Will WLS work if the problem isn't overeating?

[LisaMergs 2,857]

Well....

If it's a disease process that keeps you heavy then no it won't help because the whole point of WLS is to restrict eating and control portions.

That's simply not true. My weight gain was a DIRECT result of high doses of oral prednisone as well as IV decadron combined with lack of movement due to rheumatoid arthritis for 9 long years.

It completely destroyed my adrenal function. I ate very healthfully with an occasional snack. But nothing in crazy excess. I simply lacked metabolism, my RMR was zilch and physically I couldn't move.

The only way I could lose weight after many consultations, crying at different docs offices, was WLS. Coupled with some of the studies showing that some people with autoimmune disorders were showing signs of remission, my decision was made.

And it was the best one ever! I was in some form of extreme pain almost daily for 9 years. Since surgery- one flare that lasted 2 days and was very manageable.

[Gingebinge 10]

Not all obesity problems come from overeating or chosing the wrong foods. Alot of it has to do with how your body processes these foods! For example I have pcos. I don't eat alot. I don't eat junk food...but anything that goes in my body my pcos turns into fat for fuel. I will never normally process food. There is no medication. Surgery is the only option to get healthy again. Never get disillusioned. Talk to your doctor's and they'll figure your body out...what YOUR body needs. Hope this helped a little ????

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[NeedaBreak4Me 1,755]

I agree with the two posters above. . It is not all about overeating, eating junk and being sedentary.

I no longer have a normal metabolism, i will always gain if i have above 1000 calories a day... so i had surgery so i am able to have the lower calories without feeling like i am starving.

[ridgerunner 115]

When I saw what this poster said about not overeating but still being fat I had two reactions

1) this girl is in denial.

2) This poor girl is gonna get tore up.

So I was happy to see that some of us backed up what she is saying with good points.

There is a large array of reasons why people are overweight. As vast and varying as people themselves.

Thanks to those who reminded me of that and sorry to the poster for thought #1.

[LisaMergs 2,857]

Final point- NOT eating enough will also put your body into starvation mode which can cause it to store any possible calorie it can for future use- thus leading to weight gain. We have all heard it- skipping meals is also bad for your metabolism!

[Renkoss 420]

I agree that not all overweight people became that way from overeating. I had been following a low carb diet for a few years, and never lost weight. Most of the reason for gaining was due to the severe insulin resistance I have and the increased amount of insulin I had to keep using.

However, please keep in mind that the OP also said it was from choosing the wrong types of food rather than overeating. So if you could stop eating the wrong foods, and begin eating the right foods, is it possible you would lose weight without WLS? Probably, but you have to have the willpower and the want to change your eating habits. This surgery does not change what you eat; it changes the amount of food you can eat. So, if you are unable to change the poor choices prior to surgery, it may not help you change, albeit you would eat less of the poor choice foods, but still eating poor choices.

I hope this made sense.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Everyone is not a special snowflake. Most of us were / are fat because we ate too much and moved too little.

Yes, I know that every calorie is not equal and that every person's basal metabolism is not the same, pound for pound, but you get my drift.

Are calories all of the story for everyone? Surely not. But overeating (however you define that -- whether it's the "wrong foods" or "too much food") is usually the behavior that contributes most to obesity.

(Please note that I did not use any absolutes in this post.)

[KristenLe 5,980]

@@VSGAnn2014 I agree. Most of us don't realize how much we are actually eating. When we think we're not eating alot - we most likely are eating more than we should. "Too much" is very subjective. I didn't eat junk food but I definitely ate more than the appropriate portion sizes of healthy food. My salads often weighed over a pound. I would eat nearly a quart of Soup for lunch. I also have PCOS and insulin resistance - but the overall reason for weighing 290 lbs was overeating and not exercising. I had no clue what a proper portion size was - and am still trying to learn.

[Gingebinge 10]

Bottomline is everyone is different and no one has the right to say what makes another person gain extra weight than themselves and their doctor! To judge or throw personal opinions out. If someone that had wls believes that it's the food then chances are that's because that was their personal challenge. Inactivity and overeating. It is a proven fact by medical doctors that medication, disease and certain health conditions affect the body differently...so to all you out there fighting the basic public believe that all fat people are lazy overeaters just ignore them. Peace love and no judgements my peeps! ✌❤????

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[ridgerunner 115]

@@WitchySar

If you are still reading comments have you looked into the duodenal switch? It is super malabsorptive for fats and eating carbs will give most people severe diarrhea and flatulance. Very good reasons to cut them out in my opinion.

[Dub 10,027]

Everyone is not a special snowflake. Most of us were / are fat because we ate too much and moved too little.

Yes, I know that every calorie is not equal and that every person's basal metabolism is not the same, pound for pound, but you get my drift.

Are calories all of the story for everyone? Surely not. But overeating (however you define that -- whether it's the "wrong foods" or "too much food") is usually the behavior that contributes most to obesity.

(Please note that I did not use any absolutes in this post.)

This link has nothing to do with anything in this thread other than "snowflake" reminding me of a cool movie.......

[MichiganChic 3,262]

I was shocked t0 learn how little I had to eat to lose weight. I would have never known it without having WLS. I have to eat 800 calories or less per day, EVERY day, to lose. I lost 145 pounds eating like that. Now that its been almost 4 years since my surgery, that is very hard to do. I've gained some weight back, and I know that eating 1000 calories a day isn't going to get it off. I'm going to need to cut back to less than 800 and stick to it. So, you might be surprised to learn that you can lose weight, but also have to severely restrict

Well I've been tracking my foods and I struggle to eat enough calories in a day. Even my thin husband comments on how little I eat. So it really isn't Portion Control I have a hard time with, just the choices. I know that after putting in all this work and pain to have surgery I'm not going to want to sabotage it so I think it'll help me make the better choices for what I need to eat. I just needed to hear from someone else that this really will help.

There are days when I struggle to even eat 1000 calories. My doctor in the past said for me to lose 1lb a week I should be eating between 2000-2400. Because of my thyroid I gain weight if I even LOOK at a carb. So eating a diet consisting of mainly carbs was causing me to gain weight. Not because of total calories but because of the type of calories.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I was shocked t0 learn how little I had to eat to lose weight. I would have never known it without having WLS. I have to eat 800 calories or less per day, EVERY day, to lose. I lost 145 pounds eating like that. Now that its been almost 4 years since my surgery, that is very hard to do. I've gained some weight back, and I know that eating 1000 calories a day isn't going to get it off. I'm going to need to cut back to less than 800 and stick to it. So, you might be surprised to learn that you can lose weight, but also have to severely restrict

Well I've been tracking my foods and I struggle to eat enough calories in a day. Even my thin husband comments on how little I eat. So it really isn't Portion Control I have a hard time with, just the choices. I know that after putting in all this work and pain to have surgery I'm not going to want to sabotage it so I think it'll help me make the better choices for what I need to eat. I just needed to hear from someone else that this really will help.

There are days when I struggle to even eat 1000 calories. My doctor in the past said for me to lose 1lb a week I should be eating between 2000-2400. Because of my thyroid I gain weight if I even LOOK at a carb. So eating a diet consisting of mainly carbs was causing me to gain weight. Not because of total calories but because of the type of calories.

Do you exercise at all? It sounds like your metabolism is extremely low. What happens when you do things to increase your metabolism?

[gina171 626]

I guess what is puzzling me is that the OP also stated somewhere in this thread that she lost 150 pounds at one point and regained it all. Then she went on to say she knows if she goes to through the process of WLS and loses her weight, she knows she would not let herself regain it BC of all the work she went through to lose it in the first place.....but, she's done that already once. And I don't hear her being very coach able and open-minded here, sorry.

I might just be reading this wrong, but I think there is a huge amount of mental readiness work and accountability that I hope she works through before surgery.

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[Montana Gal 448]

@@OutsideMatchInside, thank you for posting the video about global obesity. I just have to say how stunned I was to learn that the schools in Chiapas, Mexico only provide CocaCola to the children. There is no Water made available to them at all. The fact that CocaCola was paying the principal to do this AND he was pocketing the money for himself made the story worse than I could imagine!