Peachpie,

I've tried this as well. As good as it sounds, it's just almost impossible to do without anorexic-like tendencies.

You need to examine exactly why you feel like you fail over and over again? What are your triggers? Downfalls?

WLS is NOT the magic answer. I had a VSG thinking that it would solve my problems. Sure , I lost 230 lbs at one point and then went on to gain a substantial amount bac****pt failing over and over to lose the regain until I jumped into Overeaters anonymous. For me, that's my magic solution. I've now been successful at managing my food issues and losing weight fairly easily. 

I just share my experience and that's all. If you'd like to know more or chat send me a PM. 

Wishing you the best with your decision to try WW, again.  I didn't have any "agains" left in me.  

Thanks everyone for your input. My problem is that I am always hungry. I can eat so much food and eat again an hour later. I try to diet but I am starving. If RNY makes me satisfied with less and less hungry then I guess it is for me.

i appreciate that you all know how desperate it feels to try to follow a diet and fail and fail. And I appreciate your courage to make lasting change.

This was me, and my RNY definitely made the difference.  I would eat (a lot) and within 2 hours, I'd be eating again.  I tried for 20 years to lose weight with diet and exercise only.  I always failed.  The surgery gave me the tool I needed to take it off.  

With this surgery, you won't have that "always hungry" feeling.  For me 5 years out, it takes way less to fill me up than someone who hasn't had the surgery.  Yes, I have to be conscious of what I eat, but if I gain a few pounds, this tool will help me lose it in no time without hunger. I had 3 or 4 referrals before I finally had the surgery. I too kept going back to weigh****chers.  I would lose the weight, but it never became a way of life for me.  This surgery is a way of life and one that I am thankful every day that I had!  

The difference was that pre-op...I didn't lose weight with counting carbs/calories and exercise. With the surgery, I could!

Being obese, especially if you are super morbidly obese, you are subject to what they believe are permanent metabolic changes.  All of the WLS varieties, for reasons that are poorly misunderstood, basically reset the thermostat of our bodies.  We have a huge boost to weight loss post-op for our honeymoon period.  After that, you need to watch what you eat depending what surgery you have.  Even with he vSG which has no malabsorptive component, the metabolism is altered, and ghrelin (which causes us to be hungry) is permanently lowered.  I think serum levels for ghrelin are 60% a few years after surgery, but I don't recall the exact number.  At any rate, that can't be achieved by just altering your diet with such dramatic effect.  It's unbelievable to never really be hungry, after having had binge eating disorder, especially.  I feel free for the first time in my life.

What surgery does is it forces one to eat well and develop new habits while being able to lose weight super rapidly.  Having said that, there are people who still gain weight regardless of surgery - whether or not it is the VSG, RNY, or DS.  Even with the DS, arguably the most powerful, you will gain weight eating poorly.

While ha*****anges post-op are hard, to be honest surgery has made my life 100% easier.  My endless hunger is gone for good.  In fact, I actually get sick of eating.  

In the end, surgery really is a tool.  Weigh****chers is a tool.  All tools will fail if you don't use them.  Many of us needed overeaters anonymous or counseling to be successful, too.  Whatever route you decide to take, I wish you the best of success. :)

I did not see your earlier post.  I agree, it is important to know what WLS can and cannot do.  Here are some of the stats that helped me understand the issues and what it meant for me. I hope it is helpful for you and others who may be thinking about WLS.

WITHOUT WLS

1. Only 3-5% of the people who lose a lot of weight can keep it off long term, which means that
2. 95-97% of the people who lose a lot of weight gain it all back
3. With a good-University based weight loss program, at 4 years, less than half the people could even keep off 7% of their body weight.  (Suprisingly, the program administrators thought these were results to brag about -- to me, I wouldn't have even had to buy new clothes after losing 7% of my body weight)

WITH WLS - I've gleaned this info from several published studies

1.   Over half the people lose and keep off 50 or more pounds.

2.   About 25% gain it all back (compared to 95-97% of people who gain it back without WLS)

3.   At the 5 year mark, about 20% avoid significant regain or have taken it off.  They work at keeping their new eating and exercise behaviors.  I think these are the people who are honestly telling you that WLS is only a tool and you need to be willing to address issues that could lead to weight regain. 

If you think you can be successful on a conventional diet program, go for it.  WLS is major surgery and it should be used only when a person knows they will not lose and keep it off anyother way.  But if you do not think that you are one of the lucky 3-5% of people who can take it off and keep it off, then you have certain options (it took me to age 57, and one more 100+ conventional diet failure, before I truly accepted that I was not one of those lucky 3-5%).

For me, all I could do was accept that I could not keep it off and look at my options and choose the best one for me.  The options that I saw for me:

1. Do nothing and gain 5 pounds a year - you can do the math for your situation, where will you be in 10 -15 years.  This was not a good option for me.
2. Because I can't keep it off, then the best I could do without surgery was the yo-yo every five years.  1-2 years to take it off and 2-3 years to gain it back.  This was not a good option for me.
3. Get WLS. I wish there was a more effection drug therapy, but there really isn't right now.
4. At 57, I really didn't have time to futz with the lap band or wait for an effective drug regime.
5. So, I had surgery last year.  And now I think - what the hell made me wait so long!!

I wish that someone could guarentee that you (and me, for that matter) would be in the 20-25% of people who keep it all off after WLS, but no one can.  There is no magic bullet - long term we need to intake fewer calories than we expend.  But WLS makes it easier for most people - it changes many things about how your body wants food, most of us have decreased appetites, because Ghrelin levels go down (by 60% after WLS) where Ghrelin usually goes up by 30-40% when you go on a 'regular diet.'  WLS changes some other hormones and how they operate and that is why diabetes is resolved or improved for most people shortly after surgery. 

For me, at 13 months post-WLS, RNY gastric-by pass has given me a chance at keeping it off.  For the first time, I attained my goal weight without being so diet-fatiqued that all I wanted to do was to EAT, something GOOD!  I've been at my goal weight (down 122 pounds and at 13% body fat) for 2 months now and I still have to be smart about what I eat and get good exercise, but it is much more do-able than staying on a conventional diet. 

Sorry for the length of this post, but several factors went into my decision (including a fair amount of feeling desperate) and I wanted to give you the fullest explanation I could.

Best wishes for what ever you decide.  

Great explanation Sharon! Thanks for sharing!