I was going to go under the knife. The surgeon put me on 800 calories a day. That alone nearly killed me as I was pre diabetic. I found out that this sort of starvation in not only cruel but dangerous especially for a man my size. After studying nutrition and health I became astounded and how ignorant or dishonest MDs actually are.

Fortunately for me my physical therapist talked me out of surgery and hooked me up with a gym that had a weight loss program. They fixed my head and showed me that I could do this. I was losing about 3 pounds per week and in a little over a year I was at a healthy weight. My % body fat is 12%. I workout 45 minutes per day and I play sports. I did this for me but more than that I did it for my family.

It dawned on me that there was nothing wrong with my digestive system so it seemed absurd and almost criminal to pay someone to deliberately damage it so that it no longer do it's job. The problem was in my brain not my stomach and small intestine. I was eating about 40% too much. When that was explained to me the task of losing weight seemed less daunting and doable so I did it.

I was over 300 pounds and taking in over 5000 calories a day to maintain that weight.

Nutrition is not rocket science. I stopped eating crap and ended by hedonistic and gluttonous ways. I ate 3000 calories a day and exercised and I made sure that food was wholesome and nutrient dense.

Had I gotten sleeved of gotten a bypass I would not be nearly as healthy as I am now nor would I have so many valuable lessons.

Yeah I wasn't that kind the second time around. I heard boxing bells and had to come out swinging, sorry NOT sorry.

I repeat -- you were all very kind! (I'm comparing what you wrote with what I wanted to write )

Shall I join the chorus of people who have lost significant amounts of weight only to regain it plus finding a few friends? I am really thrilled for you, but don't assume the rest of us are so ignorant we haven't tried everything under the sun already.

But @@Chuckster, I am an adult woman and I CAN'T maintain a weight of 140 on 2000 calories a day. i don't know why, but it is my reality.

What is your purpose coming here anyway? Do you think we are all so stupid as to not realize and try diet and exercise? I am one of the strongest advocates you will find for telling people to try everything before WLS - but your post is very judgemental and assumes that the "reality" of a tall male is the same as the reality of a middle aged, not so tall female (nothing personal guys, but seriously, some of us don't get to eat much and maintain a healthy weight!!!).

Educating people is fine, but your post just stinks of essentially the old stereotypes that overweight and obese people are lazy, stupid, unmotivated people. while I guess we could all find examples of that stereotype, the truth is that many of us are highly motivated, successful in many avenues of our lives but could not control weight without the help of an effective tool.

Speaking for myself, presleeve I was physically HUNGRY 24/7.

At nearly 4 years out, much of my hunger has returned, but it is nothing like the all consuming drive to eat that i used to fight every minute of every day. No diet or program in the world ever changed the fact that the hunger was just overwhelming

@@Chuckster Aww well that's good for you chuckie! I'm one of the Absurd ones who is now officially 98 lbs down and medically just as healthy as you if not more so, we should compare lab reports!!! It's good that you were able to lose the weight with your system, I'm happy for you. I wouldn't degrade how other people chose to get healthy (which is technically what your doing) Why do you have a surgery date of March listed? Make sure you come back in another year and let us know how all that's working out for you! I would love to know what material you studied for your information, being as I'm working on my masters for my NP. In all my years of college and nutrition classes I must have missed those books explaining how the MD are so ignorant. I'm sure my surgeon would beg to differ seeing as how he's also one of the top trauma surgeon in our state. Congratulations on your success!

Medically as health as me? How would you know that? BTW, I am a research scientist.

I have been weight stable for 4 years. There is no going back to my selfish, shameful and gluttonous ways. I have a higher purpose and responsibility.

As to you calling me Chuckie, I used to have the name Chunkster because I was big chunk of lazy couch blubber. Now I have dropped the N and the people who called me Chunkster call me Chuckster.

Why are you being so nasty and condescending? It sounds like you want me to fail. Carnie Wilson has had 2 weight loss surgeries and she has managed to circumvent both of them. Marie Osmond has remained lean by eating less. Perhaps Marie Osmond has a better moral center that Carnie who comes off as a real self-centered jerk so it is not surprising that she is also very self-indulgent and food-centric. Marie is a class act.

I shared this story with others who are struggling with their eating behaviors to let them know that it is possible to lose weight the old fashioned way i.e. moving more and eating less.

Your defense of MDs is without facts. The leading cause of death and injury in the US is the medical industry. The US medical industry is also the biggest thief and according to Blue Cross Blue Shield at least 1/3 of what Americans pay for health care is waste and fraud. I can post all sorts of links and graphics show how American MD have become a menace and actually do more harm than good. I can show you that the largest criminal fines are against the medical industry,

I can show you that America pay over $9000 per capita for health care and is ranked 37th for quality which put it lowest in the industrialized world. Cuba spends less than 200 dollars per capita and they are ranked 38th.

Answer this question. The most weight a moderately active woman can maintain on 2000 calories per day is just shy of 140 pounds. And BTW the human body cannot defy the 2nd law of thermodynamics or any other physical laws.

Tell me all the reason for why you could not eat 2000 calories or lesseveryday. Tell me why you could not select healthy wholesome foods and eat them in the proper amounts? Do you even know basic nutrition? Does your surgeon even know basic nutrition?

I freely admit that I was a glutton.

This goes without saying for most here..... some they seem to be lazy and waiting on miracles.

I really wish I could understand this judgement of your peers. We're all in the same boat. We're either awaiting surgery or have had surgery as tool to aid us in making life-long changes. We've all been called lazy or worse by someone at some point because we chose to use this tool. I thought we were here to support each other, not shame each other.

This was trolling of the highest order. It hit all the marks, and even got some members to reveal some prejudices of their own. I'm kind of impressed, actually.

This goes without saying for most here..... some they seem to be lazy and waiting on miracles.

I really wish I could understand this judgement of your peers. We're all in the same boat. We're either awaiting surgery or have had surgery as tool to aid us in making life-long changes. We've all been called lazy or worse by someone at some point because we chose to use this tool. I thought we were here to support each other, not shame each other.

I was not trying to be judgmental of anyone having WLS. Not at all.

I was looking at what he posted and thinking that of everything he said he did.....if he's held it together for 4 years......was that he corrected his thoughts as well as his actions. He also put forth tremendous effort (or stated he did).

My statement was that most folks here do the same things and are successful.......however there are some that seem to be lazy.....not wanting to expend the effort.....and waiting for a miracle.

I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to call it. Some of the folks say it about themselves. They don't hurt....they just don't like exercise. "I just want to lose the weight and not worry about going to a gym" (recent post) They don't like the diets the nutritionist puts them on and are posting about eating pizza instead. As I stated....this is some......not most. Surely you've seen these type of posts.

Not lazy that they've decided to have WLS.

Lazy that they don't utilize the help we are being offered by our teams of nutritionists, phycological help, exercise training before and after the WLS. Lazy that they seem to only want the surgery and that's it. Hopefully the bariatric staff is able to hold off and help them further before surgery. I've seen a few posts like this on here.

To use your boat analogy.......we all are in the same boat in the sense we are either waiting for surgery or living after surgery.....all in the same boat, yes........most of us are eager to grab a paddle and row as hard as we are able while some of us are not.

I agree with you Dub. I want WLS too be a tool to go along with everything I need to do to lose weight then most importantly, keeping it off. To be given a second chance to live healthy is going to be a blessing. This is not going to be easy but I'm being realistic that I will lose weight but it will come back on without a serious commitment to do this right.

I think Chuckster is a fraud and his only agenda is making people here feel bad about surgery.

Not sure I believe his story, why would he post it here?? What does he have to gain??

I reported him to the admin of the Bariatricpal.

By the way, I am diabetic on insulin, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, fatty liver, I now weigh 215 lbs, I had all that when I was 150 and walked 2 hrs a day!

The bipass will save my life and hopefully make it better.

Folks.....I feel like an ass that folks may think that I believe that people who have WLS surgery are lazy. Please know that is not the case. Far from it. I'd probably knock somebody out if they called me lazy right now with the stuff I'm working through.

I am only going through a small fraction of what others have detailed they are fighting through.

I should have been more clear. Sometimes what I think I'm typing and what actually comes through are different things. The laptop is great. The pad is another beast entirely.

I agree with you Dub. I want WLS too be a tool to go along with everything I need to do to lose weight then most importantly, keeping it off. To be given a second chance to live healthy is going to be a blessing. This is not going to be easy but I'm being realistic that I will lose weight but it will come back on without a serious commitment to do this right.

It is a true blessing indeed.

I'm scared of the future.......and my potential future mistakes. I am less scared, though, after deciding to get on with the WLS and do the things that support a healthy life.

I'm not even touching this one, The original post was so bad I don't wanna get in trouble, it's almost as bad as this weekends 20something girl regretting her sleeve and throwing out false numbers, I did the sleeve, I have no regrets, I couldn't lose it on my own, but I'm down from 388 to 306.5 and I'm a beast at the gym, you want some, come get some!!!!!!!!

I'm not even touching this one, The original post was so bad I don't wanna get in trouble, it's almost as bad as this weekends 20something girl regretting her sleeve and throwing out false numbers, I did the sleeve, I have no regrets, I couldn't lose it on my own, but I'm down from 388 to 306.5 and I'm a beast at the gym, you want some, come get some!!!!!!!!

They might have been the same person!

@@laguerr13 Right!!!

http://www.bariatricpal.com/videos/view-10-goal/

sorry some of us neeeeeed to do surgery watch this amazing video, good for you to do it on your own though,

this was so obviously a sales pitch advertisement post. plain and simple. I really wish someone had just some out and said it instead of pussyfooting around that fact. People don't come to a WLS website, register and then tell you how they DIDNT have wls. that's like me going to the girls scouts forum and saying how much i love the YMCA??? its nonsensical. Add into the fact he was obviously not from the US or a native English speaker, and his posts all read like an advertisement for a bad Asian knock-off website.

I believe Lipsticklady saw it and man of did, but speak up.

We dont need these trolls on a site meant to help others.

Good job in whomever banned him by the way.

Huh!?!?! What does not being from the US have to do with anything? Not a native English speaker? Bad Asian site? Banned?

Your words are a bit offensive, IMO, and I have no idea where you got the idea that he's banned.

a " bad asian" troll site is one that spams you with extremely poor quality goods under the guise of something else. It is widely known and as an IT person I deal with them every day. I dont know why you think that is somehow offensive, the word asian is the correct way to describe something or someone from asia. I assumed he was banned since you cannot even click on his account to view it. I assumed that meant he was no longer here. I said outside the country and non english speaker due to his use of really bad english, not just grammar or typing, but actual word choices. I use an email filter that filters spam based on word usages in my job, and that post came up with red flags as an advertisement post based on typical word usage.

I love the way you continue to question everything I do, even though I do nothing but extol how wonderful an inspiration you have been to many people on here.

Please stop decrying everything i do. If you have a problem with me personally, then say so and ignore me.

OK guys, we had good laughs, good answers, time to pass to something else!

I am on my 3rd day of pre-op diet ! I have a headache and I am starting to hallucinate about cinnamon buns, brownies, steak, anything to FEED me!

But this morning I weigh myself for fun and I have lost 4 lbs! Made me smile BIG!

Talk to you guys elsewhere!