New diet pill that sounds good right before surgery!

Why do you have to see things that make you try to rethink the decision to have surgery? So everytime I turn on tv now I see an ad for Belviq.  So I went and read reviews on it and it sounds pretty good. I just had to tell myself do I really want to take a pill for the rest of my life to keep weight off! Anybody else think of trying it before surgery? I still am 99 percent sure l want surgery but there is that little part of me that says try one more thing first! Ugggg 

A lot of insurances do not cover it (or didn't when I was on it), and self-pay runs around $200 per month.  I took it early last year.  It does cut your appetite but you still need to exercise self-control and watch what you eat.  It just makes it a little easier to stop eating (or not start) and you do think about food a bit less.  

It's great if you are trying to jump-start a diet and need some encouraging results to get you going, but I doubt any physician is going to prescribe it to you for the rest of your life ... or that an insurance company is going to foot the bill for it. 

Everything except for hard work, discipline and a complete lifestyle and mindset change always sounds good.     

The most optimistic trial of Belviq showed that patients who took it for a year lost about five percent of their body weight. Then in the second year they gained back 25% of what they lost.

For me, that would have meant that in the year after surgery I lost 14 lbs instead of the 130+ I am on track for on my surgiversary date next month.

Does 5% sound like a great result to you? It sure doesn't to me.

Consumer Reports Says Skip It

I didn't think about pills, but I did have second thoughts before surgery. I lost 15 pounds on my week long pre op liquid diet, and that made me wonder I'd I could do l that in a week,if I tried one more time and really focused maybe I didn't need the surgery? So I get it. For me, surgery was ny best bet for losing the weight and keeping it off. You just need to do what's best for you.

I had that thought too! Lost 20# on my liquid pre-op and began having second thoughts ... and was like "Denise! Have the surgery! You've already thought this through!" I don't know about most people but second-guessing myself drives me crazy.

There are many drug companies and scientists working to find a pill.  They have not been successful yet, but I believe that it will happen one day. 

Do you want to postpone getting healthy until that happens? 

Wow... All the responses here are AWESOME! I too have lost weight now that I'm on my preop diet and I keep hearing from my Mom look how your losing. She says I should keep trying to lose on my own. But, I heard from someone else yea you can stick to this for now because you have a silver lining at the end of the tunnel. That's probably why I am able to do this now. I hope this surgery saves my life and makes me the person I want to be. I took phyntrinme I lost 50 pounds but, I always gain back and it's really hard on your body so not worth it!

It sounds like yet another scam.  So I'd pass and stick to surgery which is proven effective.  

It sounds like you are still looking for a quick fix that requires you to do nothing but take a pill. If that is where you are mentally, then you are not ready for surgery.  Surgery requires you to set aside the belief of something magic coming into your life and taking away the pain that is your weight. Surgery requires commitment and work long term.  Yes the first 6-9 months are fairly easy but then the hard stuff starts and you have to make decisions about what kind of life you want to live and what you are prepared to do to get there. If you think you can do this on your own with the help of a pill, an exercise regime, etc. etc. I would encourage you to do that.  Surgery is for those who have failed every program out there and *****quire an extreme tool to help them.  Nothing will do this for you, not surgery, not a pill, only you.  So think about his a lot before signing up.

Just my opinion ...

The pill is fairly-new. Surgery has been around a lot longer and many people have had wonderful success.

I just had surgery on May 6 - I began thinking about surgery FIVE years ago. Last fall, the light bulb finally went off over my head - I had lived 5 years huffin' and puffin' and strugglin' and mad at myself and I had not changed one iota. Five years of my life passed me by while I tried "one more thing ... one more thing ... one more thing..."

Ultimately you have to do what you feel is best. I don't know that I would have listened to the advice I'm giving you 5 years ago!!! Just something else to think about.

Peace to you in whatever your decision is, and all the best. :)