I was reading about it- apparently there’s one where they take out part of the stomach that is irreversible and another where they just bypass part of the small intestine surgically. The intestine isn’t removed, just bypassed- so that one can be reversed.
Yeah but it grows back.
One reason the DS isn’t as popular is that there is a higher risk of complications related to malabsorption and malnutrition when you are bypassing more of the intestines. Another downside of the procedure is that due to the fat malabsorption some people have very foul-smelling diarrhea, which obviously can interfere with people’s quality of life.
Even though some of the intestines are bypassed in an RNY, the RNY achieves most of its effect from the restriction of the stomach to a tiny pouch (hence why you see some people regaining weight after several years of the RNY - quite often it’s because the stomach pouch expanded or the staple line making up the pouch failed).
In contrast to the RNY, the DS procedure mostly relies on malabsorption due to bypassing a much larger amount of the intestines, which poses some risks.
Personally I’ve had a lap-band for seven years and I don’t consider it unpleasant. I chose it because I was concerned about the potential long-term side effects of the other procedures, and the lapband was the least drastic procedure available at the time.
Still, I am in the camp who feels surgery should be a last resort. Health is the most important thing. In someone 100+ lbs overweight it’s clear that they really are endangering their health by staying overweight. It’s not so clear with someone who is only a little overweight and is mostly concerned with looking better.
The link says it’s for people with a BMI of 40 to 55. That has to be more than 30 pounds overweight, doesn’t it?
Well, playing with the BMI calculator here, I’d have to be almost 90 pounds overweight to have a BMI of 40, and 175 pounds overweight to have one of 55…
And the OP’s is about 37, give or take.
I think the question is why you think being in control of your body should be so important to self-esteem? Maastricht seems pretty clear - being overweight hurts most people’s self-esteem and weight loss surgery would hopefully get her to a healthy weight. So there’s that point of view.
Now why exactly would having a medical procedure per se be a reason to feel bad about yourself? I have tennis elbow right now and I’m seeing a physical therapy because it wasn’t getting better on its own. I don`t feel bad about myself for it, but if someday my doctor recommended surgery to fix it I certainly wouldn’t feel worse for giving up on my body. That sounds completely illogical.
I don`t mean to be flippant because there’s so many great reasons to seriously consider whether or not weight loss surgery is right, but feeling bad about yourself for having a medical procedure seems like a really bad one.
If you’re playing so much tennis that you’re regularly and intentionally harming yourself, playing tennis likely isn’t the real problem. I think that’s what they’re getting at.
I hurt my elbow lifting weights.
But I don`t think that’s what Sateryn76 is saying. Sateryn76 seems to be saying that needing weight loss surgery per se is a reason to feel bad about yourself because it means you’re not in control of your body. I say, if after looking at everything else you and your doctor decide it’s best for you, there’s no reason for it to hurt your self-esteem.
You’re both kinda right.
My concern was that one of the things the OP seemed to be looking for was higher self-esteem. My thought is that, in this case where she is nowhere near obese (IMO), she would get far more of a self-esteem boost if she worked harder and lost the weight herself. In addition, there may come a time where she ends up feeling like more of a failure since she couldn’t do it “on her own” and turned to surgery.
And I would be suspicious of any doctor who thought this was for the best.
The problem here isn’t just a normal injury due to the activity. If we’re using the example of hurting oneself randomly while working out or getting a stomach ache while eating. It’s no big deal and happens every once in a while.
But, if you exercise until you tear a muscle every single time you go to the gym or you eat every single meal until you are about to throw up-- the problem isn’t just the act of going to the gym or eating, the problem is that you have a compulsion to do something, even if it causes you harm. That is a problem. Sure, you could order the manager of the gym to throw you out if you set foot in the front door, but wouldn’t it make more sense to figure out why you have the compulsion to continue to work out in a manner that hurts you?
And my most humble of opinion is that this is sort of what’s going on here-- the OP says she can’t control herself. Rather than finding out why she has that compulsion to eat, she’s trying to block herself from being able to do it. Many here have pointed out that this is setting yourself up for failure- because if this is a self esteem issue, failing at this is really going to mind fuck you.
(All these “yous” are general- not specifically directed or anything)
Right, but it’s either a good solution or it’s not a good solution. Or maybe it’s neither and there’s a lot of grey. You feel it’s not a good solution and I get that. I’m just saying it’s not a solution that should make one feel bad about themselves over either way. If it’s right for you, then that’s all there is to it. If it’s wrong for you, same thing. I don`t think people should have a procedure they and their doctor decided is right for their health and then feel badly because it means they failed as a person.
Let’s cut to the chase: most fat people are in denial.
Some fat people will claim “it’s not their fault” they’re fat. They’re in denial, because it IS their fault. I don’t care what kind of “condition” or disease you have… if you’re fat, it’s because you eat too much and/or you eat the wrong kinds of food. Period.
On a lighter note, am I the only one that thinks that’s pretty darn neat? We regenerate!
Okay. So. two questions. What feeling, exactly, do you get from “telling the fat chick how it is” ?(I’m guessing it feels good, I just would like to know what kind of good).
Secondly and more importantly, if there is a proven effective method for me to stop eating too much, why on Gods green earth would you give me flack for it?
I really, really don’t know what it is people like you WANT from me, Crafter Man.
ETA: that’s exactly right, Fuzzy Dunlop.
Oh, and Crafter Man, I have had four years of therapy for depression. Three different threapists. One ran a weight loss group. I gained forty pounds in those four years. Doesn’t sound very effective to me.
Also, I should clear up an important misunderstanding. I don’t overeat. I eat too much. There’s a difference.
You know all those calculations about how a few calories a day add up? Two cookies a day less means five pound in a year, that kind? Well, that is how I gained my weight. An extra serving of some dish of that home cooked meal a day, a small bowl of creamy yoghurt a couple times a week, having four cookies with that cup of tea instead of one or none, finishing all the grapes on the fruit bowl. Do I need threapy for that? Do YOU, do most men, count calories or say to yourself: It’s Friday, and I would really like to have another beer with my friends, but beer has x calories so I had better drink water instead?
That is the kind of control I’m talking about.
Oddly I do have that kind of control with what I take into my house, and as a result, I have a well ordered and clutter free home. I just can’t do it with food. If I want to eat an extra slice of bread at lunch, I want it.
Well, I’m not a man, but since I have been trying to lose weight, this is exactly what I do. When I go out with my friends lately, I’ve been drinking water. When I cook myself a burger at home, I think, “Do I really want to spend 250 more calories on the bun when I can eat some fruit for dessert instead? Will it really be worth it to me right now?” Is it easy? Not for this fat ass, it isn’t. But I can and that’s the big difference.
I really do hope that the surgery is the answer you’re looking for. I’m sorry previous therapists didn’t work for you, but I really do get the impression that you’re treating the symptom and not the disease (saying things like, " I just can’t do it with food."-- emphasis mine— makes me think there’s something more serious afoot here than a bit too robust of an appetite). That said, what I think is irrelevent, as are the thoughts of the others in this thread. What you think and what you doctor thinks are the important things.
You haven’t used the word “exercise” in any of your posts. Diet alone isn’t going to do it. Are you living a mostly sedentary lifestyle?
I don’t think the average fat person is in nearly as much denial as some people think. I know that I’m overweight because I eat the wrong things sometimes and I don’t force myself to go to the gym often enough. Maastricht has been pretty upfront that she finds it hard to muster the willpower to stick to a diet. I don’'t see any denial there - she never claimed a condition or disease, and never said it wasn’t her fault.
Basically it’s a matter of bad habits that are incredibly difficult to break and incredibly easy to fall back into. Don’t you have any bad habits? Maybe you drink too much sometimes, or drive over the speed limit, or smoke, or stay up too late and end up late for work. Whatever. Everyone has bad habits. Mine happens to result in physical manifestations that make people like you think they know what’s going on in my mind. But there is no ‘denial’ involved in acknowledge your own shortcomings, even if you find them difficult or impossible to fix.
No, see post #31. My, you are really putting a lot of effort into this advising me what to do, aren’t you?
My only concern with having surgery is that, in my (admittedly limited!) understanding of your post-surgery life, you will still have to do all the calorie counting and exercise the willpower not to have that extra slice of bread or extra cookies or whatever it is that you find difficult now. It’s just that the consequences for not finding the willpower won’t be gaining more weight, they’ll be pain, at the very least.
So if a lack of willpower is the problem - and I gather it is, since your exercise levels and all that look good to me - then I guess I’m not seeing how having this surgery is going to improve things. What about this surgery is going to give you the willpower to be able to resist the extras that you’re currently unable to resist?
I would have thought - and I’ll admit I haven’t looked into it - that there are other, safer methods to develop willpower. And it seems to me that it might be better to try those first, before the surgery, which you can always have later if they don’t work.
Sorry, I know you were looking for people to talk you into surgery. But I don’t think it will address your underlying problem of not being able to resist eating thing - or at least, I can’t see how it’s going to. How do you see it helping? What is it going to change about your self-control that will mean that you manage to say no to things, when you currently can’t?