Does anyone here have first hand experience with weight loss surgery? Either the LAP band or gastric bypass personal experiences would be most welcomed, as my wife is considering having this done. E-mail to Paul@busmanwhistles.com would probably be easiest, although I don’t mind if people add their comments here on the board too. Thanks.
Only a sort of third-hand observation.
The priest and a small church down the road from me was morbidly obese. He had some sort of gastric reduction surgery and lost probably 150 pounds. Didn’t look bad, and it had to be better for him.
Now he weighs as much as he ever did. I don’t know what happened.
My guess is that the surgery may work for some people, but they probably have to be dedicated to making total lifestyle changes. And with that kind of dedication requirement, why not avoid the discomfort and risks of surgery and try the serious (as in coaching and professional guidance) eat-less, exercise-more type of program first?
I hope she finds something that both works and makes sense to her!
M
Unfortunately, by the time most people are willing to consider surgery, they’ve tried the other options and failed. There are so many factors that influence obesity and, sad to say, the simple equation of “eat less/exercise more” doesn’t always do the trick. Many of us have to eat less than half of what ordinary people would consider starvation calories AND work out in order to simply maintain weight. Surgeries can make eating radically less than most people would consider sane or reasonable a little more bearable.
Redwolf
There is a surgeon that I know who performs the surgery frequently, and has very good results with his patients. I think it is absolutely worth considering.
Two nurses that I know had the surgery, and both are very slim now (one is almost too thin) and they are very very pleased.
Morbid obesity is deadly. This is something that can help. I would find a good doctor and see what he has to say.
M
You’re no doubt right. I just read your post in the other weight loss thread and I, too, am trying to hold down the calories–I’m aiming for 1100/day. I really, really didn’t realize how much I was eating–or how little I needed–until I sat down and studied until I understood the declining-basal-metabolism + eating-like-I-used-to = weight gain equation.
Paul didn’t say his wife had already tried the other routes available, and for how long, or I wouldn’t have bothered to mention it.
We had a woman in the community college self-defense class tonight who just had a bout of “premature congestive heart failure.” Last week she had to sit down and catch her breath partway through class–which isn’t particularly strenuous. This week she’s better medicated and got all the way through class. The point of that background is that she’s lost 50 pounds this year (she broke through the 300 pound mark recently, she said) and is aiming to lose another 100. She seems to be getting it done with diet and exercise. (We all gave her a round of applause.)
I guess my stressing the diet-exercise route may also come from my not being a risk-taker. Elective major surgery of this type, with variable outcomes and possible nasty side effects, gives me the willies.
A quick google search turned up **this page**of side effects and percentage of occurrence. That was a sub-page. The site looks like it gives a thorough discussion of the surgical treatment for obesity and what it takes to make it successful.
Here’s wishing for the best possible outcome by whatever route you all choose!
M