower "lowest weight" than the restrictive surgeries..."

Clinical data shows that the VSG gives similar results to RnY. It's not as simple as restrictive vs. malabsorptive. You have to look at how metabolically active the surgery is and well as other factors such as mechanical issues.

Just for the record, I've had the band...so I'm speaking from MY experience with a restrictive-only procedure as well.