Obesity: Why do we let it happen?

There was no way I could have lost the weight I have without this life-saving surgery.  I did all the typical diets and nothing worked.  I had the most success with WW.  I'd lose a lil' over 30 pounds and then gain it all back.  I exercised too, but not at the intensity that I do now and not with the same mind set I now have.

Prior to having this surgery, I didn't want too many people to know because I didn't want to hear negativity.  I proceeded to have the surgery and then slowly started to tell more people.  I am now so thankful and so proud that I was able to go from a size 24 to a size 12 (currently).  Never in a million years could I have done this without this tool.

With that being said, having this surgery has changed my mind set.  I now workout to keep in shape and to obtain a healthy weight.  I sweat everytime I work out.  Before surgery, I'd be lucky to just get through a workout, much less worry about the intensity of it.  Weighing 305, I just felt hopeless, no matter what I did.  With the weight coming off as quickly as it has, it has motivated me to keep moving.  I feel like there is hope and I enjoy working out now.  It's a great stress reliever. 

Whether it's running, doing zumba, swimming, kickboxing, etc., I honestly look forward to working out (most of the time...there are those days every once in a while where I drag myself to the gym, but always feel good afterwards). 

I love my RNY and am so glad I changed my life for the better.  Turn that guilt into gratefulness!!!!  You have done a great thing for yourself and should not feel one bit guilty about it. 

Take Care,

Tammy :-)

Hi Tammy,

Congrats on your success!  I guess it would not surprise you to hear that I have told only very close friends and family about my surgery.  I am totally in the closet!!  I just could not deal with people's lack of understanding about WLS (especially the band) and how hard we would all still have to work afterwards, so I just avoided telling anyone and really concentrated on nutrition and exercise for the most part.  That's why I love coming to this site, and especially this forum, where there are tons of people who have all gone through similar issues and are making changes everyday.

Thank you.  Around the holidays I saw people I haven't seen in about a year.  There was one person in particular who had no clue I had become "skinny."  Sounds funny someone calling me that cuz I really wouldn't describe myself that way.  She asked how I did it.  I am now at the point where I am proud to tell people how and am not ashamed of my RNY.  It has taken time to get to this point, but as I have seen how much my health and quality of life have improved, I don't feel ashamed anymore.  I feel very thankful. 

I don't blame you for now tell many people....I totally understand.  Once I started telling people, I still got some flack about it.  As a matter of fact, when I told my niece (who I'm close to), she had negative things to say.  Then I said, "Well, that's why I didn't tell many people because I didn't want to hear the negative."  I explained to her I had researched this and knew the risks and the benefits.  I haven't encountered any negativity in a long time. 

Glad you are on this board.  It is filled with some very nice people who are here to help, support and give advice.  I love this board. 

Have a great day.

Tammy :-)

No, I couldn't have done it without my WLS, I am one of those that tried & was successful - for several years even.  In the end, I gained it all back . . . & I had never lost it all to start with, no matter how much I exercised.

At my previous high weight (prior to losing via diet & exercise only), I was 282.  I'm about 5'4".  I started out with walking & going to Curves in Feb 2005.  By mid-late summer 2005, I then progressed to doing free weights - hired a trainer & had a damn good alternating upper/ lower body program - & taekwondo.  In spring 2006, I started jogging.  My routine - I did weights every other day with jogging on the off day from weights.  In addition to also doing either weights or jogging on any given day, I did taekwondo 3/ week, 45-60 minute classes.  I typically jogged 45-60 minutes & typically did weights for 75 minutes/ session.  That means that 3 days out of the week, I averaged a 2 hour workout.  I gave myself off one day out of every 2 weeks.  I maintained this routine for the next 2 years.  So, basically I totally exercised my butt off for about 3 yrs & the lowest I ever got was 207, but I typically ran around 215 for a BMI around 35-36.  Although I never was thin & never got below a size 20, I had great endurance, flexibility, & strength.  I still felt WAY BITTER that I worked MUCH harder than the extreme majority of thin people & never came within calling distance of that goal.

Most likely due to the combination of jogging & taekwondo - which was done on a thin berber carpet laid over concrete - & my weight, I developed plantar fasciitis, which is basically where the entire tendon that covers the bottom of your feet becomes inflamed.  The swelling from the inflammation creates tiny tears = A LOT of pain.  Every time I sat for more than 15 minutes & that tendon would get "cold" & I would stand up, more little tears would occur = more pain.  I totally felt like my body had betrayed my best efforts towards health & man was I bitter & upset.  Walking slowly over a padded carpet wearing my $160 running shoes (for good support) & having spent $400 on custom made inserts (helped, but didn't make it better) . . . was a painful event.  Sometimes, in the morning when the tendon was really immobile/ cold from not being used for several hours & I would have to get up, & I would put weight on my feet as I stood, the pain was so intense that I would then literally crawl to the bathroom.  Did I mention I felt bitter & betrayed by my body after all my valiant efforts . . . that never got me below a size 20 to begin with???

Walking slowly was very painful, exercise was totally out of the question.  Walking on the gym floors to do weights SUCKED - those floors are HARD.  One of the reasons I stuck with exercising so intensely & to a lesser degree, but fairly regularly, since adolescence despite always being obese, was the endorphins rush, sleeping better, feeling more mobile & energized.  I may never have gotten thin, but there were lots of benefits.  Continuing exercising was like being subjected to punishment because it was so painful.  I knew from my doctor & my own web research that the best thing to do to get rid of it is to stop exercising &/ or lose weight.  As soon as I stopped exercising, I gained weight (go figure).  Despite the trade off, it did improve somewhat.  To the point that walking was painful, yet not so bad that I crawled instead & not so bad that I tried hanging onto furniture & the walls as I walked to take some of the pressure off.  Every time I tried to do A LITTLE BIT of exercise with the thought that I need to do something to lose weight & I need to lose weight to get rid of the plantar fasciitis, I would get a painful flareup.

Certainly during the time that I was exercising my butt off, I struggled with overeating.  Not as much as one might think given all that I exercised yet never getting below a BMI of 35.  But, there were & are emotional uses for food for me.  The entire segment I just wrote was SOOOO frustrating & disheartening, it became progressively more difficult to not turn to food as a comfort as I became more despondent that the pain would go away, that I would be able to be strong & healthy, much less for the hope that was still there to actually be thin.  It was a total downward spiral & the fact remained that I could *NOT* get rid of my plantar fasciitis - it was a cache 22 with what needed to be done to get rid of it & the very condition preventing me from doing the things to be able to get rid of it.

WLS for me became a non-option if I wanted to live a pain-free life again, if I wanted to be healthy, if I wanted to be thin.  I can say with complete confidence that I could not have worked harder to then be successful.  I think it's totally awesome that many others have, but I was not one of them & it wasn't through a lack of discipline on my part - at least for the exercise component.  Food-wise is unarguable, if I had simply stuck to say a 1600 calorie diet, in the long run, I would have lost the weight.  Problem being, the more I exercised, the hungrier I was . . . & using food to soothe myself.  Exercise certainly helped with that, but obviously not enough.

Wow, I think that's a long enough post!

Thanks, Lisey.  Before surgery, I had a tough time sticking to anything.  I don't know exactly why it took WLS for the lightbulb to go off for me, but it did.  It's all good now, though, and I am very grateful for where I am today.

I am reading a lot about people who have lost a lot of weigh too. But you always ready about them when they are less than a year out from losing. You rarely hear about people who lost 100 lb or more and KEPT IT OFF.

Before I had surgery, I had been dieting for 37 years. I always gained the weight back. Was it because I was undisciplined? No, I'm very focused and goal oriented. Did I lack willpower? No way. I once dieted through the holidays and didn't cheat *one time*.

I gained the weight back because I was always hungry and I could live like that for a year or even two but not much longer than that. I'd always give in to the hunger and gradually the weight would come back on.

With my VSG, I no longer make the amount of ghrelin that I used to and now I am not hungry 1/2 hour after eating. I can eat something and actually be satisfied. That never happened pre-op. I'd just stop eating because intellectually I knew I'd eaten a portion size. But I still felt unsatisfied and then soon again I'd be hungry.