Before you got your WLSn Did you ever think: "I can do this on my own, I don't need the sugery". If so, what made you realize that WLS was right for you?

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When I looked back at 20 years of effort and constantly dieting. Fighting the same 50-75 pounds every few years was too much and I could see it would not get better as I age. I want to do something know and enjoy healthy eating without killing myself.

I've done just about everything and even like working out, but could never get past 180...

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When I looked back at 20 years of effort and constantly dieting. Fighting the same 50-75 pounds every few years was too much and I could see it would not get better as I age. I want to do something know and enjoy healthy eating without killing myself.

I've done just about everything and even like working out, but could never get past 180...

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Thank you for your response. I am very much afraid of "buyers remorse". I am 42 now and wonder if at age 50 I will be thinking I should've just had more self control...

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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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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 macine, 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 plan on it. Insurance has a 6 month waiting period....going to give it a good solid honest try and see how I am at the end of the 6 nonths.

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Don't have a time macine, 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 plan on it. Insurance has a 6 month waiting period....going to give it a good solid honest try and see how I am at the end of the 6 nonths.

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You need to be honest with yourself. Do you really think you can keep it off? Loosing the weight isn't the hardest part its keepi g it off long term. Based on your past experiences with dieting do you think you will be able to keep it off if you don't have surgery?

No, I never thought that for one second. I knew it couldn't do it on my own because if I could have, I would have done it in the 20 years I have been overweight. Statistically speaking morbidly obese people have less than a 5% chance of getting the weight off and keeping it off.

Don't have a time macine, 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 plan on it. Insurance has a 6 month waiting period....going to give it a good solid honest try and see how I am at the end of the 6 nonths.

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You need to be honest with yourself. Do you really think you can keep it off? Loosing the weight isn't the hardest part its keepi g it off long term. Based on your past experiences with dieting do you think you will be able to keep it off if you don't have surgery?

If I am being honest with myself, I can loose the weight but I dont think I can keep it off.

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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.

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.

Wow..you gave me food for thought. (Pun intended). I did not know those statistics. Gonna do some research on that myself....thank you for sharing.

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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.

Here are 1,302 other reasons.

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-131?hl=%2Bfinal+%2Bstraw#entry4122527

Here are 1,302 other reasons.

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-131?hl=%2Bfinal+%2Bstraw#entry4122527

Great thread gonna read it! Thanks so much for sharing.

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I can't say anything more than what everyone else has. I have managed to lose 50-60 lbs twice in the last 10 years and I've always gained it back. I'm now back to my highest weight ever. I'm a year older than you and because of the way our health insurance works in Ontario, it's almost a guarantee I will be having gastric bypass. I'm worried about possible long term effects of malabsorption but I'm worried about the long term effects of being obese more. And I'm more scared of getting to 53 and still wishing I'd had the surgery. Having said all of that we all have to live with the repercussions of our decisions and only you know what is right for you.

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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!