Questions about the surgery

Let me start off with an introduction about myself. My name is Ric, I have always been a large person, even since grade school I was like largest in the class, Big and Tall. About 5 years ago or so I attempted to lose weight I was about 440 lbs, I started going to doctor, I was doing fairly well, then all of a sudden I just kind of stopped caring, I lost a little bit of weight and I was feeling good I got down to about 370 lbs at that point. My goal was never to be thin, I don't think I'll ever be thin, I'm a large person and I'm comfortable with that. My biggest goal with weight loss is to be happy and comfortable. this might seem kind of vain, but all I really want to do is to be able to weight a 2x shirt and look good doing it. I haven't worn a 2x shirt since 8th grade about 18 years ago.

Currently I've been going through a pretty rough spot in my life again, I'm afraid I might fall off the path again. About a year ago I had to do some blood work for my job for insurance reason, it came back saying I was diabetic an A1C of 7.4. I wasn't going to end up like that, even though I was pretty depressed I started a pretty strict diet of between 1500-1800 calories, and goal of very few carbs. My weight at that point in time as 510 lbs. I was retested about 4 months ago after losing about 80 lbs and my A1C was 5.5, I was very pleased with that, but now I don't want to go back. I want to keep pushing on. Currently I've dropped a few more pounds and as of yesterday I weighted 409 lbs. I've lost a huge amount for the 2nd time in my life.

I have a few questions that haunt me when thinking about this surgery, the main one that comes up a lot of times when I talk with my mom is "do i really need the surgery?". What I mean by that is My mom thinks I can lose the weight diet and exercise, and whole lot of dedication and time. I believe I possibly could to, the problem is I fear that I might relapse and just put all the weight back on that I've already lost up to this point with doing what I've already done. I feel like it could be a good tool to have in my arsenal, so that if I do stumble a little bit, it can help me achieving my goal.

One of my other question is, if I already lost 100 lbs going into possibly thinking of getting this surgery how will that impact my results, is it better that I lost the weight now before surgery? I've been to the seminars before where they talk about going to the doctors, picking out the right procedure and then there is a point leading up of a few months prior to the surgery, if i were to say like 6 months from now I'd set the day for surgery and I keep doing what I'm currently doing and I lose another 40-60 lbs, is surgery still a good option for me? I'm just wondering if anyone out there has decided to do the surgery, had everything set in motion, then decided they didn't need it after all and never went through with it because they were able to achieve everything without it.

Any comments, tips or suggestions are welcomed. Currently I have spoken with my doctor about surgery but that was more then year and half ago prior to my current weight loss. I plan on speaking with him again cause I've been tempted to look more into and possibly have it done. I've been leaning more towards having it cause I think it can help me achieve my goals, it just there is a lot of ifs and buts about it. So any help is welcomed. Sorry of the long post.

Almost everyone does really well with a pre op diet, even if (as in your case) it isn't strictly pre op. We are all pro dieters and surly have lost thousands of pounds between us all, but (just as in your case!!!!) we always gained it all back plus some (440 to 370 then up to 510, yup that's always the story). I did the same thing some years back. I hit 200 pounds, decided I was getting my life together, lost down to 130lb and baby I felt great. But then I find myself weighing 260 a couple years later, not knowing how that happened. I mean, maybe you could lose and keep it off on your own, but there's a 95 - 97% chance (depending on the study) that no...you can't.

My advice, look into the surgery, read around, research, ect...ect... and see if it's right for you and your medical conditions. But if you decide not to get the surgery for the singular reason of you think you've done a good job and can do it yourself....well I'd bet real money that in a couple of years you'll be back to your highest weight....probably plus some.

What was already said in the comment above. I'm only 4 months out from surgery, and young (32), butnive been dieting since middle school. I was really good at dropping 40, 50...even 75 lbs on my own, but I could never sustain it. This surgery gives much better odds of being able to maintain a loss long term than an obese person has without having surgery. I'm young, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life on one dad crash diet after another, yo-yoing and gambling with my health.

I was just like you. Lose 50, gain 75. Lose 75. I looked into surgery, but decided I could lose without it. Then ended up gaining even more.

You can see my loss numbers below. My high weight was 475, and I lost down to 359 by the morning of my surgery. It made reaching my goal weight much, much easier.

Even with surgery, we need to closely watch what and how much we eat. But we develop what many call diet fatigue. We get tired of being vigilant. We let some old practices back in. For many, that happens about a year or so after surgery. If the weight isn't lost by then, it psychologically becomes much harder. So losing more pre surgery helps an awful lot.

Like most of us on here, I lost & gained weight my entire adult life. On my more "successful" attempts, I'd lose 50-60 lbs, only to gain it back. And I had over 200 lbs to lose! I finally faced the reality there was no way I was going to be able to do this without drastic intervention. So...after years of contemplation, I finally had the surgery.

it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've ever made. Wish I'd have done it years ago. I could have *never* done this without the surgery.

You asked so here are my non-professional answers:

"Do I really need the surgery?" I THINK SO, DIABETES IS NO JOKE

"Is it better I lost weight b4 surgery?" YES, LOWERS SURGERY RISKS

"...if I lose another 40-60 lbs, is surgery still a good option?" YES

You would be the rare chap who could accomplish your weight goals without medical help; the statistics for the super morbidly obese are somewhere around five percent who can. Because you mentioned diabetic tendencies and if I was your doctor or mother, I would encourage taking the giant leap of faith toward surgery. Again and again, diabetes is no joke.

the only real question you need to ask yourself and answer is,"if I could lose all the weight I wanted to and Mai rain the loss, why haven't I?"

the answer to that is the answer to the question of why have surgery.

Wls allows one to actually DO what we have tried and failed to do over and over and over.

Mel's allows one to lose the weight and maintain the loss. That goal, of losing them maintaining the loss, can become a pCkage deal if one follows the rules and makes it happen.

As others have said we are all champion dieters, but the actual maintenance is what none of us pre-op was very good at. My longest maintenance was for 5 years I lost 90lbs and kept it off. UNTIL...(insert excuse here) Yes we give up on vigilance, slowly go back to our old habits and for me it was a regain of the 90lbs + 50lbs before surgery. I've struggled with my weight most of my adult life. This is the only tool that I know will work long term. But it is your body and you need to determine what works for you. The odds are not good for dieting alone as we can all attest to.

We've all been there we've all done it. And anyone of us will tell you the only regret is we didn't do it sooner. Good luck with your journey.

I'm another one of those champion dieters. I would lose 50 lbs on Weigh****chers no problem. Then I'd gain it back and then some. Then I'd lose 100 on WW. Then I gained it back and then some. I realized that surgery was my best option to lose weight and keep it off, but it took me a long time to get into the info session, then another year to go to a consult. But I'm 2 months post-op from surgery and I feel great. I'm losing, I have learned new ways to think about food, I make different choices about food, and I started going to counseling again to help me manage some of my emotions since leaning on food to soothe me isn't an option anymore.

The decision isn't easy, but now that I'm on this side of it, I wish I had taken action sooner.

Good luck to you!