After a couple of false starts, I made the call today for my initial consultation. I attended a seminar in the past where I was scared off by all of the possible negative results. Kiss your Mickey D’s diet Coke’s goodbye. Your peanut butter cups. Any red meat. I wasn’t sure I could give up all my favorite foods forever. It also didn’t help that my family practice physician was dead set against it. (Anyone run into that snafu?). So I went on another yo-yo up/yo-yo down diet, once again ending up weighing more than I ever have before. Reading what people write in this forum makes me believe that J can be successful and frankly, I’m out of other options. My question is, has anyone regretted having the surgery? I’m in the fact finding portion of my journey and would really like to know.

I do not regret having the surgery at all. I'm 10 months post op and o feel better than I've felt in years. I was 100lbs overweight and I've lost 85 of that so far. Doing without cokes didn't affect me any but I do eat red meat.

I am 6 weeks post op and have no regrets. I’m actually relieved that I was forced to change my relationship with food because now I can look at things and think “I’m not even hungry” or “that doesn’t even sound good” and I move on.

28 minutes ago, Roses436 said:

After a couple of false starts, I made the call today for my initial consultation. I attended a seminar in the past where I was scared off by all of the possible negative results. Kiss your Mickey D’s diet Coke’s goodbye. Your Peanut Butter cups. Any red meat. I wasn’t sure I could give up all my favorite foods forever. It also didn’t help that my family practice physician was dead set against it. (Anyone run into that snafu?). So I went on another yo-yo up/yo-yo down diet, once again ending up weighing more than I ever have before. Reading what people write in this forum makes me believe that J can be successful and frankly, I’m out of other options. My question is, has anyone regretted having the surgery? I’m in the fact finding portion of my journey and would really like to know.

First, there are people that have regretted having surgery. Generally they aren't on sites like this.

Second, all those bad things that you've read about in the past are still out there. Put them in perspective right next to all the negative effects of not doing anything. Choose wisely.

Third, saying goodbye to your favorite foods forever largely depends on your surgery type. Even then, none of the foods you mention are goodbye forever foods in reality.

In the last month I've eaten McD's. Red meat is in my normal rotation, you can pry my hamburger out of my greasy, dead hands. I've had Peanut butter cups, though not much and not often as I've had RNY and I dump on sugar. In point of fact there is no food or drink that I cannot eat if I choose. I generally stick to my plan, so the worse the food/drink is health-wise the less often I eat/drink a little of it. All things in moderation, including moderation.

Your Doctors work for you. If your Doc is not doing what you need, then you need a new Doc.

You can succeed at this with the proper mind set. It is a big change for most of us. For the better, generally.

Good luck,

Tek

I don't regret it overall but I do have moments of regret. I was having a dinner with friends recently and the food was amazing, probably the best thing I've ever tasted. I could only eat a few bites and for a time I really regretted it. Then I remembered all the reasons I did it and it's worth the momentary slight suffering.

Also, this is different for different people but I haven't given up any foods. You can enjoy what you want, just in small quantities.

Why would you have to give up red meat?

I have never regretted my Lapband, even with some of the bad issues that went with it and I don't regret my recent revision to a sleeve. To be unburdened from a fixation with food, surrendering the concept of food as a comfort, and finally loving my body has been an amazing thing for me.

Not for a second. And these Quest Peanut Butter Cups are delicious!

nope - I don't regret it at all. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

there are a lot of food restrictions the first few weeks and months, but after that, no. I can eat pretty much anything - I just eat much smaller portions than I did before surgery. I eat red meat and I've eaten peanut butter cups. Mickey D's would be hard because a lot of their items have a lot of fat, which doesn't always sit well with me, but I've eaten a lot of Egg McMuffins since surgery. I can't do diet Coke anymore. I used to be a diet Coke-a-holic, but the carbonation bothers my stomach and it generally tastes like chemicals to me now, but I COULD have it if I wanted to.

I am on the fence about regret. I have not felt well since the surgery and deal with extreme nausea and vomit up anything over 3 bites. I have felt so weak and not with it not being able to eat enough to be healthy yet. I am praying this will go away soon!!!

Don’t regret it at all. I’ve made some decisions to cut certain foods out of my diet but they were danger foods for me & I don’t really miss them. For example I avoid sweets (no cakes, biscuits, desserts) but I had dessert & cake at Christmas. Was never a fast food person so cutting that out was no loss. Used to have takeaway about once a month. Now I’ve only had takeaway food a couple of times in almost two years while with friends (Chinese & gyoza) & again don’t really miss it.

How much or how often you eat certain ‘bad’ foods is up to you. Your tummy may restrict you eating some foods depending on your surgery (sweet or fatty foods can cause issues for bypass people) but it is individual.

Don’t understand the no red meat advice. I’m a big carnivore & only issue I have is if it is too fatty like pork ribs (pork tenderloin is fine). Can’t do oily fish either but I wasn’t great with fatty/oily foods before surgery either.

My GP was very supportive. I’m sorry yours isn’t. What are their reasons for you not having the surgery? What are their reasons for not supporting you to make the changes for a healthier life?

2 hours ago, sunnynonni said:

I am on the fence about regret. I have not felt well since the surgery and deal with extreme nausea and vomit up anything over 3 bites. I have felt so weak and not with it not being able to eat enough to be healthy yet. I am praying this will go away soon!!!

I am glad that I've been able to lose a massive amount of weight via WLS, but I am sad that I, too, have experienced chronic nausea, cramping, and diarrhea for more than 1 1/2 years.

My GP believes all it takes is sheer willpower -as in “Just start eating healthy and exercising”. Looks like I’ll need to find a more supportive doctor. As for red meat, the woman giving her testimony at the info meeting said she had a lot of trouble digesting it and it seemed to stay in her stomach for a long time.
I’m so glad to read all the positive comments and honest answers. Thank-you.

Surgery was the best medical decision I ever made! I just wish I had done it 5 years sooner!!

It's embarrassing to admit how much I was obsessed with food prior to surgery. I was at a fast food drive thru at least once a day, if not twice a day. Parties were more about the food than they were about the people. Vacations were planned around what restaurants we would we go to.

Not only do I have a brand new body, but I have a brand new mind! Now that I'm not thinking about food all of the time, I have this mental clarity that allows me to think about things that truly matter. I'm a better mother, better wife, and better friend.

I truly love myself -- both inside and out!!!

It took me about 2 years postop till I decided it had been the right thing for me.

1 hour ago, ChubRub said:

Surgery was the best medical decision I ever made! I just wish I had done it 5 years sooner!!

It's embarrassing to admit how much I was obsessed with food prior to surgery. I was at a fast food drive thru at least once a day, if not twice a day. Parties were more about the food than they were about the people. Vacations were planned around what restaurants we would we go to.

Not only do I have a brand new body, but I have a brand new mind! Now that I'm not thinking about food all of the time, I have this mental clarity that allows me to think about things that truly matter. I'm a better mother, better wife, and better friend.

I truly love myself -- both inside and out!!!

So much this... never realized how much of our vacation time was spent thinking about WHERE we were going to eat, and now that I'm not checking out the food at parties, I can actually talk to people... although I'm an introvert so that might not be a good thing - LOLOLOL!!

I had a weird reaction to one of the shots they gave me in the hospital and ended up with another emergency surgery the day after my bypass. I regretted it for about a day, but since then I've had no problems. I even asked my surgical team if they pranked me and really hadn't done anything after all. I can't eat nearly as much and if I do I get a little nauseous, but other than that, I love it. My dietician said that 90% of folks never have any real issues so that's more the norm than it is the exception.

It is a bit of trial and error as everyone is different. I haven't found a food yet that I can't have - including red meat - but I also haven't tried any desserts as I'm afraid to start up my old cravings. Sugar is an addiction after all and for me it is very real, but that is MY personal choice. Are there some things that will change in your life - absolutely. It's the nature of the beast. The only time food wise I've had an ounce of regret was I just wanted to gorge on Chinese food like I would have been able to in the past. It wasn't real hunger, it was just a mental thing that I worked through. I ate my little serving and moved on with my life perfectly satisfied.