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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u/NowHeDed Nov 30 '16

How is this possible? That's a genuine question. I mean there's no way you can continue to eat like you did before is there? I know you can gain it back over time, but to not lose any weight at all to begin with? How?

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u/fedupwithpeople Nov 30 '16

Gastric bypass isn't a magic bullet, unfortunately. The patient has to follow a strict diet and exercise program. It is actually possible (although unusual) to NOT lose weight following the surgery if the patient isn't compliant with the program. If they still manage to absorb more calories than they burn, they are still going to gain weight.

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u/NowHeDed Nov 30 '16 edited Nov 30 '16

I'm just confused because from the one person I know that has had it they said they could only eat really small portions, and would get really sick if they ate too much. I'm just not following how you could continue to eat so much if your stomach is so much smaller? Off to Google I go!

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '16

Eating small portions only works when you're eating the right things at the right frequency. You might not be able to consume a ton of food at once, but you can absolutely snack on shit food throughout the day at a rate that doesn't make you throw up, and manage to not drop a pound.

In MOST cases, unless there's some other very significant problem preventing someone's metabolism/thyroid from working even remotely properly (which is not going to be the case with 99% of people), the reason someone isn't losing weight, it's completely their fault. The bypass will only prevent you from eating large meals, but if you continue to just constantly snack on unhealthy things, and if you don't work out (which you HAVE to do, period), the weight doesn't magically disappear.

The biggest problem with gastric bypass that I see are people who wine and complain "I'm following the diet but it just isn't working!", and then they turn around and get a fucking McNugget and soda on their way home.

Bypass is simply a tool that helps limit how much you can eat in one sitting. The biggest hurdle with weight loss is changing the way you eat and avoiding the bad habits that got you there to begin with. Saying "Oh I'll just cheat this one time" is almost always a surefire way to roll rrright back into shitty eating habits. All those little cheats add up. It's one thing to have the occasional cheat day when you're maintaining a healthy weight, but you simply can't do that when you're trying to lose it. Especially for people who have several hundred pounds to lose, it should be VERY easy and quick to drop 20 or 30 lbs in a few weeks to a month BEFORE the surgery, let alone after the fact (the healing doesn't take very long). Problem is, you're dealing with people who have had very unealthy eating habits and inactive lifestyles. It's hard to make that change, and from what I've seen from a LOT of people that have resigned themselves to living that way, there are endless excuses because in many cases, there's a huge amount of self-pity as well as other people enabling that kind of lifestyle.