Where do I start?

[Elizabeth N.]

I'm sorry you don't get me ;/. I'm still figuring out if it's for me, which is why I'm here, researching it. The changes you suggested, Vanessa, all come with weight loss, regardless of how you go about it. I'm more trying to think a) given my lifestyle, will I be able to hold to the rules, b) can I really put myself through a surgery for this? and c) am I okay with all the risks? I mean, IF I can get myself back on LCHF and lose the weight to the point I can work out again, that's still an option. It's all options. Give a person a chance to explore them.

Someone mentioned medicines--I'm not on any. Yet of course...I know if I don't make a change soon I will be.

And how has that low carb, live at the gym routine worked for you so far? See what I mean? It doesn't.

Only you can know when you are ready. I'm definitely NOT encouraging you to move in a direction to which you are not ready to wholeheartedly commit. But I sure hope you don't wait anywhere near as long as I did, since you now know that the DS is an option, BEFORE you get as sick as I got.

 

[jerseygirl69]

One of my concerns is...will I truly be able to break my bad habits (amount of food, types of food, etc.). I work in an arena where carbs, particularly candy, sandwiches and chips are around and if I'm weak, I give in. If I struggle with that now, how will the DS change that?

 

[shann]

Well, at first I truly wasn't tempted by food at all and I only ate to live. I would have a few bites and then extremely full, like Thanksgiving full. Even now, a lot of bread still makes me feel ugh so sandwiches don't tempt me. I will take them apart and eat the insides though - I can eat a lot of deli meat! Chips are one of my weaknesses, but again while I was losing I ate very little. I would eat a few chips, but then I felt full. Same with candy. I rarely eat mindlessly anymore, with a few exceptions. (I still can't be around pringles without eating the whole can!! And I always eat too much popcorn at the movies ) I eat because I want whatever it is -- if I buy a candy bar I'm likely to eat half of it and then get full and wrap the rest of it up for later. I couldn't have done that before because 1) I didn't get full and 2) I ate mindlessly. Now I am always aware of my "fullness factor" and paying attention to whether I need to quit eating. If I push it and eat even when I know I'm full, it will come back up. So, that has taught me to pay attention.

I tried so much before I finally had surgery - Weight Watchers, Atkins, Jenny Craig, cabbage soup diet, gym memberships.... I was mildly successful on some of them, but that time always came that I lost control and the weight came back eventually. I was a size 12 when I got married and a size 28 when I had surgery - in between there I had long stops at sizes 18, 20, 22, 24, 26.... each time I told myself that this was it. I was going to take control- and I did for a while, but it was never permanent.

I've been a size 8 (A SIZE 8!) for 3 summers now. The feeling of pulling out clothes for the third time that still fit me....pulling on my favorite jeans shorts after unpacking them from the attic--- well, I cried a few weeks again when I did it and I'm crying now. It's freedom; it's comfort; it's self esteem; it's the greatest feeling in the world. You have to be in the right place to do this thing, but I SO wish that feeling for you, my friend.

 

[Terri]

One of my concerns is...will I truly be able to break my bad habits (amount of food, types of food, etc.). I work in an arena where carbs, particularly candy, sandwiches and chips are around and if I'm weak, I give in. If I struggle with that now, how will the DS change that?

I am still pre-op but this is one of the reasons I chose the DS. It gives you the ability to eat most like everyone else. We can have a few chips or a piece of candy, if our body tolerates it. We have to watch our carbs because we absorb 100% of them but what diet are you going to eat seafood, drowning in butter or full fat dressing. We will have tiny tummies and only able to eat a small amount of food but will fill it mostly with protein every time we eat. We won't want so much of the "other" things because we will be full.

I also was tired of dieting and exercising to lose 1 pound and feeling so deprived. It also seemed that so many times a month worth of hard work would be undone by a bad day. You know the I will just have a little bit of this and the next thing you know you've eaten the whole bag.

I came to the realization that I am a smart woman and that something is not right for me to fail at ALL of these diets. If I had any other disease I would not hesitate nor feel guilty about having surgery and doing what ever was required afterwards to heal/take care of/get rid of the disease.

 

[southernlady]

One of my concerns is...will I truly be able to break my bad habits (amount of food, types of food, etc.). I work in an arena where carbs, particularly candy, sandwiches and chips are around and if I'm weak, I give in. If I struggle with that now, how will the DS change that?

It's hard if it's always around...early on, it's a case of just don't but once you've reached your goal weight and are in maintenance the rules change a bit. What keeps me honest is knowing that while yes, I CAN eat that crap...if I don't mind the resulting bloat/gas/nuclear attack coming from my innards. IF I am willing to suffer, then I eat that stuff. 99% of the time, I don't...another trick is to eat protein first, ALL the time before indulging. Then you simply may just pass on it cause you are full.

 

[southernlady]

I don't know how old you are...I was 56 when I finally came to the realization that I HAD to do something. Back around 2001, I first really heard of WLS. And like most people, thought it was "the easy way". By 2010, I realized that while I was able to keep my weight stable, it was still too high and my comorbids were getting worse. I am a type 2 diabetic, now resolved (not long enough out to consider myself cured).

I was on an insulin pump and had been able to keep myself at good levels for years but was losing that battle. I had to keep increasing the amount of insulin taken. And my a1c was climbing with NO appreciable change in how I ate. I've been eating a modified Atkins diet for 10 years which is why I was still just barely qualified for WLS.

Each person has a light bulb moment...the time when you just know this is the right way for you.

 

[brooklyngirl]

@Vanessa Lucero - I love your attitude, it's amazing that you are only a week out!

Now, playing devil's advocate, not everyone has such an easy recovery. Some battle nausea or vomiting, some get surgical complications in the hospital, some have to have the surgery done open, some get infections- these are all possibilities, but not necessarily the norm. There are some who battle with severe bathroom issues as well. I'm somewhere in the middle, I didn't have any serious complications, just some trouble with 2 of my incisions getting infected and not healing well, but I do have a hard time with lots of things giving me gas/bloating/diarrhea. I seem to have found out what most of those things are, and while it can be annoying sometimes, avoiding them isn't a tremendous problem.

I say all this because I don't want the possibilities to be downplayed, but I would do it again in a heartbeat for the quality of life that I gained. I still have about 70-80 pounds to lose until I get to goal, but I've already resolved my diabetes and sleep apnea. No longer having sleep apnea means I don't doze off all day (at work, while driving, while talking on the phone, etc.) it also means I'm not at a high risk for stroke or PE from AFib like I was before. Pre op, I could barely walk, not only from severe back and knee trouble, but because I'd be winded from the slightest bit of exertion. I couldn't shave my legs in the shower because I couldn't bend for that long, I couldn't clean or wash dishes or go grocery shopping because I couldn't be on my feet for that long. I wasn't living anymore, I was just existing.

Now, at 9 months post op, in the last week I have done the following:
- cleaned my entire apartment from top to bottom
- started a new job
- went shopping at the mall with my girlfriends
- went for a walk on a nature trail with my husband and puppy
- went to 3 grocery stores in one afternoon looking for basil (lol)
- went to an all-day outdoor concert in 86 degree southern heat
All without breaking a sweat.

These may not seem like a big deal to a "normal" person, but each one was a HUGE deal to me! I feel like I have my life back, and it's only just begun! You have to come to your own decision in your own time. If you want to try another diet before you go the surgery route, then try it. You have to be 100% on board with the decision you make, but I'm so happy I chose to have the DS.