Strawman argument. Nowhere have I said fat people are worthless losers; I was fat at one time, and I wasn’t a worthless loser. Reread my posts. I am telling people the *truth * about obesity, and that obesity *can * be overcome by setting their minds to it. It is a positive message of strength and optimism, not one of pessimism, hopelessness, and cynicism.
Wow. Excellent point.
Oh, and like you, I’m also anemic. Been anemic for about 8 years. 
I’m sure you believe that.
Congratulations on the weight maintenance. It’s difficult.
I’m gonna regret this, but tough.
I smoked cigarettes for 30 years, in varying amounts of a couple of cigarettes a day I stole from my mother when I was 13 up to more than 2 packs a day when I was 43. One weekend I decided I’d had enough and was not going to buy anymore. I didn’t. I haven’t smoked since. That was almost 10 years ago. Not an issue for me.
I have a couple of drinks a month when I’m with friends, maybe every once in a great while I’ll have some alcohol by myself. The most I ever drank (in series) was one drink 3 days in a row in the late 70’s. On day 4, I decided that could too easily become a habit, so I stopped because I decided I could get to enjoying it a little too much. Not an issue for me.
In college and for many years thereafter, I assaulted my lungs with THC and stuff in addition to tar and nicotine. A LOT. Then I got old, it got expensive, I got paranoid, and stopped. Not an issue for me.
I was born at 5 pounds, 5.5 ounces. That day was most likely the last day I was underweight, and as I understand it, one of the last days I haven’t been overweight. And I mean a LOT overweight, but I’m not gonna tell you how much because it’s really NOYFB. In any case, amongst all of my weight loss endeavors was an 8 month stint at 420 calories a day on Opti Fast. I lost half my body weight. If anyone doesn’t think THAT takes willpower, try it sometime. I dare ya. It only lasted about 2 years, though. The need for food once again won out over any consideration of health, mental or physical, clothing, quality of life, etc.
I can stop smoking by NOT SMOKING. I can stop alcohol abuse if I needed to by NOT DRINKING ALCOHOL. I am fortunate that I don’t need narcotics so I don’t have to take any and even worry about addiction. The one narcotic I can’t stay away from is FOOD.
I should mention that I’ve had “high” bad cholesterol once in my life – when I was finished with Opti Fast. Go figure. And yes, I have other health related problems because of my obesity, but the point is that the cholesterol problem was solved when I GAINED weight.
So, I’m addicted to food. If I could take a pill and not have to worry about food, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But there isn’t any such thing, so, for now, I stay addicted to food. And maybe some day I’ll have GB, as a lot of people I know have, or maybe I’ll just drop dead as I hit “Post Quick Reply”, who knows?
But to all of you who think it’s a matter of willpower, congratulations, you’re reformed whores and I’m a piece of shit.
As long as we understand each other.
Judging from what posters here have said, GB is something that forces one to eat appropriately, and everyone who has had GB reports a positive experience. I think one person mentioned a down side and did not go into details.
I have not had GB. I have two friends who have had it, both about three years ago. One of them will go on and on about how it’s been the greatest thing in her life, but quite frankly about half of every conversation with her for the last three years has been her bitching about the extreme restrictions of her current diet, or the bad things that happen to her when she doesn’t follow it (which she doesn’t). And she was very gung-ho on the exercise thing too at first but now, three years later? Nope.
The other one (who I don’t see nearly as often) is wearing Depends, smelling like she’s wearing a poopy diaper, and thinking about suing her doctor. (She did not alter her eating habits much either.)
This almost seems like one of those things that, once someone has done it, they pretty much have to cheerlead to justify it to themselves. Which is perfectly fine, but the OP wanted feedback on a medial thing he’s looking into and he’s getting only one side. We are getting a pretty rosy picture here of GB.
The site that was recommended a few times to the OP was www.obesityhelp.com It absolutely has a “Memorial” section of people who have died from surgical complications (as well as those who died waiting for the surgery. A notable example was a 650+ woman whose insurance company said they’d gladly pay for her hospital bed, oxygen, insulin & wheel chair, but not the surgery). There is also a “Regrets” board and a “Complications” board. Perhaps the pictures here are “rosy” because those of us who have shared our stories have no complications to report. That does happen in a great deal of these surgeries - no complications.
No one here is saying they woke up one morning and said “Tra la tra la - I think I’ll have gastric bypass surgery today!” It was a long process for me - over a year. I had to do a lot of thinking and a lot of research. When people ask me “Should I have this surgery?” I always say “Absolutely not. I don’t think you should have this surgery - because it’s not my decision to make. It’s yours”.
I am not ashamed to have had this surgery. I needed the intervention. As someone else said, if that makes me weak and and a pussy, I can live with that now that my blood pressure is normal, I don’t have sleep apnea, I don’t live every minute in physical pain from the sheer effort of carrying that weight around. I’ll take being a healthy puss over a sick, hurting bastion of morality any day of the week.
I also think it may have gotten overlooked in the rush to look down noses at people who have had this surgery, but a physician supervised diet is a major part of insurance approval for most people seeking this surgery. I had to visit my doctor twice a month, as well as a nutritionist twice a month, and keep a diary of my food intake and exercise. I did this willingly, as I felt I owed it to myself to try “one more time”. I lost 9 pounds.
I also find it disturbing that there seems to be a double standard - on one hand - let’s mock fat people because hey - they’re inherently lazy and funny to point fingers at. Yet if they find a tool that will help them lose weight and become healthier, let’s mock them for their shortcomings in the moral fortitude area.
I’m fine with my decision - it’s not a case of me cheerleading to justify it to myself. It’s justified to me every day when I can live like a healty person.
I’m not a big brain trust. I am not a great debater here - “straw arguments” and all are beyond my ken, but all I know is how I feel and how my life has improved and how this surgical tool has allowed me to life a healthy life for the first time in years. If it makes people feel superior to say they did it another way - have at it. I would love to see the backlash if gastric bypass patients decided to point fingers at the people who are on Weight Watchers for the 42nd time and still can’t make it work. Pardon the pun, folks, but one size does not fit all when it comes to personal decisions regarding health.
It’s 5:53 AM while I’m writing this, so I’m looking forward to the grammar/composition/content snarking 
Just let those of us who have found what works for us live in peace and enjoy being a productive, healthier member of society, OK? Is that such a hard thing to do?
VCNJ~
That would be me. And I did say “weak”, but I din’t say nothin’ ‘bout bein’ a “pussy”. You must be projecting. 
For some people, apparently it is.
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I am the one who posted the “downside”. I’m sorry to hear about your friends. You should reread my post though…I made it very clear that the OP should visit www.obesityhelp.com. I said this because that is where you get the full picture. I could type for hours and hours about both sides. I do have to say (and I certainly don’t mean to criticize your friends at all) that in both cases, neither of them are following “the rules”. They are not using the tool they paid for. Your friend will not win her lawsuit becuase she has not kept up her side of the deal.
Crafterman…A GB is not a quick easy fix. I still exercize willpower. You may think I’m weak because I allowed myself to be “mutilated”, but it took a lot of guts for me to have this done. I saw a problem and I fixed it. I didn’t need a therapist. I needed a smaller stomach. If you think I lost 300 lbs without lots of exercize, you’re mistaken. If you will check out www.obesityhelp.com and do a little more research, you’ll see that my smaller stomach is merely part of an overall plan to lost the weight.
At least two posters (I was one of them) have reported that you have to change your eating patterns even after the surgery. Posted by me:
Firstly, I would like to apologies, I haven’t read the thread for a couple of days. Secondly for naysayers, like Crafter_Man and wasson Good job on your ability to avoid the surgery and for taking care of yourselves. I have tried this path too. I failed several times. I am not thinking of GB as a quick fix I am thinking it would be a lead, to force me to follow a better path. I am talking about loosing some choices. Eliminating those choices would hopefully prevent me from falling off the wagon. I firmly belive my problem is mostly in the over-eating catagory. Whether it is stress, low self-esteem, depression, upbringing, ect. The main dragon for me to fight is the over consumption. I like good food. When I was a teen, I ate one meal a day. I gorged myself once a day for many years. Never was good at eating breakfast, always hated school lunches. When I sit down to eat, a normal serving is pitiful in my eyes. I don’t eat a lot of sugary snacks. I do however drink a lot of Dr. Pepper in a day, or Iced tea with sugar in it. I hate the “taste” of water where I live. Prepared “healthy” foods suck. "Diet Dr. Pepper sucks. As do most others. I have tried to convert myself to them, I have made efforts in the past, why then have they failed? I blame me. I can’t keep to the amounts required and I don’t have the willpower to avoid the dreaded favourite foods. I am currently in a holding pattern, keeping my weight steady. Eating til I am sick does not sound good to me. I stop before that point without trying. So by a leap of logic, shrinking my stomache somehow might be a permanent way to stop it. Tommorow morning is Cold Turkey day for me with the cigarettes. I will try to keep from eating for compensation. I will be talking with my doctor about the dieting situation and try to plan something, but I will also discuss the GB if it fails. I don’t expect GB to wave a wand, I expect it to stand over me and beat me into submission. Does that make any sense? BTW, walking is the ONLY excercise my doctor has approved. I couldn’t out run a tree right now, if only for the shape of my lungs. Of which I consider a big contributer. The main thing is I don’t blame anybody else for my obeisity. I know who is at fault, and that is just one more load for me to bear. I appreciate all the comments, good or bad. I would like a little more info on what will qualify or disqualify me for the procedure. Or at least a good list of the tests I will go through to qualify. I don’t think I am ready to jump up on the table. But I am ready to give another round, keeping my options open.
While reducing the size of your stomach may give you a “full” feeling with less food, it wasn’t the problem. The problem is that you ate too much food. Eating is a voluntary action; a person is in 100% control of the quantity and type of food they eat.
From what I understand of GB, even if you have a small stomach you can overeat and gain back the weight. I defer to those who have had the surgery and are more knowledgeable than I.
[ul]
[li]You **ARE ** a big brain trust[/li][li]No snarking here![/li][li]Enjoy being healthy and productive. You’ve earned it, you deserve it, and nobody exactly handed it to you. WTG :)[/li][/ul]
And while I’m here again, WTG to all of you for your success, by whatever means has worked for you. As long as you’re happy.
Qwakkeddup:
It’s been my experience that most obese people are in denial, and they refuse to take responsibility for their condition. You’re different; one of the refreshing things about your post is that you’re being 100% honest, as you’re admitting overeating is the root cause. This is a good first step.
Have you tried talking to a therapist about your addiction to food? There’s probably an underlying psychological reason for you’re overeating. Someone who specializes in this area may help you come to grips with this addiction, and ultimately help you overcome it. It takes a *lot * of effort, but if you can do it, it is a *much * better alternative than getting GB.
If therapy does not work, and the addiction continues no matter what, then I would go ahead and undergo the GB procedure.
For some people this is true. That’s because obesity is ultimately a mental/psychological problem, not a physical one. With GB, an obese person is attempting to fix a psychological problem using a physical fix. GB doesn’t address the root problem.
Most of the time, this will depend on your insurance. My insurance required 100lbs. over ideal weight, or 100% above ideal weight, whichever is less. Or 75lbs. or 75% above ideal weight with several serious comorbidities (conditions that are caused or aggravated by morbid obesity). Your best bet would be to call your insurance company and ask them what their requirements are.
Good for you! I recently quit smoking as well. I have found that it’s difficult not to eat when you want to smoke. One thing that I’ve found that helps is to keep some hard candy around. I buy the sugar free varieties, and have found that the sugar free Lifesavers and Baskin Robbins candies are quite good. They are also helpful for when I need a fix of something sweet. I’m also on Zyban (Wellbutrin) which helps take the edge off. I’m a stress smoker/eater. I have also found that exercise is a good replacement for a smoke. During the evenings when I usually crave one I’ve been walking on the treadmill.
Originally posted by yellowval
Not to get off topic…but do you find that the Wellbutrin causes um…sexual side effects? My husband recently started taking Wellbutrin for the same reason. We haven’t noticed anything yet, but I’m wondering if any will kick in later. (Sorry if this question is too personal… Although I did admit earlier in the thread that I had a breast reduction and therefore admitted I have small boobies now.) :eek:
If I recall correctly, I think Wellbutrin has the lowest incidence of sexual side effects of any of the big depression meds.
I don’t mind at all. No, I haven’t personally experienced any sexual side-effects. I don’t know if it varies for men and women. As jsgoddess pointed out, it’s supposed to have the lowest incidence of sexual side-effects compared to other anti-depressants. I’m considering staying on it after I’m done with the Zyban as a maintenance dose to keep me from smoking and to deal with the anxiety issues that make me want to smoke to begin with.