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I'm a 37 year old big fat fatty fat (285lbs at 5'7") who's been struggling to lose weight for probably 20 years at this point, and nothing seems to work. I lose 50, I gain 50. I lose 30, I gain 50. Enough is enough, and since I can't seem to muster the willpower to stop feeding my big fat fuckin' face, I'm contemplating getting a lap-band installed. I've been reading up on the different procedures, and the lap-band seems to be the least invasive, so that's what I'd like to do. Have you had one? How was your recovery? How much weight have you lost? If you had to do it over again, would you get it again?
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Oct 21, 2015 20:00
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| # ? May 4, 2024 17:47 |
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I haven't had one, but from what I understand you'll go back to gaining weight if a strict diet isn't adhered to after gastric banding. The band can snap and your stomach will go back to the same size it was before with the added bonus that you have a silicone band floating around in you. That being said, according to my friend who had it, it's REALLY uncomfortable to eat too much after banding. She has to eat a small amount every two hours or she feels like she's going to pass out. She lost about 200 lb between the surgery and going to the gym religiously.
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Oct 22, 2015 00:39
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A friend had one, and it did help her lose weight, but it wasn't magical. She showed me how she'd had to prepare tiny liquid meals and freeze them into icecubes because that was the amount she could eat at first. It looked horrifying. I've also read somewhere that suicide rates after the surgery are pretty high since as I said, it's not magical. She's still heavy. Good luck, dude. Hope you find a path that works for you.
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Oct 22, 2015 22:15
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I got a gastric bypass. At the seminar they have you go to before your first appointment, Theo said the bands just don't have the same long term success.
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Oct 25, 2015 06:22
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So I am not a doctor but I thought I'd mention my own experience in terms of struggling with weight loss. Like you I've been a fat gently caress for most of my life and still am at this point, but I'm losing steadily. I'm working with a doctor who put me on Phentermine for a few months, which basically kick-started my metabolism while acting as an appetite suppressant (I was really surprised at how effective this actually is, even for someone like me who eats out of stress/boredom) and gave me enough time to change my eating habits and settle into a new groove in terms of how and what I eat. It was incredibly effective; I'm off it now and I'm set enough in the habit of eating less and eating better that I haven't really been too tempted to go back. So that, if you haven't, is something you might want to talk to a doctor about and see if it's safe for you and would work for you. You didn't mention it but I would actually recommend talking to a doctor anyhow about this. Find one that's dealt with heavy weight loss before, I was lucky in that my gyno knows a shitton about that, maybe your GP does. Good luck fellow fatgoon 
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Oct 25, 2015 15:13
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Speak with your doctor and get the details. You have to be committed to doing a gastric bypass, one way or another, and it can be psychologically taxing. If you don't adhere to your diet your stomach can stretch and essentially the bypass will fail and you're back to square one, except now you've had abdominal surgery which has its own separate set of complications like adhesions. Also the complications, while rare, of a gastric bypass can be extremely severe, like a roux en y can lead to ulcerations with varying levels of involvement and severe pain until the ulcers resolve or anastomosis to places where they should not form. There are good benefits if you don't get the complications and are successful with managing the diet. It'll reduce your predisposition to a whole lot of comorbidities and you'll lose a lot of weight if it's done appropriately.
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Oct 25, 2015 19:36
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Oh yeah, I was lucky. I was basically a best case scenario in all ways. Weight gain due to health problems, lost the pre-surgery weight super fast, no complications/fast recovery after surgery, and kept losing weight after a lot start putting a little back on. Only way I wasn't a ideal candidate is that the health problems mean I exercise sporadically, have had minor alcohol problems about a decade ago, and I have a history of depression. For me, it was a no-brainer. Doesn't mean I have no problems though. I throw up if I eat too fast, or something too dry, or if I have too much mucus. I get dumping syndrome if I eat something too sugary or carb filled. I already had reactive hypoglycemia, so that's a bit worse for me. If I drink cold water on a empty stomach, it hurts like hell. Same with anything too spicy. Luckily, spicy stuff can be washed down. You have to sign something saying you won't drink anymore, because of ulcers and absorption. I still drink sometimes, but you can go from buzzed to alcohol poisoning crazy fast, and can't puke it up because you don't have a real stomach. A shot will also hurt like hell. I'm about a year and a half out, and just last week had my first significant weight gain (about seven pounds). I already lost it again, and think it was related to being sick as hell. Probably just too much eating crap because I was too sick to cook and skipping working out. But I'm definitely at that point where I am capable of eating enough to put on weight. It's a hell of a thing, you're getting your insides irreversibly rearranged. I have never regretted it, I think it was one of the best decisions of my life. But it isn't for everyone.
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Oct 27, 2015 16:15
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I had a Roux en Y done about 6 months ago. This is in Canada so YMMV in the process pre-surgery, but it took about 8 months of prep with various medical tests, social worker, dietician, classes, etc. There's a lot you need to learn because it's not just "eat less" it changes the way your body works. Lap bands aren't nearly as successful, R en Y is the most successful and will help you lose the most weight. It's not the easy way out or an quick solution. Before surgery I had to be on these diet shakes for 3 weeks (no other food) that are designed to shrink your liver and make the operation easier. After the surgery you go through several food stages: clear fluids for 3 days so just broth, diluted juices, and water. Full fluids for about 2 weeks which is protein shakes and cream soups. Then 2 weeks of pureed food, so basically anything that can be turned into baby food. Then soft foods like scrambled eggs and soft cheese. Then finally a "regular" diet. During recovery you can only have extremely small amounts of food or liquid, I'm talking tablespoons worth, and it takes hours to have a cup of anything. By the time you're about 6 months out you can have a cup of food, but it should take you 30-45 minutes to eat it. You have to chew very well or you will get sick. You can't overeat or you will get sick. You can't eat certain foods or you will get sick. I'm lucky in that I don't have many food intolerances. Some people develop really strange and restrictive intolerances, like no reheated meat or no baked meat. Mine is basically no bread, no pasta, no sugar. No alcohol or caffeine either, but I didn't have those anyway. You can still go out to eat with friends, but you can't just have anything anymore and you will always, always take 90% of your meal in a to-go box. Protein is the biggest issue in your life and you will never be getting enough of it, no matter how hard you try, but your first thought has always got to be protein or else bad things start to happen. I don't eat as much protein as I should, and I am losing my hair. It happens between 3-8 months and should fix itself within a year assuming I can keep my protein up, but it's just another new complication in my life. Protein shakes every day are just part of my life now. You also have to take vitamins every day for the rest of your life. I take two multivitamins every morning, 3 chewable calcium pills and several D drops twice a day (at least 3 hours after my vitamins) and a B12 once a week. You'll never get the nutrients you need from food, so you have to take these. When you first have the surgery they'll have to be chewable, but you can switch to regular pills after a time. I still use the chewable ones because I prefer them and dividing pills and swallowing little bits of them is a big pain, especially since they aren't meant to be tasted. I order my vitamins online, so it can be a little expensive. Pain-wise, my recovery went fairly well. I had really bad back and kidney pain for a few days after leaving the hospital, but a trip back and a big bag of IV fluids cleared that up. It was just soreness and a sense of pulling for a few weeks. Mentally, recovery was very hard, especially the first week. You feel so sick and so exhausted and you wonder if you'll ever be normal again. When you have to get 8 cups of liquid in you and drinking a cup of liquid takes 60-90 minutes, that's 8-12 hours of drinking in a day. You basically never stop and it's very tiring and you feel uncomfortably full the whole time. It gets easier every day, but I cried a lot during that first week or two. Now I'm great and would do it all over again, and I wish I did it years ago. For how much weight I lost, I weighed a lot more than you so it's not really comparable, but I've lost over 100lbs in 6 months and I'm still losing every day (although it's slowed down). With a Roux en Y you lose about 60-80% of your excess bodyweight, which is easy enough to calculate. I think things like lap-bands are only 40-50%. It is not a light decision but if you are willing to fully commit it will change your life forever. Sorry for the rambling and this may be more than you wanted to know, but you should know what the challenges are both before and after surgery. It's no easy fix.
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Oct 27, 2015 17:24
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| # ? May 4, 2024 17:47 |
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E: thought this was gbs
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Oct 29, 2015 06:00
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