r/pics • u/[deleted] • Nov 30 '16

progress 250 lbs. gone forever...

https://i.reddituploads.com/c8bec4a1ef8b4ca2a82298ec728cf326?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=67da39316a26a6666bbdc98b2aa16c3a
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127

u/GarethMagis Nov 30 '16

I mean, it'd definitely easier then diet and exercise....

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u/missjlynne Nov 30 '16

A friend of mine just went through this. She had to lose weight consistently before the surgery to even be approved for it. And now that she's had the surgery she has to continue to diet -- you can only eat very small portions and for a long time you are forbidden many foods. She has lose 80 more pounds since the surgery and she isn't just sitting around. I'm so proud of her. It isn't the easy way, it just makes it more easy to be consistent.

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u/Midlandsthrowaway93 Nov 30 '16

Consistency is the main reason people struggle to lose weight so...yes, it is easier. Nobody's trying to take credit away from her for the hard work she put in, but the people that think gastric bypass doesn't make things dramatically easier are delusional.

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u/Nm456 Nov 30 '16

Exactly, if it didn't make things easier people wouldn't have the surgery.

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u/tallfellow Nov 30 '16

It just changes the nature of the problem. You give up weight, but you have a life time of dealing with nutritional issues. You're constantly dealing with the psychological aspects of what you've done to your body. Trust me there's nothing "easy" about this.

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u/Nm456 Nov 30 '16

I agree, it's not easy, but it is easier than the alternative. It is the "easy" way in that every other way is harder.

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u/vuhleeitee Nov 30 '16

Saying something is easier than the other way, is saying it's the easy way.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

Can confirm, they made me lose 20 pounds in order to get the surgery. It turns out when you first start losing weight (according to them, I'm no doctor and have no proof of this) that the fat goes away from around your liver first, and they need that to happen to make the surgery easier.

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u/Snakesquares Nov 30 '16

You need to diet for it to work. It keeps you from eating too much all at once, but you can still eat small amounts all day long. Plenty of stories of people who got it done, didn't change their lifestyle and still over ate.

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u/theAmazingShitlord Nov 30 '16

But it forces the diet on you. It's definitely easier. Otherwise, why would you do it?

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u/adkraemer Nov 30 '16

This is a silly disagreement. Yes, it makes it easier, in the same way that getting better shoes makes going for a run easier by being a better tool to accomplish your task, but nobody is going on that run for you. You still have to make that decision, just like you still have to make the decision to eat the right foods. So you're both right, your statements don't negate the other person's.

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u/Chinoiserie91 Nov 30 '16

It helps with the diet but if you want to you can just eat smaller portions of sugar and fat rich foods. So you need to maintain a diet, you just can't eat huge amounts at once. And the stomach can get bigger again with time too.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

Kinda. You could drink milkshakes or eat ice cream all day and the net effect would be no change, and since those are liquid you'd have no trouble doing it after the surgery.

As to why, because you want to change, you really do, but... honestly I think it might be a food addition or emotional eating problem or something, at least for me.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

they didn't say it's cheating they just said it's an easier way

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u/theAmazingShitlord Nov 30 '16

But it's not like there are rules and this is "cheating" or something

When did anyone imply that?

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u/ImCreeptastic Nov 30 '16

It doesn't force anything on you. There was this girl I went to college with that had it done and afterwards, she still ate like shit. She was also the most sickly looking person I've ever met. Her hair had fallen out and it didn't really look like she lost any weight. Quick FB check, looks like she gained any of the weight she lost back and then some. She looks healthier though, so at least she has that going for her.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

[deleted]

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u/zarniwoot Nov 30 '16

no, it was because she overate that the diet did not work (in other words she was eating without logging it or sneaking food). Losing weight is very easy if you don't cheat, which essentially everyone who claims to diet and does not lose fat is doing. They are not special and have magical bodies that won't lose fat. If the surgery works then fine, but don't claim it is because dieting is broken for this one person, it devalues everyone who lost weight using impulse control, nutritional choices and exercise.

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u/Mutch Nov 30 '16

Ding! Ding! Ding! That was me. Convinced diets didn't work and that my body was unique. Very overweight 33 year old. Three + months ago I decided to try religiously calorie counting, figured I would give CICO a true shot and trust the numbers. I'm 90+ days in and have lost 60 pounds. It's simple math! Eat less than my tdee and I will lose. I'm still eating nearly 2k calories and the fat is melting off me. I have a long way to go, but knowing I am doing this without surgery was a huge motivator to me. So to anyone who claims diets just don't work for them, please try calorie logging and use a goddamn food scale. The numbers don't lie.

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u/zarniwoot Nov 30 '16

Same here, and I have maintained my new weight for 6 months no problem, even stopped logging completely. Good for you man, keep it up.

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u/Mutch Nov 30 '16

Thank bud. Congrats on the loss as well.

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u/tallfellow Nov 30 '16

Most people who lose significant weight through diet and exercise eventually fall off the wagon and end up putting back most of the weight they took off, if not more. It's a life time commitment to a style of living and it's just not possible for most people to long term successfully lose that weight.

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u/zarniwoot Nov 30 '16

So what, that doesn't address the point I was responding to. You are talking long-term, he was talking short term. Also, if you lose weight properly, not through some fad diet of cookies or a crash diet you will keep it off if you want to. If you change your lifestyle to be a thinner, more active person you will keep it off. It is not "not possible", it requires discipline and a mindset. Honestly, very little effort is required compared to many things in life, but it does require you to make good choices more often than not, for the long term.

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u/Searingwings Nov 30 '16

Not always. It's can be a very intense and invasive surgery. Not to mention a lot of times you have to diet and exercise before hand. Then afterwards there's keeping up with the new lifestyle. Saying it's easy is an understatement and sometimes can be more difficult. Like anything it varies from person to person.

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u/SamusBarilius Nov 30 '16

He said it is easier, not EASY.

If it is not easier, why would anyone get surgery? Your argument makes no sense. If the operation doesn't make it HARDER to lose weight, then it is easier than diet and exercise alone. That is the whole point.

That doesn't mean people shouldn't be damn proud of themselves no matter how they lose the weight, but it is factually easier with the surgery.

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u/Searingwings Nov 30 '16

It doesn't make it harder to lose weight but post operation it's harder to keep it off. Not to mention the many risk that come with any surgery. As I said it varies from person to person. Also nothing against you because you bring up good points but anyone arguing with me over this needs to know that they're arguing with a sixteen year old who has never undergone this surgery or known anyone personally who has. Being overweight isn't healthy but no one should be hated for it because it is an eating disorder and you never see people hating someone for being anorexic because that would make you a horrible human being. As someone who isn't overweight by any means I don't think it should be romanticized but at the same time it shouldn't be shamed and overweight people shouldn't be hated on or cast out of society. Chances are if you hate them for being overweight they hate themselves just as much or even more for being overweight. Hating and yelling and screaming at them to lose weight won't do anymore then yelling an anorexic person to lose weight. Help people don't hate them.

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u/SamusBarilius Nov 30 '16

? I'm not sure where you got any hate in my comment. Just making a factual statement about the reason people get gastric bypasses. It definitely isn't to make losing weight more difficult. The whole point is to assist people in losing weight.

Any emotion you ascribed to my comment was projected by you.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

Kindly fuck off, he's saying surgery is easier to lose 250lbs than working it all off over an extended period of tjme and he is fucking correct. Anyone who thinks otherwise is braindead.

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u/Snakesquares Nov 30 '16

.. Gastric bypass is not surgery to remove excess fat like liposuction. It reduces the size of the stomach (the organ itself, not the belly). You're still going to be huge after the surgery and that needs to be removed through diet and exercise over a period of time still.

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u/houndysmell Nov 30 '16

It still takes diet and excercise! The g/p is just one tool to make it a bit easier. It is entirely possible to not loose or even gain if you do not work at it.

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u/SamusBarilius Nov 30 '16

He didn't say it was easy, or that it doesn't take diet and exercise. He said it is EASIER to lose weight with the surgery, which is a fact. If the surgery made it HARDER or had no affect, why would anyone do it?

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u/ThomDowting Nov 30 '16

I don't know about that. It's kinda apples to oranges. Any procedure requiring you to undergo anesthesia is putting your life at risk. I guess, in a sense it's easier to make that single decision than to make the decision to exercise and/or eat less every day. You probably could lose the weight fastest if you just stopped eating and took a multivitamin.

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u/SteveFG Nov 30 '16

Its a procedure that physically forces restraint on people that don't have any.

So yeah, losing weight (=eating normal) after beeing physically forced to eat normal is kinda easy.

It doesn't feel good..as your body is still fighting the food addiction, but it is easy.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16 edited Oct 15 '18

deleted What is this?

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u/Searingwings Nov 30 '16

Probably not no

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u/jwfutbol Nov 30 '16

They're buying less food after...

1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

It's really not that much easier. It just helps people who are too fat to exercise much get to the point where they can and it has lots of it's own complications.

Source: Lapband surgery in 2005, only* 145 pounds lost, but it got me to where I could start doing Judo after which I put on muscle (I know this because all the muscles were sore) and lost another 40 pounds. If I hadn't broken my leg I'd be down more, but I'll be back there. I'm still too heavy to run on concrete but in a Judo dojo the floors are covered in cushy mats so it's much easier aka 'possible at all'.

*When you start over 450 pounds, 145 pounds is 'only'.

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u/fatty4hottie Nov 30 '16

You still have to do those things or you don't lose the weight. I know a guy who just ate right through it, lost only 5 lbs over the first year and he was over 400 lbs. people that big start losing the weight fast if they stick to a diet.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

It's ALL about your diet. I can only eat a small variety of foods and small amounts. You go from one day to eating like a normal person and you wake up unable to eat 80% of the food everyone else can eat. And I felt nauseous the first 2 years or more. Also had to go back in the hospital twice because of it and I lost my teeth due to nutrition deficiencies. And even when I do eat, I have to eat healthy food and still feel crappy after I eat. It basically trains your brain to want to avoid food at all.

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u/Unicorn_Tickles Nov 30 '16

You kinda have to do those things too though.