My best friend just had gastric sleeving, and she is already experiencing low B-12, and has been to the ER once for extreme weakness and fatigue. I know that WLS does have some success stories, and several people that I know who havehad the surgery have told me that they have been trying for years to lose weight with no success. My friend lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks BEFORE her surgery??? I am not saying that surgery is the easy way out, those who have had it still have to do the work to lose weight and keep it off. I worry for her, the struggles she will go through, the malabsorbtion she knows she will suffer with. I just pray for her that she finds a good support group to become part of when the real struggles begin for her.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your friend . I hope they can fix the problem and she feels better soon.

It is so sad that stories like this get buried by the messages that people want to hear.

People are absolutely awful at understanding comparative risk. They allow their beliefs and wishes to paint a reality that isn't real. They get upset over things that are so tiny and unlikely to do anything. Mountains from mole hills and visa versa. Being overweight is bad, but is it dangerous or bad enough to warrant weight loss surgery? What drives the desperation that drives people to it? It'd be far less dangerous to treat the desperation and its causes than to treat someone nearly dying from WLS.

I so agree.

I was 39 when my life turned upside down. For a while, I was very slim. It was the Grief Diet, and I don't recommend it.

As things settled down, I started gaining. I wasn't upset; I just tried my ol' low fat, portion controlled, exercise program.

Only it wasn't working. And I was gaining with frightening speed. I put on almost 100 pounds over a year and a half. I wasn't losing, I was gaining, and I was being driven mad by the hunger.

If Atkins hadn't come along, would I have kept gaining? Would I have become desperate?

I think so.

The problem is you might just still be fat, but happy and can't have that, can we? Although I don't think it's possible to get really happy enough without good nutrition. You can't balance the brain on sugar and too little good fat.

Amen to that. That's the best part about this WOE - my brain functions & I'm not depressed all the time. Second best - or maybe it's a part of the best - is my blood glucose is under better control.

Another casualty of weight loss surgery.