Originally Posted by
Ann2
No. Weight loss surgery doesn't guarantee 100% weight loss. Nor does it guarantee weight loss maintenance, which is the ultimate goal of WLS patients.
For most people who wind up needing WLS there are multiple reasons that they and their medicos have never adequately addressed as to WHY they became obese. Those reasons include factors that are biochemical, physical, psychological, emotional, habitual, and others. Obesity is a complex condition and a complex disease. It requires a lifelong commitment on the part of a patient to manage it well.
In my case, as a long-time overweight and obese woman I had simply never put my own needs before those of others. Self care was a bundle of behaviors I had never acquired and didn't practice. I could diet and lose weight. But, very strangely, I never fully grasped that maintaining a healthy weight loss required me NOT TO RETURN to all the behaviors that had led to obesity in the first place.
In my case, I also had used food all my life to feel better, to celebrate, to relieve boredom, anxiety, and any other unpleasant feelings you could name. Therefore, in my case, seeing a therapist has been a great help.
The gastric sleeve certainly got my attention and helped me to eat a lot less, especially initially. I lost 100 pounds. Four years later, I can eat more now, but still less at one sitting than I used to be able to eat -- UNLESS I am eating "slider foods" (highly processed foods like cookies, ice cream, processed breads and crackers, chips, sugary drinks, etc.) that go down easily and that the sleeve does not and never will challenge. So if I were determined to eat more than I need to eat to remain at this weight, I could certainly do so.
Also in my case, I think that five years ago, when I became nearly immobilized and agoraphobic due to having finally gained enough weight that I was 100 pounds overweight, I finally "touched bottom" and was forced to admit that I had one last chance to get healthy before I was too far gone to help myself.
I will also say this very clearly: No one can or should coerce anyone into deciding to have WLS. This decision HAS to be made by the patient her/himself. And that decision has to be fueled by a sincere commitment to do everything it takes to succeed.
That's my take on WLS. Others may feel differently about it than I do.
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