Question:
Why surgery at all.....

Ok...Ive been studying the rny lap for weeks now and have started the process..but every so often something on this site makes me stop and think...if I eat only a little, eat all the right things, and exercise...why doesn't it stay off and how does the surgery make sure it stays off..I needs convincing again. My health is excelent as heavy as I am but I realize it has to come off..but all the complications and now I see that someone wants a revision after 4 years...Im confused!!!!!    — Debora H. (posted on June 3, 2000)

June 3, 2000
I'm 10 weeks post-op lap RNY and have lost 55 lbs. Although still fairly new to this process, I have some answers that make sense to me. Anyone who eats the small amounts (2-4 oz) and the types of foods that I do only 3 times daily will lose weight. The difference is that this surgery will prohibit me from eating more than I should ever again...something I have never been able to maintain in the past. I have dieted "successfully" multiple times with multiple programs and have gained and lost hundreds of pounds, but have always gained back those pounds and more because I couldn't stick with the stringent limitations. Another factor is that mysteriously this surgery seems to change your tastes for foods (or has for me and many others I have spoken with). I have experienced the phenomenon of no longer even wanting those things that I thought I couldn't live without (red meat, fried foods, concentrated fats, etc...) and truly loving the things that previously didn't appeal to me at all (fresh vegetables in particular). I have eaten in the most healthy manner since my surgery than ever before in my life and I can honestly say that I have not been hungry once during this time. It's too early for me to even think about the issue of revisions. My goal is to trust this process and be compliant with the regimen my surgeon has set for me. This surgery has given me a chance for new life, new health, new energy and new attitude...and in the past 10 weeks, I have experienced all of those. This was the best decision I have ever made for me. I wish you all the best as you decide the best course for you.
   — Diana T.

June 3, 2000
Hey Deborah! You are not alone in your way of thinking! I, too have been thinking those kinds of thoughts. I go back and forth. I know of people who have had the surgery only to regain all their weight back again after awhile. That is discouraging to hear. I have been told that after a while, the stomach is able to hold more than it did the first 18 months after surgery. I think that this is the time when we have to use the DISCIPLINE that my surgeon talks about. We also have to get in to the habit of exercising regularly. Thes are 2 things that the morbidly obese have not done (for long) in the past, if at all. I guess that there is no "easy ride" even in gastric bypass surgery. The first 18 months or so helps us to get a lot of the weight down to a managable amount. After that, discipline and exercise are essential for the rest of our lives. My surgery isn't til July 18th but from everyone that I have talked to (successful and not so successful) has told me basically the same thing. Tell me LONG TERM POST OP PATIENTS if I am wrong in my way of thinking?!
   — kathy S.

June 4, 2000
Well, okay...yes...You should exercise...and manage everything you eat very carefully. Count calories and measure everything, and use strict discipline and deny yourself sweets and fats. You will lose, but then (inevitably) you will slowly gain the weight back again, plus a bit more. So then you diet again, and you lose again, and you gain again. Then you do it again...and again, and before you know it, forty years has gone by and this is what you have done with it. There comes a point when you just say Enough! Perhaps you aren't there yet. Personally, I don't understand exactly how it all works either. (The satiety factor baffles me.) But enough people here have told me that it does work, and that's enough for me. I have tried everything else, two or three times.
   — Anne G.

June 4, 2000
Debora, I'm sure many, many of us have had the same thoughts as you. I, too, gave conventional diet methods "one last try" before I actually made the decision to have surgery. I guess I finally decided to have the surgery because it offered me something that those "conventional" methods didn't...hope. I have been overweight for better than 30 years, and like so many other wls patients, I've tried many methods of weight loss. I even lost substantial amounts only to re-gain the weight plus some over and over again. I honestly felt that my excess weight was my punishment for my own lack of self-discipline and that I truely deserved to be fat (a sentiment that, unfortunately, most of our society still adheres to). But, in doing some research on the reasons "why" we can't lose weight or keep it off once we do, I learned that there are legitimate reasons, physical, real reasons for our continued obesity. The main reason (in a nutshell) is that our bodies have become convinced that we are SUPPOSED to weight what we weigh. And once it's convinced of that, it will do whatever it can to not only prevent weight loss (slowing our metabolism down to zilch, for example)but also stand at the ready to re-gain the weight as soon as it sees an opportunity. Kinda like a sponge at the edge of a sink, ready to "re-absorb" the first drop of water that splashes anywhere around it. I have started to think of my wls as way of "fixing" my body so that it will once again begin to work the way that it is supposed to work. I abused my body for years with yo-yo dieting. I am partly to blame for my continued obesity because I taught my body, over and over again) that "this attempt (to diet) too, shall pass" and eventually, I'll give up and it'll be able to re-gain the weight that it, ever so reluctantly, was forced to give up. As a result, my body fought me tooth and nail to hang on to the excess weight no matter what I did. My surgery simply "remodeled" my body to respond to my weight loss efforts in the way it was originally designed to so many years ago. Yes, I do have to continue to diet...to count my calories...to drink ALL my water...to exercise...etc. But for the first time in years, I'M LOSING WEIGHT! I'm learning how to eat and exercise properly without cheating (not only because I want to, but because I know I'll be punished if I don't...ie - dumping or slower weight loss). And that weight loss combined with the knowledge that the surgery will continue to help my body respond favorably to my own efforts, has given me hope that I CAN become the skinnier, healtier woman I have never been able to become on my own...that I WILL become that woman someday. Wls is only a "tool" to assist us in our efforts to achieve our goals and our dreams. But it's one heck of a "tool" and one I'm very grateful to have been able to have had the opportunity to receive. Now it's up to me to use that "tool" wisely...and I shall. Good luck, Debora, on whatever you decide. The decision is up to you, but we are all there for you no matter what. cj
   — cj T.

June 4, 2000
"Diets" most often fail because they do not incorporate a mechanism for overcoming human nature. <b>Only an extremely disciplined person can exercise every day, count every calorie and resist the powerful attraction of the sights and smells of their favorite foods. Let's face it; the vast majority of us are just not that disciplined.</b> I sure wasn't... Even if I did manage to lose 30 to 40 pounds I would gain it right back and then some more on top it was a vicious cycle... <p> The reason gastric bypass surgery is so effective in helping you lose weight is that your reconfigured digestive system: Reduces the amount of food you are able eat at any one meal (restriction). Absorbs less of the food you do eat (malabsorption). Makes you intolerant to foods you should avoid anyway (i.e. concentrated sugars and fats). In other words, the surgery imposes discipline by forcing you to change your eating habits. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of those who had gastric bypass report that learning to eat smaller meals, chew thoroughly and avoid sweets and fats was not nearly as hard as they had imagined. After the recovery/adjustment period, you will be able to enjoy a wide range of foods again. As a bonus side-effects of gastric bypass surgery, you should no longer feel hungry all the time and will no longer be bothered by indigestion or "acid reflux." Well at least the majority aren't bothered by it.. I have never been bothered by it before or after surgery...I have (as of today) lost 115 pounds...This is the MOST I have ever lost..and the pounds keep melting off wek by week.. This tool called RNY for me has saved my life..I have never been sorry that I had it and I'm dedicated to working with this tool the rest of my life it gave me what I needed a helping hand. ;-)
   — Victoria B.