I came across the following article this morning:

https://www.cnet.com/health/why-its-so-hard-to-lose-weight/

Notice anything about the theme regarding the six reasons they gave? They all have to do with faulting the individual rather than digging deeper into potential metabolic or hormonal reasons one might be struggling with weight.

I'm not saying that there are not folks who perhaps need to address their mindsets when it comes to health and long-term weight loss, but for people like myself and I am sure many of you, this is garbage.

A year ago I would have read this and internalized that I was failing myself, regardless of my accomplishments or wins or all the work I have put in, the scale wasn't budging because I was ultimately the problem.

I would have been driven deeper into self loathing and a failure mindset rather than considering something else is working against me.

Having this surgery has meant so much more for me than watching the numbers go down on the scale. It was a metabolic and hormonal reset. It WAS a mental reset for me. I had done tremendous amounts of work towards self improvement prior to making this decision. I feel better than I have in years, every cell of my body is alive. That alone is reason enough for me to have had the surgery.

I wish you all the mental and emotional clarity to rise above these messages.

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Oh yes I see, everything points at "you" being the problem. Shameful.

Good find. I swore a while ago I'd use my mental strength and ability to speak up for people with obesity whenever I get the chance. No matter what weight I am. This just reaffirms that promise to myself.

Imagine the industry of "online personal trainers", diet books, coaches, magazine writers, supplements, diet foods, diet programs, diet classes etc. that would go away if we talked about obesity as a chronic disease that can be managed, but never truly treated?

That's right. This is the perfect disease to make money off of. Most people can lose weight. Most people gain it all back (without surgery). Then you tell those people there's something fundamentally 'wrong' about them, then you offer a solution at a price.

When that solution eventually fails, you take a step in the musical chairs of the diet industry, and you go to another diet coach. On and on it goes.

End result? We get fatter and sadder. They get richer.

Edited February 4, 20215 yr by Guest

I’m watching the documentary Diet Fiction on Prime at the moment. I’m about 1/3 of the way though it & I’ve been agreeing with a lot of what they’ve said. They’ve criticised the weight loss industry too which has done nothing to counteract the obesity problem but make money. So far it seems to be a bit focussed on plant based diets & anti meat. They’ve sort of ignored portion sizes which I think is a huge issue as many obese people (as we know) eat portions that are two, three & four sizes what they should. Said if you eat a balanced diet you shouldn’t need vitamins or supplements unless you have a medical need. Said popular diets like keto, paleo, etc. are short term only & could have side effects like keto affecting insulin levels. Spoke about how diet alone won’t help you lose & keep off large amounts of weight. Interested to see where they go next.

Yeah, not saying those things aren't true for some, or even most, but it certainly is not true for ALL of us. In fact, the main reason my doctor first sent me to a endocrinologist many years ago was because he sat back and watched me try various healthy ways or eating/diets and get no where. He also saw me at the same gym he attended for hours on end only to lose a half a pound in six months. He finally just said to me that he though something more had to be going on that he was missing. That NO ONE should be at the gym for 2+ hours a day, 5 days a week and be eating correctly and NOT see any real results. So he sent me to an endocrinologist.

He, the endo doc, along with my family doc and my gyno are collectively the ones who figured out I had a slew of things, hormonally wrong with me, that greatly reduced my chances of losing weight with just diet and exercise.

Found out I had endometriosis, PCOS, Insulin Resistance (but at the time, no where near pre-diabetic or diabetic), and Adenomyosis all which contribute to the inability to lose weight easily. It's like you CONSTANTLY have to be ACTIVELY TRYING to lose weight or you gain. You don't even stay at a steady weight, it seems. You just gain! Or at least it's like that for me. And it sucks! So yeah, some of us HAVE tried it all and it still doesn't work.

Thanks for this. I wish I had considered this long ago. Instead, I dismissed doctors who suggested even back then that I might consider bariatric surgery. Even then I was very active and ate very healthy but could not get below the 220 mark. But I just assumed it was my fault and lack of discipline. So Instead I have continued to ratchet up. Only recently, desperate and as a last effort I attended an informational session. Now I actually think this is the only way I could get down to a reasonable weight. I am so anxious but hopeful for the first time in a long time.

Yeah, not saying those things aren't true for some, or even most, but it certainly is not true for ALL of us. In fact, the main reason my doctor first sent me to a endocrinologist many years ago was because he sat back and watched me try various healthy ways or eating/diets and get no where. He also saw me at the same gym he attended for hours on end only to lose a half a pound in six months. He finally just said to me that he though something more had to be going on that he was missing. That NO ONE should be at the gym for 2+ hours a day, 5 days a week and be eating correctly and NOT see any real results. So he sent me to an endocrinologist.
He, the endo doc, along with my family doc and my gyno are collectively the ones who figured out I had a slew of things, hormonally wrong with me, that greatly reduced my chances of losing weight with just diet and exercise.
Found out I had endometriosis, PCOS, Insulin Resistance (but at the time, no where near pre-diabetic or diabetic), and Adenomyosis all which contribute to the inability to lose weight easily. It's like you CONSTANTLY have to be ACTIVELY TRYING to lose weight or you gain. You don't even stay at a steady weight, it seems. You just gain! Or at least it's like that for me. And it sucks! So yeah, some of us HAVE tried it all and it still doesn't work.

This! I get you 100%. I too struggled with PCOS since my early 20's. I was able to somewhat manage the weight, but ultimately gained 50lbs over 10 years. I was able to lose weight for occasions but only by ridiculous elimination diets and exercise. My body was very efficient at gaining and fought me every step of the way to lose. In my early 30's I lost my thyroid to thyroid cancer. I gained another 50lbs over 3 years despite constantly dieting and monitoring my intake. I often said over the years I could tell when my metabolism was working, usually just for a few days. I just felt better. After my thyroid was removed it was a hard stop. Nothing I did mattered. My Endo started my on a combo therapy of thyroid medication after determining I had 'post-thyroidectomy hypothyroidism' (despite my labs showing as slightly hyperthyroid). With the combo therapy I was able to lose 19.2 lbs over the 8 months prior to my VSG.

Within 4 days of surgery I felt my metabolism kick back on and it's been going full blast ever since.

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I always KNEW it wasn't my fault I couldn't lose weight successfully. Over the years I picked up so many healthy eating habits that stuck with me, and ate healthier than most people I know, and still was fatter than all of them. I still saw myself as a failure for never being able to lose weight and keep it off. The surgeon who took out my gallbladder recommended wls to me and I'll never forget him saying it is almost impossible for someone, especially the bigger they are, to lose weight and keep it off, and surgery resets all of that. His words were so validating. I had considered wls for years but never seriously until he said that to me. I made my appt. with a bariatric surgeon that day. It's so different now that I've had surgery. I actually see results for my efforts and I couldn't be happier.
It really upsets me when I see articles that tell people that weight it basically all within our control, because it really is not.
I'm not staying our habits don't have anything to do with it, because they do, but it's so much more complicated than that.

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In retrospect, I wish my doctor had said that when suggesting bariatric. I suppose they don’t want to overprescribe surgery, but it is important for physicians to understand the shame and guilt that comes with obesity and provide more context when recommending WLS.

41 minutes ago, Pilot my best self said:

In retrospect, I wish my doctor had said that when suggesting bariatric. I suppose they don’t want to overprescribe surgery, but it is important for physicians to understand the shame and guilt that comes with obesity and provide more context when recommending WLS.

For me it was the opposite. The same doc who saw me eating right and exercising DID suggest the wls YEARS ago. He said I would greatly benefit from it. But I always expressed my fears. And I mostly had fears because of the only two people I know who had it done, BOTH had very bad issues after the fact. The one actually died due to a blockage in her intestines and her husband brought her back to life while waiting on the ambulance. My other friend was in and out of the hospital for multiple additional surgeries he says all related to the wls. He also said had he known that all would happen he would NOT have had it done.

The one friend who died and was brought back also had issues with her nutrients after surgery and lost SOOOOOOO much weight that she now looks about 30 years older than she is. Like a skeleton.

So yeah, that sh*t scared me. So I just refused to hear anything else until about 5 years ago when I started really looking into it again (but not seriously). Of course I was still scared because I didn't change my mind until recent months to actually reach out to someone for more info/an appointment.

That you overcame your fear and invested in your health means you lost the best weight possible; that which we carry in our minds. Well done!