I know 4 people who had surgery. 2 band, 2 gastric bypass. One band can't eat normally, but tries and is sick and is obese. One band had to be re-done, but she is normal weight and doing well. One gastric bypass is still a problem 4 months later (rehospitalization twice) health wise, but she is thrilled to be down 80 pounds and is normal weight now. The other lost some weight but regularly eats very unhealthy food and is still quite obese with health problems. I've heard 70 percent of people gain the weight back eventually. My ex-relative is a gastric bypass surgeon who swears it is a wonderful thing and he is proud that his death rate is much lower than other surgeons-which is 2% or so-or was, it is going down, which is good. I agree with the thought that if I can't eat well and exercise now, I don't know how cutting out my insides will make my brain want to eat and exercise better. I'm sure it saves more people than it kills, but it isn't a magic fixer of all ills, so expectations and results may vary greatly.

Yes. Gastric bypass. Went from 389 to 160. Yes there have been problems. Yes I had to embrace a whole new lifestyle. When I see friends and family members pass away from weight related issues, or watch them moulder away, eating themselves to death, I know I'll never regret the operation. Best thing I ever did for myself.

I have 2 very close friends who have had gastric bypass. Neither has had any serious complications and both have had dramatic results. Your mileage may vary.

I happened to notice the post. I have not had any bariatric surgery. Instead, I worked in an imaging facility that performed upper GI (gastro-intestinal) studies on many who had this surgery done. I am merely a radiologic technologist. So I just wish to offer this one piece of advice, which you'll probably receive if you are electing to have this surgery performed: It is an entire lifestyle change you will be undergoing.

To hopefully keep you from meeting techs like me it is imperative to understand any resection (cutting short, removal by way of surgery) to the digestive tract or stomach necessarily means a smaller surface area. In not so technical terms, you will not be able to fit as much food as you once did into a smaller space. I know it sounds too obvious for words, but this is a huge reason for why many people's surgeries backfired on them. Now, if you'll venture forth, try to imagine all the ramifications for what this surgery entails. It's a psychological as well as a physical change of lifestyle. And as most people know, especially on a site like this, changing one's mind about something (food, religion, politics) is usually much harder to do if you've done something one way all your life. Without such change no permanent effects ever take place. Good luck to any having this surgery done.

Yes, the band. Gained all my weight back and more, and have oesophagus issues. Don’t bother.

My cousin and two aunts did. I've considered it, but honestly, I'm not sure it would be worth it. Its hard. They've all three been successful. No, bad outcomes or anything, it's just a whole new way of life.

Duodenal switch. Dropped 200, gained back 70 when I got a sit all day job. Still my BP is a fraction of what it was. Saved my life

The only thing that has worked for me is diet. eating fresh fish, fruits and vegetables in the amazon jungle. they are very difficult to find where i live in the united states unless you catch the fish yourself.

Do surgery on your diet. Corporate food isn';t. It is formulated to activate your reward center in the brain & addict you to fake fat producing results. No carbs period except for boiled or baked potato or whole rice. Some 12 grain bread in small amounts. If you can eliminate carrion that is all the better. Eat colors other than brown or white. Simple if you eat from many other cultures. Northern euro diet is for work on the farm not in an office.

That's the problem..as we age, our metabolism slows and we need less and less food to maintain the current weight.

I was a fanatical organic health food-eating and fasting person who exercised constantly, ate tiny portions, but when I went through menopause, I suddenly started gaining TWO POUNDS A DAY! In a week or so, my weight jumped up 25 pounds!

I practically stopped eating to stop the weight gain and bloating but finally found certain hormone balancing herbs to put me back on my old weight and stop the bloating.

Or you could try CBD oil, which seems to cure EVERYTHING.

"CBD reduces appetite—the opposite of THC, which can trigger over-eating. I invited two friends to try it with me. We squeezed a few drops of CBD-infused oil under our tongues and waited. An hour later, at the time we’d planned to have dinner, we noticed we weren’t especially hungry. All thoughts of food had been swept away. My friend said that if this were widely known, “Cannabis would be legal in twenty minutes.”

Allan Frankel, a renowned internist in Los Angeles, and one of the country’s pioneers in “dosed cannabis medicine,” says his theory is that CBD oil is so broadly effective because it’s an essential nutrient.

It's like vitamins and amino acids; when there’s a CBD deficiency, people get sick. Because CBD brings the body into homeostasis, or balance, it can work in two directions; cutting appetite in people who overeat, and increasing appetite in those who need to eat more."

Link: Can CBD Help you Lose Weight?

[huffingtonpost.com] via @HuffPostBlogOr you could try CBD oil, which seems to cure EVERYTHING.

A guy I work with had it, and says it was great, people trying to talk me into it, no way. Girl I worked with years ago died from complications, she had young kids at the time, it was hard.

As a chef/wellness educator, I teach both a before surgery cooking/food prep class and an after surgery food class as a consultant for a large medical center. So, I see both the pre and post 2x monthly.
I think, for people who are grossly overweight, that the surgery helps them lose tremendous amounts of weight and reach normal weights.

As much as I wish it could, not every weight issue can be addressed with only diet and exercise.

A close friend of mine had his wife die during the procedure. I've had doctors advise it for me, but so far I haven't.

I have and have known several others. I don't know of anyone who kept the weight off permanently due to the surgeries. Be aware however, that there are many different bariatric surgery techniques and they are not all of equal effectiveness. I would not recommend any of them.

My niece-in-law had some type of gastric surgery. She now looks anorexic and sickly, but since we don't really talk I'm not sure how healthy she is.

At the moment I'm about 100lbs overweight. I am slowly losing it, but I will NEVER get the surgery. Too many adverse effects are associated with it (malabsorption and severe diarrhea being two of them).

I considered it twice. Although I only have about 50 pounds lose. The restrictions were too much. I joined the Y instead.

I had a gastric bypass in 2003 at around 400#. There have been ups and downs since, but I'm about 245# now. Not great, but a great improvement. No real complications for me. There is certainly a learning curve, and the surgery alone is not the answer. You will, of necessity, eat fewer carbs to avoid "dumping." You learn that pretty quick. Your bathroom breaks will be more frequent for a while, but your body will adjust.

Realize that you can stretch your new pouch out to the size of your old stomach if you overfill it constantly. One thing that really took some getting used to was not drinking with a meal. You want the food to be solid and stay in the stomach so you will feel full. Without a pyloric valve, things can wash right into your intestine, leaving you unsatisfied.

One bad thing, but it's true with any method that produces a lot of weight loss, is the sagging skin. If you're looking for a "beach bod" expect to have plastic surgery, as well.

I sought advice and the physician I trust most recommended I try changing my eating habits and exercise first. They emphasized I actually try, not just say I tried after a week or so (I used to do that a lot).

I was able to make the right changes for me, but since my weight was starting to cause serious health problems, I would have done it.

I had weight loss surgery five years ago. A doctor made it from [medicalweightlosslehighvalley.com] . It is one of the best decisions in my life. I am genetically built to be fat. The majority of members of my family have problems with excessive weight. It is hard for us to lose it, so we decided to have weight loss surgery. I work a lot to maintain the weight I got at the moment. I don't want to return to the state of my body before this surgery. SO I have a healthy nutrition plan and regularly go to the gym.

I’ve been thinking about it, and it’s still surgery. You mess with your body, and your life will never be the same. I fully understand when people get this surgery because they have basically no other choice.
But if it’s just a dieting substitution, I would pass. The consequences can be too severe, and certain food rules will control my whole life. I don’t want food to have such strong control over my life.
In other words, weight loss surgery is fine if you need it because of medical conditions. But it’s not an alternative to dieting to my mind.

Some people try to talk me into it, but I am too afraid of the consequences. I would better lose weight in a more natural way

I did not have weight loss surgery, but I had plastic surgery to tighten my buttocks. I have very thin skin in the buttocks, so a doctor friend advised me to sign up on the website / for surgery to make my buttocks a little tighter. However, I had to lose weight myself before the operation, because I was not allowed to do it with my excess weight. I was told to lose ten kilograms in two weeks. Honestly, it was a living hell. I tried a thousand diets that I knew, but it was very hard to lose weight. I trained until I lost my pulse in the gym and ate only vegetables and drank only water. I barely managed to lose the necessary weight and now everything is fine with me

To be honest, I was always afraid of getting to the point where I`d need surgery to lose weight. As soon as I see a few extra pounds on the scale, I immediately switch to this diet. I weigh about a couple times a year, but if I've had periods of excessive sugar and fatty foods, I've done it more often. At any rate, it's better than going full blown and resorting to extreme measures. Besides, surgery has its own risks. As far as I know, doctors resort to surgical intervention only in the most extreme cases… Shortly speaking, I advise you to consider other weight loss methods.

no surgery for me. 5 feet 2 and 120 pounds. tell me about you. i want to move to Tweeds. i can afford a small home to rent, maybe we could become friends. I do not do hookups, but give all of myself when feelings and chemistry. Where is your picture?