It was then that I stumbled across my doctors web site. He explained why diets dont work for people my size and that if you cant excercise then you are not going to keep it off as a diet will deplete muscle as well as fat if you dont excercise. Thus you need less calories. You reach a point where you hit a plateau. This plateau has come about BECAUSE YOU LOST MUSCLE. Thus all the calories you need are consumed on your diet menu. You say "stuff it" because you are no longer losing weight and on it goes!!! More than before because you now dont need as many calories.
He spoke about the fact that alcoholics and smokers get treated. People that have contracted HIV through lifestyle choices get treated. Even drug addicts who steal old ladies purses get treated without one judgemental comment. Yet, doctors look upon obese people as lazy people with no will power and tell us to go away and excercise and reduce the our meals. HEY WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT BEFORE..... The fact is that low fat diets dont work for the morbidly obese because we are too far gone. Depression, joint pain, blood pressure, you even wonder if that stair case is at work is going to give you a heart attack. Its not that we are hypercondriacs
The fact is that injuries occur very easy when you are obese. Ive read that running puts eight times your bodyweight on your joints. I know as I did my knee in while walking down a flight of stairs. I also did my ankle in by trying to run after losing 20 kgs as I wasnt getting a good work out anymore from walking. This is coming from a former athlete. Someone who could slam dunk a basket ball reverse off one step. All the weight training and jumping techniques over the years accounted for nothing.
Well, if you are like me and you have more than about 20 kgs (45 lbs) to lose, then chances are you are going to fail. Maybe you will lose the weight but statistics say you will put it back on. This is the reason that I chose weight loss surgery. I have the will power to lose it. I just cant keep it off. I have lost over 100 kgs in my life at least. Therefore I know I have what it takes. Its jus that it doesnt stay off.
Lets consider the surgery. I booked into see the nurse. She explained the preliminaries to me. That a lap band was a device fitted around your stomach. it could be removed easily or drained if need be. It is done lapascopically. (see scar photos) so you dont get cut from chest to pubic region.
There is very little risk. In fact its about as risky as getting your appendix removed. Just make sure your surgeon is competent. My surgeon had done over 1500 lap bands and taught the procedure in the U.S. The learning curve is about 20 procedures so they say (hey Im no expert so dont trust anything I say. Check it for yourself) The main risk is perforation of the stomach. (gastric acids then leak outside and consume your organs.) This occurs due to small tears. The stomach gets separated from a fat layer with a blunt instrument.Its a bit like pealing the skin off chicken. If there are ulcers or degredation of the stomach wall then rips can occur. This is highly unlikely though.
The main cause of death is a blood clot which is a risk with any procedure. Make sure you do excercises EVERY hour after the surgery. I would raise my leg one at a time to my chest. for about 10 reps each. I would also raise my arms over my head 10 times. I would roll my feet around for about 10 times each making circles and pointing my toes. This helps with circulation. If you are obese then its an added risk.
I think at the end of the day you need to add up the risks. Get a good experienced surgeon and you should be ok. Ask them how many procedures and how many deaths. My doctor never had a death in over 1500 operations. He only had two bad procedures where the persons were over 200kgs (450 lbs) and just couldnt get to the stomach due to organ displacement by so much fat. You need to weigh up the risks with being obese. Yes there are risks from the procedure. but you are probably going to die in the long run if you do nothing. A person dies every 10 minutes in my country from a heart attack and we only have 20 million people!!!
If you had to choose between having a simple operation or going into an ocean BLEEDING where a person was a victim of a shark attack each 10 minutes, what would you do? Well it may not be the same situation but the same result. You are probably going to be a victim so CONSIDER it.
People get their boobs done, their noses done, take stupid risks for nothing but vanity every day. This is not about vanity, this is about being around to see your kids go to school This is about playing a bit of sport with them and not being in a wheel chair or worse being dead. Swallow your pride and admit defeat if you are like me and have tried everything else then you should consider this.
How does it effect my life? for the first time in my life I get full on a small meal just like everybody normal. I dont eat a large big mac meal with an extra quarter pounder any more. I dont knock off a large pizza by myself then start hooking into whatever is in the fridge about three hours later, I eat a small cheese burger meal. Maybe three pieces of pizza and a piece of fruit later before bed.
If you think its the easy way out, you are WRONG. I still feel like eating a whole pizza or a big mac. I just cant. I throw up and look like an idiot. Therefore for me it has worked. If you are worried what people will say then dont tell them. Only my wife and best friend know. I have not told my mother or my boss. All they know is I was took a week off and I wasnt feeling right. As for the milkshakes, hey I was on another crazy diet for two weeks which didnt work (as far as they are concerned) Stuff them!!! All they are going to do is go to YOUR funeral and talk amongst themselves about how you wasted your life. You dont need em!!!!! you are doing this for YOU!!! So you live and have a quality of life
Hope this has helped you.At the end of the day it is your decision. This is just my opinion. You are the master of your own destiny. Hope it goes well for you. Would I do it again ? In a heart beat and I am only one month post op!!!!