I’m a bit different from the normal dieter. I had weight loss surgery - a Lap-Band to be exact, which is not to be confused with the more publicized, but more radical and dangerous gastric bypass.
What is your gender? Female
Have you ever dieted to lose weight? Yes
How many times? Four times: Meridia, protein shake fast, Atkins, and now this surgery.
Weight before dieting: 370+ pounds. :eek: That was pretty much my weight right up to surgery, because the weight loss from all my dieting attempts came right back on once I stopped the diet, of course.
Age of first diet: 16 (when I talked my mother into letting me take Meridia, but I became scared of the side effects and gave it up quickly).
Lowest weight when dieting: I am still losing weight so this is always changing, but right now I’m at about 280, which is the lowest weight I’ve been as an adult so far. Many people would consider it horrible to weigh that much, but from my perspective it feels great to be 90+ pounds lighter. 
Which attempt were you at this lowest weight? The current attempt.
Weight now: 280 and dropping
Age now: 21
Most extreme diet measure: A medically supervised “fast” using protein shakes for two meals a day. The surgery isn’t “extreme” in my view, because it is A LOT easier to live with day-to-day than the shakes were! Furthermore, I knew going into it that the lap-band has a much lower risk of death than gastric bypass, so I wasn’t particularly scared about the procedure.
Which attempt was most extreme? Protein shakes were my second attempt.
How many times did you incorporate exercise into your weight loss plan? The last two times.
What’s the longest you’ve kept the weight off? Thanks to the surgery, I’ve been losing weight for the past year and hope to continue losing for another year or two.
Do you currently exercise? I try to walk and ride a stationary bike a few times a week. I know I should add weight-lifting to rev my metabolism, but haven’t yet found the motivation.
Do you consider yourself a successful dieter? Not in the traditional sense. I couldn’t follow the rules of counting carbs or calories forever, so I know that if it weren’t for the surgery helping me cut my portion sizes and calories, I would fail sooner or later.
Have you consciously sworn off dieting (and stayed sworn off)? Yes, if you mean dieting in the sense of counting calories or carbs (like above). I eat what I want within reason. Instead of reaching for candy or chips all the time, I try to select nutritious, filling food. I think my eating habits are now pretty much like a “normal” weight person’s: I do read food labels to make sure I don’t go way overboard, but I don’t obsess over the exact number of calories.
Why? Because counting calories and carbs is difficult to sustain as a lifestyle.
Permanent weight loss only comes from finding a way to eat that isn’t a struggle to maintain for life (a change of lifestyle, like fizzestothetop said).
If you’ve sworn off dieting, what was your weight when you swore it off? Probably about 350. I lost some weight on the Atkins diet but hated that way of eating so much I couldn’t stay on it; that’s when I knew it was time to consider surgery.
If you consider yourself a successful dieter, why? N/A
Comments: I know dieting works for some people (like my friend who has lost 80 pounds through exercise and dieting over the past year and seems to be keeping it off). However, I think surgery is the only effective solution for the vast majority of us who are 100 or more pounds overweight. I am very outspoken about the lap-band because I feel it is an under-utilized option.
The media pimps the gastric bypass as the weight loss surgery, even though it has a much higher mortality rate than the lap-band does. I wish more people knew that the band is an easier way to lose weight than dieting alone, without such a risk of death.
When you try to diet at a starting weight of 300+ pounds like I did, it’s VERY easy to get discouraged and go off track because the ultimate goal is soooo far away. What’s losing 5 pounds when you have another 195 pounds to lose? Fortunately, with the surgery, it’s not so hard to lose the weight, so you don’t feel like giving up so readily.
Plus, I feel that some of us just naturally have a much harder time being satisfied by food, and NOBODY can be expected to spend their whole lives going hungry to stay thin.
Fortunately, with my band, I no longer get hungry like I used to. It’s amazing how often I look at tasty food and just don’t have ANY desire for it, because I have a genuine sense of satiety from just eating a little bit. I think that must be how many naturally thin people feel.
Granted, biology/genetics is NOT the only factor in obesity. Our culture of sedentary work and junk food is also to blame. However, I don’t think that fat people are all lazy and weak-willed like many thin people think. Losing weight is harder for some people than others.
I consider it smarter eating and a new lifestyle and with weight watchers I do feel successful at losing weight.