Losing the EZ Way?

OK, you guys are totally cracking me up here! And Monica, Ms CattleProd. I'm passing thru SD next year and I wanna meet you! I'm so glad ppl are not just hanging their heads and accepting the verdict that we are fat, lazy and character flawed persons who had to be cut to stop eating.

About the only difference I see is that BEFORE WLS, I starved and sweated and didn't lose wt. Now I don't have to starve, can actually eat some food EVERY SINGLE DAY! (what a concept!) and it works.

So, doing what didn't work over & over is smarter/easier?

Doing what did work, and the ONLY thing that works, according to NIH, is the easy way out, huh?

Okay, I'm ready to be hit, but I will have to say that for me lossing weight after wls has been easy.  Yes, I've exercised despite not liking to; I've changed the way I eat and said no to favorite foods; I've adjusted to taking supplements; I drink water like it's going out of style; and I've struggled with the desire to graze.  But, with all of that, it has been easy because it worked.  I lost the weight quickly.  After struggling for years to lose weight and the only thing I lost was hope, wls was a breeze.  Suddenly my body responded to what I did.  Compared to constant vigilance and hunger via diets (and exercise simply making me hungerier), the post-op life changes have been a breeze--because they WORK.   What I don't understand is why people would put down something that works, simply because they see it as "easy" and stay with something that doesn't work because it is hard?  If wls is easy, weigh****cher et. al is crazy.  The research has shown for years that diets are only successful for 5% of the people who diet.  So I'm going to put down something that has a 70+% success rate and go with a 5% success rate?!  Would they do that for a cancer treatment?   I really think it comes down to how we still link behavior (and morality) to obesity.  So if it isn't solved by some form of penance, it can't be enough.  More and more research says that genetics has the major significant role in obesity.  How a body processes foods, how it stores fat, what cravings your hormanes drive, the ability to feel satisfied, and on and on and on is determined by factors you do not control.    So in comes gastric bypass surgery and it affects the hormones, the digestive systems, the ability to feel satisfied, and essentially helps your body act like a normal person's system, and it is put down for being easy.  Well, I'll take easy any day and wear it (size 8 please) proudly. I'll take smart, effective, happy, and easy anyday over uninformed, ineffective, grouchy, and hungry! Well, off my soapbox now. :) Sally

Well, I'm also a six year post op and I have to say that everyone's journey is different as they are as individuals.  It's the common misconception that it's the 'easy way out' but we all know that's not true.  For me, it is fairly easy when I eat correctly and follow the rules, but there are days when I just feel like crap for no reason and it sucks.  I still think that people should only have this surgery when it is their last resort, BECAUSE after so long, you have to diet as though you never had surgery in the first place!  So, here I am at six years out and I only lose weight when I follow total protein and veggies just as though I never had surgery at all. 

But I agree, it ****** me off when people say that surgery is the easy way out.  They are misinformed and have no clue what they are talking about!  JMHO.....

this is going to be controversial - but it was a hell of a lot easier to lose  with a pouch than it was with a whole big old stomach.  I did the whole gamut of diets and failed and that was a whole lot harder than my surgery.  YEARS of failure take a toll.  it was a lot easie rthan the months I spent in weigh****chers with minimal loss and constant hunger. I lost more the first week after surgery than I did in 3 months of weigh****chers. he first year the weight fell off and I have not had  real complications, so I had it easier than a lot of other people did.  the pouch made it possible for me to lose and to develop good habits  while I was not struggling with constant hunger.  I had no hunger for 6 months and it was not until 9 months that  my hunger returned to normal . now about maintainence - I have to work real hard for that.  it is not as easy as it was the first year.  BUt I still have my pouch and it really does help. Even though I can eat more it will never be as much as it was preop.  that does make it easier for me. If I had my old stomach I would not be able to eat the way I do.

"now about maintainence - I have to work real hard for that.  it is not as easy as it was the first year." Your quote above demonstrates the irony of the entire thread.   I only posted my frustration here because we are grads. Yes, the early days have their advantage...it's in the long term that "easy way" is not compatible with reality. Thanks. Congratulations on your long term success. Karen

the only reason I am maintaining is because I have my pouch and for ME not speaking for you or anyone elsr - that does make it a lot easier than with out the pouch.  I also have the advantage of malabsorption that non op do not have. as I said I can eat more than in the beginning - but not ever as much as preop or a non op - and that does make it easier as long as I make good choices. with out the RNY I would not have the pouch to make it easier for me to maintain - I would be  Just like all the non ops struggling day by day, losing only to regain even more.  I would not have ever lost this weight with out the RNY, and would not be where I am with out it - that is why it is easier for me.   I feel for the people who cannot have this surgery and must struggle so hard to eat less in a big stomach, and who have to live with hunger every day. that is why it is easier for me too - I can eat the small amounts necessary to keep the weight off and not live in hunger.  weigh****chers - months of constnat gnawing hunger with a small weight loss. RNY - no hungetr and dramatic weight loss.  the  surgery was not easy but it was a lot easier than the lifetime of diets with little loss, the regains of even more - the sense of failure for trying to do something (lose wieght) that my body is geneticaly programmed against.  an analogy I could walk 17 miles to work every day - but I dont - I have a tool, my car. I drive it because it is easier. but it is not alway easy owning a car - gas costs, big payments, oil changes, new tires, insurance costs, maybe an accident will happen, but I drive anyways - because it is easier.  I could have dieted for the rest of my life - it is too hard for me  having gnawing hunger all the time. so I have a tool. my RNY. It is not always easy having an rny, I have to take vitamins, regualr labs, be careful about what I eat, maybe have complications (4 bowel bstructions and a hernia) but I have the rny anyways - because it is easier.

o.k. i'm not sure but it may have been me. for the record, i referred to myself having taken the "easy way out" and being damn happy about it, not to anyone else's WLS journey

sorry. not you either. The posters claimed that others had taken the easy way out. so there...you lose and clearly you win...all at once! Damn happy for you! Karen