Warning: VERY controversial question

I should have chosen my words more carefully-- I was making a pun related to "WLS" being "a tool", and increasingly frustrated with the quick-fix people that OH has seen a large share of lately, and shot off my mouth hastily. It was unkind. Yes, many people feel as you do. Many people also chain smoke. I don't think that mass appeal always has a lot to do with logic or health. I didn't always have great esteem...but I wouldn't have developed it, either, if I hadn't had to struggle some. I know the value now of some of the things I fought tooth and nail at age 20, and wanted to share that with you. It was done with good intent. I know 4 people (real time) who have had WLS. One is now, sadly, dead. A second had horrible sepsis and was incapacitated for over two years. This is why I say that unless you are in pain, ill, or otherwise at the end of your body's rope, you need to think really hard about this. Not because I am an ogre, or an ass.I couldn't live with myself if I didn't bring these possibilities up and offer a word of warning to you-- I think of your youthfull, healthy looking self potentially incapacitated and think, "Jesus, I wish there was another way." I really can't feel sorry about that--- but I *am* sorry you can't see where the warning is coming from.

Christa, I hear you girl and I love you lots for voicing your mind.  I've felt the same way my whole life, and I let myself slip farther than you did before getting WLS. I'm with you girl. BIG HUG

Wondering where you were.  I knew you would want in on this one....LOL.  I was just wondering if someone found this post and announced it elsewhere....we have seen more surgery representation than ever before.  We knew and supported you on yours, but other than you we rarely see any others in here!

Oh Janina, I was waiting for you to read this post because I knew that you would feel the same way as I did. And look at you, you're doing great with that band! HUGS back!

You are so right. I had the surgery 4 years ago so I've had 4 years of hindsight. I am not "rah rah" about weightloss surgery. Even though  I would have the surgery again in a minute   I do not promote it. Yes it's an effective surgery as far as losing weight but there are consequences and I do deal with them every day. It's a tradeoff.  I did have co morbities and after I lost the weight i did lose the comorbities but i have traded them in for some new health issues as a direst result from the gastric bypass surgery and the rapid weightloss. I traded in sleep apnea for osteoporosis and I traded in high blood pressure for a drop in blood pressure and dizziness almost every time i stand up. Was it worth it? you bet because my old weight related illnesses could've killed me. So yeah I'll take the tradeoff. Plus I was well aware  that this could happen prior to surgery and i was willing to accept the risk. Also I had ALOT of complications after the surgery. This is a drastic surgery  but i made sure I was well informed about it and I asked myself alot of hard questions before I made the decision. People do take this surgery too lightly, they do think it is a quick fix, they do want to jump into having the surgery before they have exhausted other means of losing the weight and before they research the heck out of it.. This is a surgery that can kill you so for anyone to consider it for cosmetic reasons is just not well informed. Lets talk cosmetics though.... the results of losing so much weight so rapidly after gastric bypass is not a pretty sight. Having said that...I do understand the point of view of someone who qualifies for the surgery weightwise but doesn't have any comorbities in still wanting the surgery, in the sense that it is probably only a matter of time before some appear.

You did make some good points. I tried for 2 years to do it the "old fashioned" way and that only got me 75 pounds heavier. I wished i could've lost the weight without surgery as it's been hell with alot of complications over the last 4 years. And it's not like I can just go off this "diet" when I'm having a bad day and wanna have a candy bar. There are very unpleasant physical ramifications if i did do that so that's not gonna happen. I had a lot of health problems prior to having wls so I was unable to excercise per doctors orders but i tried to lose the weight anyway based on food choices alone. Guess what I found out? that I have a food addiction  and so do plenty of morbidly obese people. This is a recognized addiction and very hard to break.  So willpower alone is not gonna do it. Speaking for me, weightloss surgery was the only option.... if I couldv'e lost the weight the natural way trust me I would've. 

Hi. It isn't losing the weight that is the problem, it is keeping it off. 95% of those that are SMO gain back the weight they lose. This is documented scientific resarch. Up until April of this year I would never have considered WLS but I had fallen off the wagon again after losing 60 pounds. It was at that point I looked myself in the eye and faced the fact that I would never be able to do this on my own and that if I didn't do something drastic my health would fail and I would probably die. So we all have our reasons. Jo

Jo, that is very true. There has been a lot of reseaerch done on the statistics of regaining back weight both from the weightloss surgery and from diet and excercise alone. After a person reaches the 100 pound overweight mark,  the body chemistry does change. It  becomes, even harder  to lose the weight and to not regain it back, plus some long term. With weightloss surgery patients needing to lose 100 pounds or more....research is showing that there is usually a weight re gain as well long term but not nearly as high , only about a 20 pound regain.

This is precisely why the RNY was recommended to me. My nutritionist reports that people of my size tend to lose well and easily-- down to about 275 pounds-- and then they reach long plateaus that sometimes don't break for months on end, due to metabolic changes. 

I agree entirely that everyone has their own reasons for ending up making the decision to have WLS. I am not anti-WLS.  My question simply was to ask why when someone is denied and it doesn't appear feasible on any level for them to have surgery, and their life is on the line, why do they take years more fighting for WLS instead of changing their lifestyle. It was never to say it was good or bad.  I am a firm believer in whatever works for someone.  i just know that if I hadn't started when my knees went, I would probably be another 50 pounds heavier than I was, and as frustrated as before.

I guess I am willing to test the odds.  I will be in the 5% of people that will lose weight and keep it off.  i'm 2 years into it, no sense in giving up now!!!