Good Morning. Do you ever wonder why...

...someone losing 100 pounds or more makes national news?  What's the one about no matter how big the lie is, tell it often enough and people will believe it and it will become the "truth".  There's the diet and exercise myth right there--it's a lie that's been told often enough. Great in theory, lousy in practice.  Once you get up in the obese categories diet and exercise to get it off and keep it off is bogus. Just my opinion, I'm sure someone will want to play devil's advocate. {sigh}  Whatever.

Thoughts?

--gina
 

I've been watching 2 folks lately who did it with diet and exercise.  Don't know how much each lost but a significant amount.  One has gained most back, the other I will see in Sept.  She is a driving friend who I only see a few times a year.  I know she had worked really hard at changing her life so maybe she is making it work for now.

For me, I am constantly amazed that I can wear the same things I wore last year.  Pre surgery, I was always having to buy larger stuff, post surgery I was having to buy smaller stuff.  What!!! now I have a wardrobe for the next season already.  What fun is that?  I may have to start buying shoes or something. 

I'm going this morning with Poppy to a tack shop to be fitted for a saddle.  One that will fit a fat pony and a skinny person.  Should be fun until it comes to pay for it.

I attended WW every year for over 20 years and year after year the same people were there and they didn't look any different. Oh, I'm sure there were exceptions but I'd like to see them now. The very first time I joined  I lost 75 pounds.  My baby girl who is 31 now was in kindergartin and I kept it off until the next big crisis happened which was probably a couple of years.   That's the only time in all of those years that I was even a little successful. So much money and so many wasted years!!!   My life was one big diet and the scales were not my friend. 

I'm going to be 4 years out soon...YEAH!!!    Even on Maintenance I don't feel like I'm dieting  and I love to get on the scales every morning.  And like Price I love going to my closet and knowing everything in its going to fit.   I bought a lot of fall things off of the clearance racks over the summer and them not fitting when fall came never once crossed my mind.

That's because to admit it is a lie, the diet industry would go under...and it is BIG business.So big, it makes the people pushing it hundreds of millions, if not billions.

I lost probably a thousand pounds over the last 40 years...and gained all of them back over the years. And each time they brought along friends I didn't want.

I knew my only shot was wls.

Liz

I think it makes the news because we all know how hard it is to lose 10 or 20 pounds, yet 100.
But I think the research tells us that only about 5% can keep it off. So theres the rub.

I know for myself that I would not be successful at 2 years out. How many times did I lose 50 to 80 pounds only to put it back on within the year. Too many! I think I am genetically predispose to have metabolic syndrome and to be able to gain weight easily. Thank goodness for my wls!

Granted, now with exercise and good nutrition I will be able to maintain, but this is the first time I have managed to keep weight off, ever.

Maria

 Yeah, I saw the same headline. I wonder, where they will be in a few years from now. The odds are really against all of us, but WLS  gives us an additional tool to work with. I don't know how many pounds I gained and lost over the years, but since I have been maintaining for the past 16 months, I am amazed everyday that I can still fit into my jeans from last year. It is a wonderful feeling.

I have met 2 women at the gym that I go to, one has lost about 130 lbs (!) via WW and another has lost about 70-80 lbs. They both work hard at it, and both have kept up with the needed lifestyle changes to maintain. They must be part of the 5%. The one who has lost 130 lbs has been maintaining for almost two years. OTOH, the majority of the people that I have seen over the past 1.5 years that I have been going to the gym, haven't changed at all. I'm sure that they are in better physical condition, which is important, but they don't look any different. I have seen some changes in others, but they are few and far between.

WLS is the best thing that I ever did for myself. I completely agree with you. All the research points to what an uphill battle obese people have, to lose weight and to maintain the loss. It is really sad.


gail

 This is the heart of my debate with my husband. :). I think the diet industry is bogus for 95% of dieters but we all hope and wish we could be part of the 5%. I'm an eternal optimist so I just kept thinking I can be one of the lucky ones...  Sort of like sitting at a slot machine!  

I think that has been my evolution in thought...I *want* to be successful on a traditional diet, and I don't want to have to alter my organs to lose weight. It is an extreme choice when we all know there is another way to lose the weight. I want to keep putting money in the slot machine because every once in awhile, someone wins big. I *wish* my body would work  with me and not fight me but at some point, for my health, I need to admit I need the extreme choice because the alternative is scarier. But to enter this journey, as so many of you have said to me already, is to understand it is just as hard as a regular diet - this just levels the playing field. After that honeymoon period, it is still my choice to exercise, eat right and just make the right choices or the altrrnative of going right back to where i was...sitting at the slot machine... is still there. In the end, I don't think there is a magic bullet for anyone...it is still a head game that I need to win. I just am realizing that WLS is the tool I need so my body isn't fighting with me too. In a way, aren't we still playing the odds? We just have decided to move to a slot machine with MUCH better odds.

Exactly. Much much better odds. Not lazy either--smarter.
 

I actually think it's a lot less than 5%. Most of the studies that show more than a 1-2% success rate don't last more than 2-5 years and that 5% often is only 5% of the people who lost 50+ pounds. So all the people in the study who didn't lose at all aren't included in the 5%.

In recent weeks, numerous people at work have commented on my maintaining of my weight loss and ask, "what is the secret?". I tell them there is no secret and that weight loss surgery was how I did this. I would NEVER have lost this amount of weight without surgery and EVERY pound has taken some effort WITH surgery. It ****** me off that the media keep harping on how we are all overweight yet rarely discuss how SO many things contribute to obesity. Until we get more tools, I think it will be rare that anyone can maintain EVEN with surgery. I admire everyone of you that are maintaining and I am doing everything I can to be in that club.

Blessings,

~~Jennifer