Newbie with questions

Hello all, I've been reading posts the past week and am ready to ask a few questions if you all will allow me. First a little background:  5'11"  255 lbs BMI 36  That's the heaviest I've ever been - got  down to 200 in 2001 with Ephedra, massive exercise and eating right but it all came back due to hunger and quitting exercising.  I have sleep apnea, high cholesterol, GERD and borderline iron deficient anemia.  Oh yeah also a large hiatal hernia that needs to be repaired in any case.  Insurance will pay for RNY which I'm considering. What do you all think - Is it a good idea to have surgery considering I'm just barely at the BMI 35 minimum but have a bunch of weight related problems?  I'd like to get to 190 or so and then be able to keep it off.  I'm 44 but like the idea of living to old age! Does the hunger come back?  I've read differing opinions.  To me if I could lose the constant hunger where I'm always thinking about food, I believe I could keep off the weight.  When I quit the Ephedra years back, the hunger came back and slowly so did the weight. Your opinions are appreciated. tk

nothing but the truth will be spoken here tk. the biggest single factor for me was not that i could eat less, it's that i wasn't as hungry. something about going crazy when i wanted to eat and always feeling like i was starving killed any chance i had to stay on track. so for me, smaller portions along with feelings of fullness was the ticket.

you probably qualify due to the co morbidities, yes, the bmi is low but you've got all the other problems. once you have the surgery, food is not the whole focus of your life. other habits will have worked their way into your head ONLY if you worked on that portion of the surgery. yes, you can eat all that crap again, just not as much. you will get hungry again but this time STOP when you're full. learn to listen to your pouch telling you it's full, stop. if you can change your head, you'll do fine. the surgery itself is not the total answer, you'll fail if you are not willing to make changes upstairs and that means changing habits. no snacking and making good food choices all day and night. for most of us, this was the last straw and we're not about to blow it. we're serious as a heart attack on this board about our weight loss. we don't want to tes****ers, we want to change our bad habits that got us here. we realize we can eat our way back. yeah, it would take work but we could get there if gave up on ourselves. so just answer the big question that's lurking in the back of your head. are you really ready to change your life by ripping up your innards? if the answer is yes, then keep coming here, ask questions and get your head and ass wired together. do those three little things and you'll make it like the rest of us did.................good luck

oh, one more thing tk,

i'm only speaking for myself here. i might have sounded like i was speaking for everyone else and their experience. i don't do that. i was speaking in very general terms, not for the others. btw, your handle is wood guy. are you a carpenter or something like that. I'm a contractor, just interested!

Hey Tk,  I had my RNY on 3/22/2007. My hunger or desire for "comfort food" was back shorly after I had periods of being pain free. WLS is a tool that will help you lose the weight and give you time to learn healthy eating habits. During that time the sensitivity of your reworked digestive system will not allow you to overeat. Thus taking hunger, willpower, and any other head factors of overeating  out of the equation. It won't make you exercise or keep your commitment to exercise. Lifestyle changes (good nutrition,execise, & portion controll) are the only way to keep the weight off.   Without taking care of your weight your weight related problems will only worsen. Fatty liver disease, Gallbladder problems, and diabetes can all loom in your future, Whatever you decide weght loss should be a priority for your health.  My personal decision was helped along by my batiatric surgeon's group and by my insurance company. My surgeons team consists of nutritionists and excersise consultants over and above the doctors and nurses, Access to these folks is unlimited by phone as part of the program. Myinsurance company required a documented weight loss program (among other things) of 6 months prior to surgery approval.  I signed up for this progam (given by my doctors group) for a minimal cost. I gave myself the 6 months to do it on my own without surgical intervention. I would like to have suceeded and saved myself the pain of surgery but realized that I needed the tool of WLS. I have lost 30 lbs so far and am unable to act on my food cravings. Given the time from WLS and the support of this forum I have made and hope to keep a life long commitment to my health.  Whatever your decision do it sooner as opposed to later. The older you are the more complicated things can be.  good luck, Tony J.

I agree that you should make up your mind on whether you want to pursue the surgery.  Have you exhausted all other means of losing the weight?  Or, rather, have you just tried to lose weight from time to time.  I can honestly say that I'd been actively trying to lose weight for about 20 years before I finally had my first RNY on 11-16-2000.  I had been in overeater anonymous for most of that time and gained almost 300 lbs.  I had tried Weigh****chers a few times, a doctor's supervised liquid diet, and hypnosis.  None had been successful over the long run and my health got worse.  However, I've never had any problems with my heart or cholesterol.  I have very moderate high BP which is controlled by a minimal dosage of atenolol.  I weighed 571 when I had my first RNY and got down to 331 before my weight started to creep upward.  My surgeon thought it was just the normal 20% weight regain.  He was wrong since it continued to go up.  I found out in 2004 that I had a staple line disruption and needed another RNY.  I weighed 426 when I had that on 01-21-2005.  I'm now about 385 which is a lot more than either my surgeon or primary doc want, but I haven't been gaining.  I do have problems with snacking and eating some wrong food.  I don't have problems at meals (I can't eat much because of the RNY).  And, I'm finally getting exercise through aquatics.  I wish I had had the surgery about 20 years ago, but most insurance companies wouldn't touch it back then.  Take your time in weighing the pros and cons of the surgery.  Know that there are risks.  I was considered a high risk case and I literally begged the surgeon to do the RNY.

Thanks for the replies so far. I am still deciding whether surgery is the right answer for me.  I've lost weight a number of times over the past twenty years but have gained it back.  In college I was an athlete but my exercise level has varied since then.  I've used low carb several times with varying results.  Generally I fall off the wagon and go back to the old eating habits -too much of the wrong foods.  My concern over eliminating hunger is because snacking is my downfall.  Evenings at home with the pantry nearby.  I like the idea of dumping - that would keep me from heading to the kitchen for sweets! I thought when I got healthy in 2001, that I could keep it off permanently.  It didn't work and as you all know the stats show, that is normal.  I'm ready to keep it off but need some help.  If there was an anti-ghrelin patch, I would be using that now.  I tried Xenical but hated the side affects and didn't lose much.  The only thing that has ever really worked was the Ephedra along with healthy eating and massive exercise.  Once I stopped the Ephedra due to the danger, I started eating more. I need to have surgery one way or the other due to the hiatal hernia.  If I don't drop the weight, the hernia fix probably won't be permanent.  With the co-morbidities, I need to make permanent changes if I want to keep living.  I have no issue with daily exercise (1/2 hour) but I can't go back to the 2 hour daily routine I did to lose weight in 2001.  I'd be kidding myself to think I could do that permanently. I have an appointment with the surgeon on Friday and the office has confirmed with my insurance that I qualify.  Monday I meet with the shrink and Thursday with the dietician.  At this point, I'm strongly leaning toward having the surgery.  I see it as a major tool to get the weight off and allow me to keep it off permanently.  It does concern me that some people lose the hunger pangs permanently while others still have to fight it.  Also that not everyone experiences the dumping response.  I want to permanently lose my overeager appetite and feel like crap if I eat sweets! Thoughts? By the way, the woodguy handle is due to 20 years in wood products, sawmill and timber management.  I'm an accountant by training but have been in the industry most of my career.

TK, I am 41 5'11" and BMI of 37, Diabetes, High BP, High Cholesterol, GERD, Sleep apnea, fleas and the mange. I am having RNY in May. My surgeon told me that this will effectively treat all of my co-morbidities. I have heard that RNY is being used in Europe to treat type II diabetes right now. My wife had RNY 2 years ago and is doing great. Good luck on your descision, I belive that RNY is just what the Dr. ordered for me. Keep in touch, Brian