1cutiejulie

I dieted, lost weight, sometimes up to 72 pounds, and then regained it and then some within 5 years...managed to keep it off for 3.5 years, so thought I was one of the lucky 5%. Turned out I wasn't. Then couldn't lose more than 10-15 pounds on any diet since, and for the past ~5 years or so, have been putting on 10-12 pounds a year. At this rate, I will be 300 pounds by my late 40s...my mother got that high, and she is completely bedbound from inoperable arthritis. I have to do everything for her - bring her food, bathe her, give her a bedpan.
Basically, seeing how I could never keep weight off coupled with what excess weight has done to my mother (immobilization) made me realize I had a limited time left, relatively speaking, during which I can be mobile. Realized I needed to do something that has more than a 5% success rate. So here I am preparing for the sleeve.

I think of the surgery as more of tool to maintain the lost weight over time. How many of us here have lost a tom of pounds to only gain it back? Mixed with the emotional aspect of eating that many of us have and do deal with, this tool can be a God send.
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I don't think the idea of dieting should be quickly discounted, some people do succeed. But for people that are 100+ pounds overweight, the percentage of people who succeed is small, I have read. I do know that in my own experience, I am very knowledgeable about nutrition, and I tried multiple times and was successful for awhile, but each time I later fell back into bad habits in time (usually due to stress, being a stress eater), and overall, I was getting heavier, not lighter. Now at 56, with my 60s looming ahead, I felt like I couldn't afford to fail any more and had to acknowledge that I wasn't getting it done on my own. I needed to step things up to succeed, and I *needed* to succeed.

Let me be a bit clearer about my opinion on this topic:
When I finally chose WLS, I was done with the "one more courageous attempt at conquering my obesity via a diet / exercise plan." That's why at age 68 I finally admitted to myself it really wasn't ever going to happen that way. And why I finally found the courage to try the "drastic" solution -- weight loss surgery.
The reason I suggested you try a six-month diet/exercise program is that no one should go into WLS imagining that it's the easy way out and that they could actually have achieved good health and a normal weight by one more time doing it "the hard way."
I think you have to be committed to the WLS path and convinced it's the last chance you have to conquer your obesity.
As you probably have read here over and over again, it takes a lot of commitment to succeed with WLS long-term. Ultimately, you have to do what the the diet/exercise program would have taken you to the point of having to do to maintain a weight loss: Permanently change your lifestyle.
There are many similarities between what WLS patients do and those who are able to succeed via diet/exercise do. But WLS gives many patients the edge they need and can't succeed without (depending on the specific WLS they choose) -- to feel less hungry, to feel full faster, to metabolize food differently, to cure some deadly diseases, e.g., diabetes, hypertension, etc.
However, WLS alone doesn't solve obesity for anyone. You have to change what you're eating. You have to change how much you're eating. You have to change when you're eating. You have to change how much Water you drink, how much and how you exercise, which supplements you take and how consistently you take them. And more.
Some of us have to commit to long-term psychological counseling, support groups or twelve-step programs.
Some of us have to change significant relationships with our families of origin, spouses and significant others, friends, employers, jobs, etc.
And all of us have to confront the fact that we are for **** at self-care and putting ourselves first, before all others. Without a serious come-to-Jesus conversion on those two fronts, I don't know that any of us can succeed long-term. But that's the topic of a long, long conversation.
In any event, the above ^^^ are my own core values about and my experience with weight loss surgery. I'm 20 months post-op. I've lost 100 pounds and maintained my weight loss at or below goal for a year now. I have NEVER EVER done that before in my 70 years. And I've fought obesity since I was seven years old.
This is the first time I have a fighting chance to remain slim and healthy. I think weight loss surgery is a freakin' miracle!

I am 64 and have been on one or another diet and exercise plan since my second daughter was born in 1978. My weight yo-yo'd between 160 and 200 for years, and then finally by the time I made my decision in August of 2013, my weight was 235. What convinced me to get bariatric surgery?????? I had a stroke caused by high blood pressure caused by obesity. My spine started collapsing because it could not bear that weight any longer while I fooled around with yet another diet. My choice was do something on buy a wheelchair.

I've been obese all my life. It got to the point where it was pretty damn obvious that I couldn't do it "on my own." I could lose weight (never enough to get to a normal BMI though) but then I would re-gain it all plus more.
To cap it off, I looked at actual scientific studies and saw that for morbidly obese people, only something like 5% can maintain any kind of weight loss, even a modest weight loss (10 - 20 lbs) without surgery. With surgery, the percentages goes up exponentially. I realized I am not a special snowflake. I am not in the 5%, and even if I was, I would want more than a 10 lbs weight loss. So I gave up on beating myself up over concepts that people don't even understand but like to throw around like "willpower" and "choices" and decided it would be idiotic to try to solve a serious, medical problem without serious, medical intervention.

If I am being honest with myself, I can loose the weight but I dont think I can keep it off. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using the BariatricPal App

When i lost 50lbs pre op i had a brief thought...but if i could do it without surgery then i wouldn't have been at the point of needing surgery. Obviously I COULDN'T do it without surgery
When i lost 50lbs pre op i had a brief thought...but if i could do it without surgery then i wouldn't have been at the point of needing surgery. Obviously I COULDN'T do it without surgery

Don't have a time machine, so cannot say.

But if you are worried, why don't you give yourself six months and give dieting and exercise a serious go. You will find out.

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I've had depression and generalized anxiety disorder most of my life. For the first six months after surgery, both were up and down and I had pretty quick and severe swings. Now I'm 7.5 months out and I feel great. I'm not even taking my anxiety meds anymore, and while that's a little shaky sometimes, I'm a firm believer that my general improvement in overall health has had a great impact on my psychological health.

Yup, I've struggled with depression since I was a teenager and have a strong family history of it on my dad's side.
I've tried a variety of antidepressants and have settled into a decent place with a low dose of Effexor (BTW, if you take meds, you may have to adjust them post-op. I have to split my dosage and take it twice a day instead of once after being sleeved, or it makes me nauseated.).
I had been in therapy off and on over the years, but when I had my psych eval before surgery, they recommended that I find a therapist that I could work with through the whole process. So I started seeing someone a few months pre-op, and I am still doing biweekly sessions at 9.5 months out from surgery.
While I am much happier since surgery in a lot of ways, there is a lot of emotional baggage that comes along with massive weight loss. I knew from the start that having surgery and losing the weight wasn't going to magically "cure" my depression, but it's one step in getting to a happier place.
Best of luck!

Do you mean pre-surgery related depression or just depression in general?
I guess you could say I had a bit of both. I was diagnosed with depression at the age of 15 and have been on medication for it for almost 15 years. I did start to get a little more depressed prior to my surgery though because even though I was excited I was also fearful of giving up my best friend. food was my comfort, strength, my entire world so knowing that I am going to have to give that up was really hard on me for a while. I became a little more depressed and fought a little harder with it.
So what's it like after surgery... I obviously can't speak for everyone but I feel a LOT better about myself being 70 pounds down. I have more self confidence and I generally feel better. No sore back or neck, knees feel good, etc...
I still suffer from depression though. I will suffer from it until the day that I die. Losing weight isn't an instant cure for depression. I had to modify the drugs I was taking (I take Lexapro) We had to increase the Lexapro and add in Welbutrin. I honestly believes it helps.
I will also say that there are some times I will get a little more sad than other times. For example I brought my kids to Culvers on Sunday. We all got our meals (to go of course) and we all ate in the car (bad idea - just so you know) I ate half of my burger and was full. No fries, no drink, nothing else just my burger (yes the toppings and bun too - I was really bad that day ) Anyway, I felt a twinge of depression/sadness. I was a little frustrated that I coudn't even eat one whole fricking burger!!! I was angry for about 5 minutes. I mean really angry......
But then... I realized that first of all what I was feeling was acceptable. I still mourn food sometimes. It's normal and it's an OK feeling. It's ok to feel what ever it is that you are going to feel, they are your feelings and you have a right to them. Secondly, it's not like I couldn't eat it at all. My body was full and I didn't want to over stuff myself and feel miserable. I was just having an internal temper tantrum because I couldn't get "what I want". And Lastly... that is the reason that I had this surgery. To give me a cue to stop eating, to help me with Portion Control, to lose weight, to get healthy, to feel better about myself.
Then I remember that I don't take any obesity related medications, I am down 70 pounds, I fit into a size 5/6 jeans and I feel good about myself. It was totally worth it. Oh, and screw that other half of the burger and fries... didn't want em anyway