I went to the bariatric seminar today, and got all the information I needed, and I've decided that I'm having the lap band done, because it has the least recovery time. My mom's on board, and when I talked to my boyfriend about it, he said, "You were almost 90 pounds lighter when we first met. I'd love you at any weight." My goal weight is 200 LBS. I'm currently at 316. I'm really looking forward to the surgery and the weight loss, but the changes are going to be really, really hard. Nothing carbonated ever again. The main reason is because, for those of you who haven't taken physics (Or if you flunked), gas tends to expand. This can stretch your pouch, allowing you to eat more. Don't drink while eating, because it lubricates the food, which allows it to slip into the stomach easier, allowing you to eat more food. Stop drinking a half hour before eating, and don't drink for a half hour after eating. Chew all of your food until it's mush, and take small bites. Invest in a baby food spoon. It's a big change and it's not for everyone, but it has to happen. There's no other option, other than more invasive surgery that would take longer to recover from, which as a college student, really isn't what you want to do. I mean, I look at my body in the shower and wonder how my boyfriend can find this thing attractive. With my clothes on, people tell me I look pretty good for someone who weighs over 300 pounds. But naked, I feel ugly and disgusting. Maybe that will change with weight loss. Let's hope so.
Hi there! While it might look like to be the only option (which I am sure it is not) you mention that "it's a big change and not for everyone." You have also mentioned some of the changes that the surgery will bring about. Have you looked into all long-term complications and consequences of the lap band? Once it's done, and you find out it wasn't the right thing to do, it's kinda late. Second, and I hate to say this, but if you have gained 90 pounds since you have gotten together with your boyfriend, I'd suggest that you have a sit down with yourself and ask yourself why that is, before getting the procedure done.
Have you exhausted the non-surgical options available to you? This sounds a bit drastic for someone of your young age.
I'm not going to try to persuade you not to get it because you've been considering it for a long time and have made several threads about it. But presumably you aren't planning to be having it done for a while - a month at least. In the mean time I would suggest making the changes you outlined in your post immediately. You may find you get good results from it without having to have gastric band surgery; then even if you do still have the surgery you've already got a head start and are already in the habit of your new eating patterns and won't have any issues. As I said in your previous thread, gastric band surgery doesn't do anything you can't do yourself without it; all it is doing is physically forcing you to eat less. If you're going to be making the diet changes after surgery anyway then you really should try making them before surgery and seeing if you can maintain them.
^This! I know it isneasy to do, but I've lost 50lbs through diet and exercise - and I was in my late 30s when I did it. I would like to think that someone who is 18 could do the same. What kind of carbonated beverages do you currently drink? If it is regular (not diet) pop then that right there is something to eliminate from your diet. The chemistry related to the "high fructose corn syrop" that is used requires that the energy be turned to fat first, and then consumed as energy only if your body needs it. Cutting that out alone might make a big difference. The other big change I made was limiting my carb intake. Breads and pasta are killers. If you substitute veggies it can make a huge difference.
The fact that your mother and this surgeon signed off on this surgery for someone your age is horrifying. Here's the thing: you probably don't hate your body because you're big. You probably hate your body because you grew up in a culture with a multi-billion-dollar diet industry that has a vested financial interest in making sure that you don't like your body, and that's not going to change if you get down to 200 pounds. Learning to love your body at any weight is a much better investment of your time than this surgery. Not only will it have way better long term benefits for you, but a lot of people who get involved in body positivity report that they lose weight after they do because loving their body makes them want to treat it right, so they eat healthier foods and exercise more. Here's a list of body positivity blogs that focus on men; they might give you some inspiration: Good Bodies Are All Bodies!!!!!!!!! - A List of Body-Positivity Blogs That Post About Men / Male Representing People.
The short answer: it's mainly for my health. And I've tried the whole diet and exercise thing since I was much younger, hell my mom would have me do it with her because she and I have the same problem. I'd lose maybe 2 or 3 pounds, gain 6. My weight constantly has gone down a little, then way up, then down a little, then way up. And to top it all off, I'm at a genetic disadvantage. Almost everyone on my mom's side of the family, over at least 3 generations has had weight issues, and losing weight really isn't as easy as just changing your diet. I once started biking 5 miles a day and went from gaining 5 pounds a week to gaining 2 pounds a week. No, it's not an easy fix and it's a tool you have to use. And all the extra weight is going to do is shorten my lifespan. Considering my BMI is 44, which for my height is morbidly obese, doing nothing is not an option. I don't see why you say this is "horrifying," considering the youngest age they'll do this is 15.
I think you really need to think seriously about the possible long-term consequences of the surgery. There are a lot of bad stories out there.
Good luck man!! A friend of mine went through with the band a little over 6 months ago to prepare for his wedding. He gets married next month and he's never been happier with his body. Hope you have a quick recovery! Lots of love! J
Having issues with my weight myself, I can empathize with how you feel - it's not easy taking a shower in the dark because you think your body is hideous. However, I also don't think that this is the solution. Prior to a severe injury earlier this summer, I had dropped 30 pounds in under 6 months. I've gained it all back, since my diet and workout regimen went by the wayside, but I know what is possible with nothing more than proper diet and exercise (and some of the good diet habits have stayed with me - I drink black coffee, only eat dark chocolate - greater than 70% cacao, etc) This is a site that I'd highly recommend if you want to eat only what your body is designed to process. You'll be AMAZED with the results.
I've resisted chiming in on this thread, but I feel like at the least, it's worth sharing what I know. There's a recent book, called "Fat Chance" by Robert Lustig MD, that's creating a tremendous amount of controversy in the field of dietary medicine and weight loss, because it takes a completely different perspective than nearly all of the current thinking on the topic. And it is meticulously documented with credible studies from dozens of researchers. In a nutshell, the physician who authored the book says that nearly everything we currently know about weight gain and loss is wrong. He goes into detail about the complexity of the metabolic processes surrounding weight loss, why it is that what appear to be "genetic" traits are definitely there, but do not leave one stuck with an unsolvable problem, and explains in detail how the modern diet and the specific attributes of certain ingredients in the processed foods that nearly all of us in first-world countries consume are directly responsible for the problem. Additionally, when we're talking about a weight gain of 90 pounds in a short period of time, we're talking about a cascading effect that he further describes in the book, and there's an additional element here that almost certainly plays in, which is the psychological attributes. (That's an entirely different topic, but there's voluminous and compelling research on that topic as well.) So the lap band may solve the problem in the short term. But it's a band-aid for a bigger issue, which is likely a combination of a psychological issue layered on top of a biochemical predisposition you inherited. And the downside to the lap band (future surgeries, because it needs to be adjusted from time to time, long-term health risks associated with the dietary intake restriction it imposes) is pretty severe, especially when there *are* better alternatives. And my personal biggest concern is, if I am correct about the psychological underpinnings of the issue (and I'd lay money on it), you're setting yourself up for a very dangerous situation, because right now, you're numbing the psychological issue with food. (Brené Brown talks about this, as it was a major finding in her research; shame is highly correlated to obesity, which is a byproduct of numbing to avoid the shame.) When you do the lap-band procedure, you take away the "medication" you've used to numb. If you don't deal with the core issue you're numbing, you will inevitably transfer the numbing to a different, and likely far less healthy, form of numbing, whether it be alcohol, drugs, gambling, compulsive shopping, compulsive gaming, or any of a hundred other coping strategies. There's no question that you must take immediate action, as your health is certainly at severe risk. But if I were in your circumstance, I would, instead of doing a drastic, permanently life-changing procedure designed for people in their 40s at age 18, read the above book, and think seriously about exploring the factors that are causing the weight gain in the first place. I completely get that you feel like you've tried everything, nothing's worked, and this is all that's left. But that simply isn't the case. The approach in Lustig's book, combined with a concerted effort to work on the core issue, can and will work wonders if you give it a chance. With the psychological issue alone, I've personally seen people who lived with chronic, morbid obesity for 10, 20 30 years, and tried every diet/weight loss scheme imaginable, and when they finally address the underlying issues causing the weight problems in the first place, the weight starts "melting" off almost magically. It's hard to believe, but it's true. Now... that's going to require real work, it won't be fun, it won't be easy, and it means going into some dark places emotionally. But it will solve the problem in the long run. The lap band won't. Because fundamentally, the idea of a permanent, drastic restriction in dietary intake in someone who is barely an adult simply defies logic and common sense. It is yet another example of "modern medicine", managed care, and its band-aid approach to just about everything.
