What is your opinion of Weight Loss Surgery ?

fillymum

synful soul
I have very mixed feelings.

I think it is a vitally important method of weight loss for some but not sure what I think for me.

I love my SW diet and the sense of achievement I have with each loss. I can not imagine not sitting down each evening with DH and enjoying a satisfying SW meal.

The quick results and massive weight losses certainly are appealing.

I think one of the minus is that I don't really know enough about it.

Does your band, balloon etc. stay in place for life and is that how you eat for ever more ? Do they reduce the restriction of your band etc. as you reach your goal ?

I looked at the excellent WLS forum but am still none the wiser.

No way am I looking to WLS, I love everything about food far to much for that and to cut myself off from something that is so enjoyable to me both socially and domestically is out of the question. It is just curiosity.
 
I have very mixed feelings on this one.

i cant offer any medical advice about the band though.

my friend had a gastric band fitted a little over a year ago and i know she has had to have it loosended a little .

i have to say and i dont want to upset anyone at all its just my opnion, but why not just lose weight the natural way? i know medically for some people its the only option and i totally understand, but i feel more and more people are having it so they can take the easy option???

least doing it sw way its a healthy for life option and none of the complications that can come with a band! whats wrong with healthy eating and exercise one asks :D

im curiuos like you sue, does the band stay in for life? if not when it comes out surely its going to be a struggle to maintain your weight. curious as to what other people thing to bands
 
I agree with you, I think that for some people it's the only option - and I certainly wouldn't critise anybody for taking action to become more healthy. I think it should be the last resort though and the decision to have surgery should always be considered very carefully. I do know one person who feels that their life has been transformed and had been trying to lose weight for decades.
I know that nutrition is always an issue for people after surgery and that eating out etc becomes alot more difficult.
I'm sticking to the diet!
 
What would concern me is that there is no re-education of your eating habits. So do you pile on the weight again.

This diet has completely changed my previous way of eating.. I mean totally not just one or 2 things.

The band/balloon etc. must surely come out eventually or be altered, otherwise you would fade away to nothing.
 
Its a tricky one. I would never begrudge anyone the surgery if it was a life or death decision, and if THIS was the absolute only thing left that might possibly save their life.

However, how many of those last resort patients would be actually better off in therapy? Of course many people will have physical medical conditions that cause them to gain weight, but I bet there are just as many who gain because of mental health difficulties, depression, low self-esteem, comfort eating, self-hatred. It may be that having the surgery will give them a physical focus point, how they cant eat as much, but that wont take away the mental issues, the longing, the cravings and the willpower depleting depression.

I think it is a useful tool for very extreme circumstances, but I think that if it is to be used, dealing with other issues should be part and parcel of the package.
 
Not sure if i have my facts right here, but there was a woman on Oprah who initially weighed in at 751lbs and she I watched it the other day and she was just under 350lbs and i think that she did it without surgery. (could be wrong here)

i think personally if you can do it without surgery then thats your best option, i mean any operation comes with risks doesnt it.
 
from the programmes i have watched. and i am no doctor. but some patients have had to loose weight before their operations. so why can they not carry on this and not have surgery? i have also read in national newspapers, that those who have been turned down for WLS because their weight doesn't not meet the requirements. are trying to put on more weight so they can have WLS. then NHS say it is cheaper to perform the WLS than to treat patients with diabetes, blood pressure, etc. but surely my thoughts would be help that patient mentally and if they have children / families they would pass on this postive attitude towards food, exercise and life in general.

there must be some serious issues going on with someone who needs WLS. i feel there should be more support to get someone through the issues they have with food, and break habits and cycles. i know certainly when i am low and fed up i comfort eat. thats why i am breaking the cycle with SW.

i don't think i would ever go for WLS. but then i would need to walk a mile in someone elses shoes before really making a decision.
 
Operations of any kind do damage. The question is whether the benefits are worth the damage. My personal view is that the answer for weight loss surgery is that no, they don't. But I don't expect other people to share my personal views on anything.
 
Operations of any kind do damage. The question is whether the benefits are worth the damage. My personal view is that the answer for weight loss surgery is that no, they don't. But I don't expect other people to share my personal views on anything.

How nice to see you back. I have missed you and yes I agree with you here.
 
I think if you rake the time to look at the WLS forum you'll see for almost everyone there it has been a truly last desperate resort and only looked at after all other avenues have been exhausted.

It's not a decision anyone takes lightly - it really is a last chance for most. I know of one person on there who I've seen battle for several years with her increasing weight. She's tried SW WW and VLCD, her weight was so bad she was virtually housebound. She got a bypass and has lost about 12 stones in under a year. She thought long and hard about it, backed out several times but finally did it.

If the girls over there could have found a diet which worked for them believe me they'd have done it.

It's not without risks but I think everyone on the WLS forum would say it's been worth while.

Oh and things like a bypass are permanent a band can be removed or deactivated
 
I can understand why some people resort to weight loss surgery as they've tried everything else and nothing appears to work.

I do worry though that those who do go ahead with this type of weight loss are dealing with the physical part (losing weight) but not with personal/mental part. We all have reasons for why we put weight on, whether it's something traumatic or simply just being greedy (like myself!). If personal issues and/or eating habits are not tackled, then it's very likely the weight will go back on, and I think it's important for any diet or WLS that these areas are addressed.
 
I don't think this "debate" is about criticizing the people who really have a need to turn to WLS. I think it is meant to be a more open debate.

I did look at the site and my heart goes out to those who the theory of eating less calories than you use doesn't work. That must be so soul destroying. I know how I feel if I hit the odd STS week and I know how much despair I was in when my cancer treatment inhibited weight loss no matter what I did. At that time I know I would have turned to WLS.

The worrying cases are the ones who have the money to go ahead with private treatment as a quick fix. Though I am sure there must be guidelines in place there as well.

It is a learning curve for those of us who do not understand the workings of WLS.

We should all be tolerant and understanding of what "suits one doesn't suit another "

I would still love to hear more opinions.

It is such a good way to educate ourselves.

Thanks so much for the input so far.
 
thanks fillymum, totally agree. not judging anyone. but would like a better understanding. to be educated about a subject and to debate the pros and cons is a postive thing. cheers this is a good debate.
 
i completely understand people that have wls however I have crohns disease and have had 3 separate lots of abdominal surgery in the space of 12 years, so I could not put myself under surgery however saying that if i had not managed to lose the weight with sw then i would have probably looked at this....
 
Eat less move more! I am very skeptical when people say ive tried every diet and nothing works!
 
^^^ Hmm, bit of a sweeping statement there! If we ate less and moved more then we wouldn't be on SW either.

It's a shame Mrs V isn't around much any more. She has a gastric band and has lost her weight with that and following SW so her eating habits have been re-educated (I would say)
She eats smaller meals, I think she said a child sized portion but by following SW she can eat healthily.

That said, there is nothing to stop people with a GB or anything else eating bad food - but then we do the same on SW, WW or any other diet.

I'm not sure it's an easy option and I do think that for some it is a last resort and, for some, dieting probably doesn't work.

I'm not for or against it (splinters in my bum on this one....) but we did have a woman at my group years ago who had a GB and she wanted to learn to eat healthily. She never stayed very long though.
 
I mean people who say they have tried SW, tried WW even tried lipotrim or cambridge and say they have never lost weight, there is no way u cant lose weight by cutting ure food size downs and maybe getting off a stop earlier on the bus. I know people who have had surgery and say its the worst thing they have done. Each to there own but im a strong believer in changing ure eating habit yourself and educating ureself which hopefully im now doing.
 
I'm sure I've said this before on the board somewhere but I was hoping for a gastric band a couple of years ago. It seems like a simple thing to have done if we believe the news, go to doc's, get referred, have it done but from my experience with the NHS it's nothing like that. It takes a long long time and you have to show you're willing to make a lot of changes. My consultant wouldn't let me go any further until I'd lost about 3 stone. Fair enough because it shows a willingness to make a change to how you live but I think that most people who get as far as a consultant are doing it because they either feel they can't control themselves to lose the weight or because for whatever reason they aren't losing weight with what they're doing. Festivalfairy makes a good point that for most people moving more and eating less will result in weight loss but there are some who can't do these things. If you've got to a weight where walking does more damage to your joints then exercise will make you more ill. You would lose some weight but at a high cost. Madamelaminx was right too that mental health and self esteem play a huge part in our weight. Even if I'd gone away and lost the 3 stone they wouldn't have done the surgery until they thought I was ready for the change the op would mean for the rest of my life. I got very angry about this because I wanted to know how they'd measure whether they thought I was ready or not. Surely losing weight would have shown a willingness but apparently not.:confused: So unless things have changed in the last couple of years having an op on the NHS isn't a simple thing.

Now I am glad I didn't have the op but at the time I felt completely let down, I didn't see how I could ever do it on my own and though it helped get me therapy which has helped that's all I took away from my 2 year battle. It took me a long time to realise I had to do it myself, I hadn't gone along for the fun of it, I truely believed I couldn't do it on my own. Whatever changed I am very grateful that it did but it could just have easily not happened and then I'd be closer to killing myself with food. I think it's as simple as that, if you lack control (I don't mean that in a terrible, having a go way but I think most who have had or have considered WLS would agree that it's our control that stops us over eat) and in the rarer medical cases where weight loss is impossible then surgery has to be the better option that killing yourself!

I am totally for WLS in the cases where it will give someone their life back and improve their families lives too. The only trouble I have is when you hear about people who I wouldn't even consider fat (I probably have a weird view about what's fat and not fat though:p) getting them on the NHS but if it's causing serious medical problems then it right that their lives are made better by it.
 
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