I went to the dr yesterday and told my GP I'm considering WLS. He said I wouldn't be successful unless I controlled my eating first, or else I'd gain the weight back. He recommended Weight Watchers. I've done that a few too many times already, and told him that it wasn't sustainable for me--I always gained it back. He said if I couldn't be successful on WW, I wouldn't be on WLS either. I said I the sleeve would give me an advantage that would allow me to be successful. He responded by saying I'd lose weight at first but then I'd learn to eat around it, and the whole thing would be a waste. A heated discussion ensued.

When I was researching WLS, the first thing I did was look up the five year outcomes of diet and exercise alone (specifically Weight Watchers) compared to WLS. There's no comparison. WLS has a success rate of 50-80%, depending on the type of surgery. Diet and exercise is under 5%. Also, the definition of "success" was much more strict for WLS.

I'm so frustrated. I think I'm doing the right thing. I need some encouragement, folks!

EDIT: He seems to think I sit around and eat donuts all day.

Edited February 19, 201610 yr by careya123

Thanks for the support VSG Ann,you are a great role model.

I have an appt. on 27 th April with a bariatric surgeon who is very high ranking in the UK NHS. Just hope he will approve me and I can do the same as you.

I get so hungry with constant cutting down on my eating and as I write my thin husband who is against my surgery is tucking in to a huge piece of cake.

Will keep posted but you have had a fantastic result. Very well done.

My PCP has been harping on my weight for years, and generally advocating diet/lifestyle. Her latest kick started after I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, so now she's harping on going gluten free, and all my problems will go away. Yeah, bite me. I love her otherwise, and she and I have had some head butting over side effects to meds and stuff, and I finally have her trained to work with me instead of dictating to me what to do. Part of that was my becoming an RN. I can go head-to-head with any general practitioner with studies and peer reviewed journals.

My Rheumatologist was actually the one that pushed me off the fence about the sleeve. We thought I had rheumatoid arthritis, but a couple of symptoms came to light this week that changed the diagnosis to psoriatic arthritis. She hasn't been harping on my weight, but had expressed some concern. I said 'what do you think about...' and she said "DO IT!!!" There's hormones and stuff from all the extra fat that have a direct impact on my auto-immune condition. Surgery won't cure it, but besides taking stress of joints from extra weight, the hormonal changes can make the meds work better.

I'm not even discussing it with my PCP. She'll find out next time I go in for my annual or the next upper respiratory thing I need antibiotics for.

Family practitioners/general practitioners simply cannot keep up with the sheer volume of medical information, just looking at peer reviewed journals. They'd have to read some 400 articles a month just to try and keep up. So most are woefully uninformed. Many times patients come in with more information than the docs. But they shouldn't be tacky about it if you give them information. If they are, move along.

Time to find a new doctor

My PCP had to sign off on my surgery before I could have it. She was very supportive. She got results of all of my pre op tests and was very informed of my pre surgery details. I would find another PCP that you can have as an extra layer of support and information!!

Maybe you need a new GP? Someone more supportive. He has one point I agree with that we all need to control our eating... That said... I am 4 weeks post and down 30 lbs and still mostly on liquids but am gaining mad skills resisting temptations. Lol.

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The psychologist of my program and all the doctors in it are DISGUSTED with weight watchers. Your doctor was an ass and I'm glad you switched

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I went to my PCP for the first time after VSG and I had to explain it to him and the medications with the whys. My conclusion is that just about anyone outside of your Bariatric care team do not know enough to render any qualified opinion. Btw all my cholesterol Meds, both diabetes Meds and two out of three blood pressure medications along with my megadoses of Vitamin D have been eliminated. Joyous here.

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I started the entire process by setting up a consult with the WLS surgeon. From there, I followed all of the requirements and one of the last things I had to do was blood work...which I had to go to my PCP for. The surgery was scheduled, and he didn't have time to tell me I could do this on my own, as he had casually mentioned in the past.

Interesting bit of information though...My surgeon said everyone has a built in weight number in their body. When a person loses weight, their body actually fights to gain it back. This is why I would lose 30 lbs and gain back 40. With the sleeve, this doesn't happen because the sleeve resets the weight number. Think about that preset number...we all know people who don't have a weight problem - they can eat anything they want and they don't gain an ounce. Then there is us, another group who all we have to do is walk by a bakery and we gain 3 pounds. So, as for all these doctors saying you can do it with WW, or do it on your own, and you won't be successful, they don't have a clue. I am looking forward to being one of those who can speak from experience!

Sorry, but I have to agree that your pcp is a moron. Mine was a moron too. I changed to a different one and am 5 months out and S

continuation... so glad I did. And my personal experience with doctors who are not involved in wls seriously have NO CLUE! I have heard comments like, "well at least it doesn't touch your stomach" and "VSG isn't bariatric surgery, it's just a procedure." from a Dr! And I've been asked what exactly is that from a doctor. It feels like I'm in the twilight zone sometimes. My Nurse from the Bariatric program that I went through told me last week that it is a constant struggle to educate the pcps about wls. There were almost 200,000 VSG surgeries alone last year. Not including the other types of wls. I kind of think that's a big number. And I believe those numbers will continue to go up.

You so hit a nerve with me on this. Do your research. Attend support group meetings. Read other's experiences here (the good and the bad) and read the statistics. I did this and read 3 books and lots more and am so glad I did. You will be the BEST person to make that decision. I spent 20 years doing WW and a LOT of other things to try to lose weight just like most people here. THEY DIDN'T WORK FOR ME and Didn't work for most people here. But VSG absolutely is working for me now. Doctors are just people. Ultimately our health is our decision and our responsibility. The best to you with whatever decision YOU make.

Good luck with your journey. I am a month postoperative and 35#down. I feel the sleeve has given me the edge I needed. I simply ate too fast and too much of all the right foods.

Me too! My mom is always commenting on my healthy eating habits (grilled vegetables? yum!). But I eat really fast and too much, and I augment my huge servings of healthy foods with too much dessert and too much milk. So no, doctor, I don't sit around eating donuts and chips and fast food. But I do eat twice as much as I should in every sitting, plus eat sugar, plus drink hundreds of calories of milk every day. Yes, there's a reason I'm fat, but it's not the reason he thinks. And it makes me crazy no one asks 'why are you overweight?' Doctors just start handing out advice like 'quit going to McDonald's' and 'quit drinking soda.' I don't like fast food and I'm not crazy about soda either.

The really funny part about this is that most of my excess weight was gained after using Phentermine. A Dr recommended it (I'd never heard of it) and I lost ~20 lbs very quickly. Then I went off it and shot up to 220 lbs almost as quickly--60+ lbs higher than I had ever been in my life. Several years later, another medication made me gain almost 15 lbs in a week, before I went off it. Doctors need to look in the mirror a little more before they start pointing fingers at fast food and beverage companies.

I don't mean to sound like it's someone else's fault that I got fat--I did that--but it baffles me that doctors (at least the ones I've had) are quick to judge, quick to talk, and slow to listen.

It's been a while since I started this thread (can't believe all the response it's gotten!) and I'd like to post my results. I've had good and bad experiences, but overall it's been great.

It's now six months after surgery, and I've lost 50# (almost exactly 60% of my excess weight). I'm down to sz 14, my college size, and hoping to get to a 10. However, I'm very comfortable where I am and count the whole experience a success. My co-morbidities are mostly or totally gone. For the first time in years, men look me in the eye or give me the up-and-down glance instead of ignoring my existence. (I have mixed feelings about this, but it is what it is.)

I eat small portions because that's all I can eat. I eat Protein at every meal because I get queasy without it. (I don't enjoy many sources of protein, so that's a big deal for me. I tried Atkins or South Beach in the past, and couldn't handle the protein requirements.) Sugar makes me very sick if I eat much of it. Ice cream, one of my biggest weaknesses, made me violently ill after trying a couple of spoonfuls. I did that twice, and it was so awful that I may never try it again. Milk makes me queasy, so that's not a problem any more (I used to drink several glasses a day, adding up to hundreds of calories).

Now I eat protein, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. I eat my weight in low-sugar varieties of Greek yogurt every day. Occasionally I drink Diet Coke (bad, I know) or diet A&W, but I'm still not a soda fiend. I snack on fruit, fruit, and more fruit because I still love sugar. No matter what doctors say, though, it's a lot better than processed sugar. I eat salad or grilled vegetables with protein for meals. I still eat sugar too much, even though it makes me sick. When I find myself doing that, I head to the grocery store and stock up on fruit and Fudgsicles. I also eat frozen Chobani strawberry tubes when I'm craving sweets. I take my Vitamins every day.

I haven't been exercising, which is my biggest sin right now. But for the first time in my life, my diet is great. Without the surgery forcing me into eating small portions, and making me sick when I don't eat protein, and making me sick when I eat sugar, I wouldn't have been able to do it. Thank you, sleeve!

Don't listen to him. How rude!

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Had a similar experience last night with a counselor. I knew that part of this journey was going to have to be dealing with my emotional eating and that unless I did that, the surgery wouldn't help in the long run. So I set up an appointment with a counselor - recommended by my insurance company. Last night was the first session. As soon as I said the words weight loss surgery she cut me off and said "you know the surgery doesn't really work, right? you'll gain all the weight back. you should just join weight watchers and a gym. WW has a much better success rate than surgery"...I was floored. then I told her that actually many people are successful with surgery but that the surgery isn't a simple fix, that I need to address my emotional eating in order to make the necessary lifestyle changes along with the surgery"...her big advice for how to deal with emotional eating? "Just don't eat"

I left feeling very defeated. I'm trying to deal with the underlying causes for my over eating but how do you find a counselor who will actually take it seriously?

A COUNSELOR told you that? Unbelievable! I did a ton of research and medical journals clearly show that surgery is so much more effective than WW, both short and long term. Wow.