No, I think it’s very similar. In both cases, biology is at odds with what we as individuals want, and one of the solutions is to have surgery to compensate for biological drives.
I was concerned in the beginning. I was 2+ years out when I had my little girl. As long as I followed my surgeons orders (protien, vitamins, shots, etc) I was fine. My OB waaay overkilled with checking up on me. I had bloods drawn constantly and had a sonogram once a month. All for nothing, but I got a lot of cool sono pictures of her.
I am lactose intolerant as a result of the GB, which happens to some, not all. I had to find other ways to get calcium in me besides milk and ice cream. I ate a lot of cheese. Aged cheese doesn’t seem to bother me.
I don’t really have a “restricted diet” as a result of my GB. Its not that I am not supposed to eat certain things or amounts like a dieter. I CAN’T eat certain things or large amounts. Most of my stomach is stiched off so I can only fit so much, and if I eat more than that, it comes back out (I barf). I can’t eat things with a lot of sugar in them because I’ll “dump”. Dumping is when you get all naseaous and sweaty and dizzy because too much water is dumped into your intestines from all the insulin sent to combat the sugar. So really, I wouldn’t say I’m on a diet. Its like being allergic to nuts…you just don’t eat them. Consider me allergic to eating too much and too much sugar.
The pregnany question is one of the first ones women always ask. You can get pregnant after. In fact, because you lose weight so quickly, its very easy to get pregnant after and most of us have to make sure we’re extra careful until we’re ready.
That’s what I meant, I just didn’t word it correctly. I was curious about whether the limited amount you are able to eat was of any concern or if it could have any effect on the baby. But you basically already answered that, so thank you! I just find it all so fascinating.
I had a great response that died right when the board did. Let me try this again.
I’m agreeing with Crafter_Man, just as I’ve done in other threads in the past. There was almost 90 pounds difference between me at my heaviest and me at my lightest. I don’t know if that classifies me as morbidly obese, but if not, I bet I was pretty darn close.
Like Crafter_Man, I was sick of being fat, so I stopped eating so much and started exercising more. Let me tell you, it SUCKED. As a 260 pound guy running around the block, everything hurt. My knees, shins, butt, everything. And that was probably after only running 1/8th of a mile. When my legs started hurting, I’d lift weights. Then back to running. Then I bought an eliptical machine when the weather got cold. I dropped the weight.
It’s HARD. It’s still hard. Everyday on my drive home, I pass McDonald’s, Long John’s, and Taco Bell. Every day I’m tempted to get something. Every single day, I’m tempted to skip my run and watch TV instead. But I don’t.
Honestly, if you’re morbidly obese, you can drop significant weight by simply dieting, no other changes necessary. I bet you could drop 20 pounds in the first month by counting calories and not overeating. Hell, you could even stick to a post-GB diet without even going through GB if you put your mind to it! Yes, it would SUCK. You’d be STARVING. You’d be TEMPTED ALL THE TIME. Just like Crafter_Man and I are when someone brings donuts to work and puts them 20 feet away and offers you one, but you know you can’t.
Anyway, my point is that weight loss is a mental thing, and getting surgery is an easy way to do it. Not the best way. Not the only way. The easy way.
Why is it “easy” and why isn’t it “the best”? Is it bad because it’s “easy”?
What method has the best record for success?
Perhaps. Another solution is to not “give in” to urges. Just because you *have * an urge to overeat doesn’t mean you *should * overeat.
If a person has a food addiction, the best solution is to *learn * how not to “give in” to the urge to overeat.
I would say the best solution is either something that will get rid of the urge, or something that can render giving in to the urge inconsequential.
Again, I think it is very similar to sex. Contraceptives are good because they allow people to have sex without (always) having children. Most people can’t simply say “Oh, I won’t give in to the urge not to have sex for the rest of my life.” Some people can, sure. Some people don’t have a strong desire for sex in the first place, so the willpower necessary isn’t that great. But for a lot (the majority?) of people, simply saying “Don’t do that” isn’t enough. It doesn’t matter how awful the repercussions can be. People will risk disease, murder, pregnancy, marriages, money, political standing, reputation, freedom, status, self-respect, anything you can think of has been risked by someone somewhere in search of a shag. Why would a doughnut be any different?
Let’s keep the snide remarks to a minimum, or better yet, let’s keep them non-existant. I understand the strong feelings, but it is perfectly possible to comment both pro and con on this subject while remaining reasonable. Please do so.
Anyone who wishes to do otherwise, you know where to find the Pit.
wasson: Wow, your experience sounds just like mine. And congrats on the weight loss.
When people see what I eat, and the quantities of food I eat, they sometimes remark, “Wow, I wish I could eat like that.” They assume I *want * to eat what I eat. I tell them, “I **love * * fried food. I **love * * cake, pie, ice cream, bacon, French fries, and fried chicken. I love it as much as you do. Maybe even more. I crave the stuff. Smelling it makes me salivate. But I won’t eat it. I can’t. If I do, I’ll get fat.” It is at that point they realize they could also lose weight if they had the strength & discipline to do so.
And that’s the way my life’s been for the last 10 years. For the last 10 years I have not eaten fried food, cake, pie, ice cream, bacon, butter, mayonnaise, French fries, croissants, egg rolls, donuts, pastries, fried chicken, sugary soft drinks, fat-laden sauces (e.g. oil-based spaghetti sauce), French toast, pancakes, omelets, chocolate, caramel, anything “breaded”, anything made with shortening, butter, or lard, sausage, and onion rings. I also eat very little bread and red meat. I have not eaten fast food - not once - in 10 years.
It’s all mental.
How long must I be on this diet? Forever.
But… that’s the advice we give to other things.
There’s a girl who works down the hall from me. She’s ***very ** * nice looking. And single. I’d love to bone her. Seriously. Is it O.K. if I act on this urge? No… I’m married. But I *still * have the urge to bone her. So what should I do? Do you think I should I cut my balls off to eliminate the urge? I am guessing your response would be, “Do *not * mutilate yourself. And do *not * act on the urge. The only healthy and rational choice is to *learn * to deal with it. If you find it is overwhelming, see a psychiatrist.”
Same goes for people who drink too much alcohol. Do we recommend they get a lobotomy? No. We send them to therapy. And though they may crave alcohol the rest of their life, they learn to deal with the urge.
Why is overeating any different?
Overeating is different from other kinds of addictions because you cannot give up eating. You can give up cigarettes, booze, illicit drugs, and illicit sex entirely. You can’t stop eating.
I have the greatest possible respect for people like you who manage to successfully battle their demons every day. Seriously, if there were a different font that conveyed respect, I’d be typing in it. 
But I’m not that strong. You can do this, it’s obvious. There are others who can, too. I’m not one of them. Does that make me a lesser person than you? A weaker person than you? Perhaps so. But that doesn’t change the fact that at the time I had my surgery, I felt like it was the best option available for me. I’m not advocating it as an easy fix; I’m not advocating it for everyone. I still firmly believe it was the best choice for me, personally. If that reflects poorly on my self-control, determination, etc., well, so be it.
So, you say “Don’t do it” to cheaters and alcoholics. Seriously, how’s that workin’ for ya?
I don’t know that overeating really is particularly different than alcoholism. What is the success rate for alcoholics stopping drinking? Stats I’m finding seem to show that it’s in the neighborhood of 1/3 of all people who abuse drugs and alcohol manage to quit for good.
If there were a surgery available for alcoholics, don’t you think some would be better off taking it? My dad was an alcoholic. I grew up with it. He was an alcoholic until he died. Damn straight I would love it if there were a surgery that could have helped him overcome that, because he died without ever having done it on his own, despite having people say “Don’t do that.”
And people have sex outside of marriage all the time, so I’m not sure why you think the “Don’t do it” message works. I think most of the people who stay faithful are people without any particular urge to stray. And those who do have the particular urge usually seem to give into it, if you believe any of the available statistics. I don’t have any urge to have sex with anyone other than my husband. This isn’t some great moral victory on my part. It doesn’t make me a better person, just a luckier one.
If these surgeries existed and were safe enough, people would use them. If there were a surgery to make controlling alcohol intake easier, or if there were a surgery to make controlling sexual desire easier. They don’t, though. Gastric bypass does exist. It’s no panacea, but it helps. And I would wager that the success rate is higher than willpower.
Here’s the message I am hearing from you, Jsgoddess: “When you have a problem, do not rely on will and determination to solve it. Instead, seek out surgery.”
Do you have children? Is this the message you teach them? Do you tell them they’re too weak to remedy their own shortcomings? Do you tell them they don’t have the moral courage to fight urges? Do you teach them actions cannot be controlled?
From what I can tell, you simply tell them they’re too weak to control themselves, and they need to cut open by a doc.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s *that *hard. As you’re probably aware from my participation in the weight loss threads in MPSIMS, I’ve lost about ~180 lbs in the past two years from diet alone and am easily one of the more indifferent people I know but after being morbidly obese for three-quarters of my lifetime, I decided something had to change and was able to drop literally half my body weight in only a year and a half through diet alone and my diet is nowhere near as draconian as Crafter_Man’s.
For instance, dinner tonight was a burger from Sonic and a snacker from KFC that my mom had bought for herself but gave to me when it wound up being too hot for her and lunch tomorrow will probably be at a local Indian buffet I’ve been wanting to try for months now. It takes control, yes, but nothing superhuman.
Congrats, Aesiron!
Contrary to politically-correct opinion, anyone can lose weight by modifying their diet. Anyone. It is such a simple truth. Yet people continue to cover their ears and sing Mary Had a Little Lamb when you tell them this.
My advice to any obese person is this: if you believe you have the strength & discipline to eat less, do it. Permanently modify your diet. Eat less and eat better. Make a *permanent * lifestyle change. If you do ***not ** * have the strength & discipline to eat less, seek out a therapist. Find out *why * you overeat. Once you find out *why * you overeat, you can (hopefully) fix the underlying psychological issue that drives you to want to do it.
I think you’re hearing what you want to hear. You want to judge people, so you do.
Take a look at the success rate for abstinence programs, for the “Just Say No” Reagan tripe, at the obesity rate. I want what works, not what sounds good on paper. I don’t equate anyone’s worth with their waistline, and I see no evidence whatsoever that “Don’t do that” works in any significant way. I want results, not platitudes, not moral superiority.
My message is: Do what works. Not what should work if only you were a “better” person, but what actually works for you.
Yep. No one is saying the actual process is easy, just that it’s simple. There’s a big difference there.
I started running 2 months ago because, well, I wanted to. I mean, I physically could endure 60 minutes on the elliptical at a fast pace (mentally was another matter; god, cardio machines are so boring). But I couldn’t even run 5 houses without getting winded. Something’s wrong in that picture, y’know?
I’m still doing run/walk segments, but I’m taking my time. I do 2 miles 3 days a week. When I can get up to running a full mile (or near it) without stopping to walk, I’m gonna increase it to 3 miles, and then keep increasing. I’d like to do 15-25 miles a week eventually (I know that’ll be at least a year from now, especially with frigid winter coming up).
This takes me 35 minutes 3 times a week. Big whoop. I’ve also been eating tons better (but more importantly, battling the root of my eating issues). I’ve dropped 12 lbs and my ass/upper thighs are looking amazing. The suit pants I have that were rather tight in the ass and thighs are now pretty damn baggy and hanging lower on me. I’m gonna add weight training back in as soon as my iron levels are good*.
Think of it this way: if you get the surgery, you have to eat differently for the rest of your life. If you want to lose weight without the surgery, you have to eat differently for the rest of your life.
- I’m anemic and I had month long spotting due to birth control. Good God, that took a toll on my system. It was all I could do to maintain the run/walk segments I was doing, let alone trying to improve on them. Doc has me on two high iron supplements a day for 2 months, then backing down to 1 a day. It’s juuust starting to kick in.
Your message is so cynical and hopeless, jsgoddess. Very sad.
Know anything about our military, jsgoddess? Thank goodness they don’t teach our brave men and women using your approach. They instead teach them to “rise to the occasion.” They are taught great things can be accomplished if they put their minds to it.
I also use the same approach when raising our children. When they get out of hand, I don’t give them Ritalin (which I can only assume you would do). I teach they are in control of 100% of their actions, and that all actions have consequences. Most importantly, however, I teach them they can do just about anything with enough hard work and determination. It is a message of hope and optimism based on inner strength.
Your philosophy of pessimism and self defeatism is just… sad.
Right. Instead of saying that people are essentially worthless if they’re fat, instead of saying that they are selfish and weak and losers, I say that they might need medical help. My god, how can I live with myself?
Congrats, zweisamkeit! keep it up. Don’t quit!!
Also, keep this in mind: eating less and exercising are very important activities, as you already know. But they are done for different reasons.
The primary goal of eating less is to lose weight, and to maintain weight once your weight has plateaued. The amount and type of food you eat have a *direct * impact on your weight. The primary goal of exercising, on the other hand, is not to lose weight. Yes, it does burn calories. But not usually enough to make a huge impact on your weight. The primary reason for exercising - and in particular, cardiovascular exercises - is to strengthen your heart and lungs. This is very important from an overall health perspective.