Because they have given up on diets and see it as the last option and it does work.

In some places they won't do it unless you are over a certain BMI (reasonable enough I suppose) so people try to get fatter so they can have a bypass.
I can understand the temptation to find a way out of what seems to many people like an impossible situation.
Anyone who finds low carb and gets results with it is really fortunate in my view compared to all the people trying to lose weight by other means.

So stupid that isnt it. Cos you have to get so obese that when/if you do lose the weight, you're then left with the saggy skin and hanging stuff everywhere - so you need surgery for that....... thats however many years out of your life and more surgery - and you still dont have the perfect body - all scars and stretch marks lol!!!

Jo xxx

Really? You are judging the people who responded to this thread with truth 3 1/2 years ago.

People don't just think this is the easy way, they think that the surgery will fix a lifetime of bad behaviors without modifying them.
The effects of the surgery appear to be mostly for the short term(2-3 yrs). I see it all the time here in NYC. They have the surgery, lose a ton of weight and then I see them regaining it over time.
I saw a man yesterday who had the gastric sleeve put in several years ago. He never lost much at all. Now he is bigger than he ever was. I was grocery shopping and there he was in the fresh bread aisle. He brings pizza boxes home all the time too.
SMH.....am I judging him? Yup! It pains me to see this going on around me but it does. I've been on both sides of this fence. So yeah, I judge.

I dont think surgery addresses the issues of addiction to sugar and carbs. It does seem that it temporarily may prevent people from eating too many, but they soon manage to enlarge their stomachs again - addiction is strong and you have to deal with that, otherwise, you're only putting a barrier up to how much you can eat - and lets face it, how many of us ever ate because we were genuinely hungry?????? Surgery is just a very painful and risky procedure that may help for a while.

Jo xxx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastri...y#Complications

Gastric (stomach, intestines) Bypass (to go around). Imagine if you have 20 miles of highway and you build another highway that shortens the route by 15 miles. Good for traffic, not so good for your health.
Here's just the list of nutritional deficiencies from the huge list of complications.

LOL! Old thread.

Ya its old but why not bring it up again?

I used to want gastric bypass surgery, I never thought it was easy I thought that if I couldn't eat as much I wouldn't be able to binge any more. Then I med a lady that had the surgury done, got lost tons of weight. 8 years later and she has probably only gained 50 lbs but she looks bad. All the weight was gained in her middle and she had all that extra skin removed and has the scares and it just didn't turn out the way she had planned. I remember seeing her in the store and she was buying the big 1 lb bars of chocolate. She told me that she doesn't eat much, just 1 ever 3 days. Old habits die hard, I know she has to have vitamen shots and such due to defficiancies.

Gastric by-pass surgery is one of the most scary things in the health practitioners arsenal. There is so much positive research out there for it, to the point it is the ONLY weight loss process that achieves weightless in the years after intervention.

Personally I think it is madness, it does not stop you eating ice cream, drinking full fat soda, or anything really, but it reduces your portion size. Or slows down your eating.

Like a lot on here I am a food addict I like eating food, if I had bypass surgery would that change? NO. So would I loose weight, initially test, but long term no I don't think so.

I know of only a couple of good success stories, and lots of not good failure stories!

No judgment here, just facts.

I personally know six people who have had various forms of bariatric surgery. I know that N = 6 is a small sample, but let me share with you their outcomes:

#1 had a “stomach stapling” done (this was in the early 80’s, before what we know today as “standard” bariatric surgery). He lost a lot of weight, but over time he learned how to defeat the procedure by eating tolerable foods…like ice cream, milkshakes, and soft but calorie-dense foods. All the weight, plus a good 75 pounds, came back.

#2 had a Lap Band. She lost well and maintained for a few years, but has now been steadily regaining.

#3 had an RNY. She lost well, maintained for a year or so, then regained probably around 40 pounds. Since then she has been unhappy with her weight and actively on a diet every single time I see her. This is significant because while she has never regained to her pre-surgery weight, she had an expectation that if she had the RNY, she would never have to “diet” in a traditional sense again.

#4 had an RNY. Again, she lost well, and then once she reached her lowest, she pretty much immediately started regaining. I don’t know her weight now, but I suspect her current BMI puts her well within the range to qualify for bariatric surgery…again.

#5 had an RNY. Once again, lost like a champ. Unfortunately he passed away about a year after the procedure, so there’s no way to know the long term outcome. It’s unclear whether the procedure was actually a factor in his death (it’s a long story), but it’s possible.

#6 had a gastric sleeve. This was only about 6 months ago, so long term outcomes are unknown.

Additionally, all of these people (with the exception of knowing about #6, since I haven’t been getting regular updates) experienced, to varying degrees, the side effects we hear about: dumping, diarrhea, inability to tolerate certain foods, etc. And most of these folks looked much, much older than their age following the substantial weight loss, and still do. I know that a lot of weight loss, regardless of method, can age you…but these folks just look kind of “frail/unhealthy” for lack of a better term.

Are there success stories with bariatric surgery? Absolutely, I’m not saying there aren't. Would I take these odds? Not a chance.

This sort of surgery is really just a way of taking the responsibility of will power away - but unfortunately it can be overcome

Jo xxx

My Endo recommended GAstric By pass. I also had my ortho and primary drs recommending it. Thinking it is a cure all for obesity when diets weren't working and one was a type 2.

I did a whole bunch of research on it. And the conclusion I realized is that, this is a really awful procedure that never really run through clinical trials. Mortality rate is really higher than what they are saying. But they always blame it on pre-existing condition.

I am anemic and none of those doctors realized I would have to go for intravenous iron every 6 months for the rest of my life.

You would be forever malnutritioned, taking vitamins because you are essentially bypassing the part of the intestin that absorbs the nutrition out of food.

And to boot, if you can't control your eating you will suffer your the consequences. I was a person struggling day in and day out to not eat those things I craved.

And when the endo recommended it to me. I told her it wouldn't work. She argued with me, saying yes it will, I say no it won't and we went back and forth.

until she admitted that currently right now 40% of her patients gain all the weight back.

And another smaller percentage gain back like 25% of the weight back.

Hmmmm... Interesting uh? Challenge the doctor some and the real stats start coming out.

Too boot it really isn't reversible.

The last I read was someone developed a sleeve go inside that part of the intestint so the food wouldn't get absorbed. This was it would be better reversed.

But the requirement was if you did that you had to be on the track to get a GBP permemantly.

I am grateful I was smart enough and spent days researching it. And that some people took the time to post up small pages talking about it.

Samika, if my cousin got gastric bypass surgery, I would pray that she will not suffer a life of problems from having the surgery. I was going to have bypass surgery, and I canceled 3 days before I was to have surgery. So glad I did. My friend had it done a few years ago. She is skin and bones and not thriving well. Gastric bypass is serious and does not have to be done. God gave us brains, and we need to use them to eat correctly. Easier said than done, but you can do it, and you will be proud of yourself.

Since this thread has woken up again, let's sum up the last ten years of sporadic research I've done on this subject, since starting on Atkins and losing, and keeping off, 70 pounds.

• There's a "honeymoon" period that can last over a year because the extensive surgery disrupts appetite. But the area heals, as best it can, and then the appetite COMES BACK.
• It was easy to follow the fussy rules when a person wasn't hungry. But when it comes roaring back, it cannot be satisfied with half a cup of food.
• So people wind up snacking all day, and it is so much trouble to prepare and digest protein that they fall back on shakes and bars and milkshakes and ice cream and such.
• They probably had a carb problem. Gastric surgery does nothing for that. In fact, deprived of what is often their only coping mechanism, a huge percentage of bypass patients become addicted to medicines or alcohol.
• They don't tell you this, but very few patients hit their goals. About half keep a considerable amount of weight off, but it's not close to what they wanted to lose. Half -- don't.
• There are always very serious nutrition risks. Successful or not, everyone deals with malnutrition issues. Some are intractable and untreatable, which can cause serious nervous system dysfunction, and even death.

You ALWAYS hear from bypass patients during the honeymoon period. You RARELY hear from them five, seven, ten years in. Because now so many of their problems, and the weight, have come back, and they have brought new problems with them.

Look at a success story: Al Roker, who had it over ten years ago, lost, and kept off, 150 pounds. Doesn't that show it CAN work? Oh, sure.

If you have enough money to have help with all the meals and exercise regimens. If you can afford all the doctor's appointments and injectible vitamins and special supplements needed afterwards. If you don't mind bouts of room-clearing gas and unpredictable bodily functions.

After all, Al Roker, a guest at the White House, endured going to the bathroom in his pants. This is so common he carries a change of clothing with him at all times.

Remember: this is the BEST one can hope for. The very, very, best.

I do dispare with most of my profession to be. And it is just one reason that I really dislike doctors!!

Gastric surgery is not the answer and is never going to be the answer, the side effects are horrendous, the risks are horrendous, and the long term complications are unknown. I don't know what the criteria in various US states or Canada, but the uk is a nightmare, patients what it, they really do. They are under the belief that it is the best solution for them. Worse still is that our guidelines say it is a viable and sensible option. So any patient can get those guidelines and strong arm at least one primary care doctor into giving in.

Holland is worse, they will do it at the drop of a hat. There only upside is that they have a degree of physiological support that goes with it.

I firmly believe that simple diet, and some blood tests, which would co-inside with psychological interventions is all a lot of people need for the management of weight.

But as the AMA has classified obesity as a disease, it will now be even more medicated for, and even more responsibility will be pilled on the medical profession to save people from it.

Any how, rant over, I'm away to reflect on how I can promote health as part of my final portfolio!! LOL