Musings...

Thank you Rosie for the link to "What to Ask Your Bariatric Surgeon" an excellent resource for those considering surgery.

Speaking of considering surgery... I promised to comment on some of my other self-questions including: For year's I've thought WLS was an easy way out -- what has changed? and Do I have realistic expectations?

These are definitely important questions and difficult to answer. The last one is easier to answer, as I have read that most patients lose 1/3 of their total weight within 2 years. For me that would be 250 x 30% = 75 lbs. That would mean I would weigh 175 lbs. Although I'd love to weigh a "perfect" weight for my height of 135 lbs, I realize that is unrealistic.

If I exercise to capitalize on the surgery success, I'm hoping to get down to 150. That means I should go from a size 24 down to a size 14 (assuming 10 lbs per dress size, so "they" say). That would be wonderful. I even have an old photo of me when I was about 150 lbs and 16 years old -- I'll try to find it and post it eventually!

As for WLS being an easy way out... the more I've researched it, and the more I learn of the possible problems related to the surgery, the harder I try to lose weight on my own... the more surely convinced I've become that it takes a LOT of courage to admit you're beat and to face a radical surgery rather than give up completely.

My bio-mom is very large... at times she's been much, much larger than I. I couldn't even really guess, but I think she was over 300 lbs at some times in her life. She's lost enormous amounts of weight, just to gain it back + more. I've come to the conclusion that fighting my genes is almost impossible and requires more drastic changes to my life than I can accomplish alone.

I am not a couch potato to begin with, but I think it would take at least 2 hours a day of strenuous exercise and a very rigid diet to maintain anything close to the results I could get with their surgery. So I suppose it's an "easy" way to provide a strong measure of self control on oneself, and maybe an "easy" way to stop the hunger, but the risks are high and the post-op complications are scary.

For me I gave up the "it's a cop out" attitude about a year ago when I realized the truth -- my hunger is ruling my life. I'm afraid of it, I avoid it and I sooth it immediately at all costs. Without help in the hunger department, I'm doomed. So I am looking to this surgery to fix my hunger problems, with it I will endeavor to change my activity levels (without having to go overboard) and change my diet to a healthier version of the "not too bad now" that it is.