Advise Needed I’m having second thoughts. I am 53 yo weigh 220 lbs and have worked out my entire life. I cannot seem to loose weight unless I eat about 1000 calories a day and workout 1 hour per day 5 days a week. I’m worried I get the surgery and suffer all the side effects. I worry about not being able to eat. I worry about getting too thin (like 2 of my friends size 0 now). I worry I won’t be able to enjoy a drink.
Results of EGD show a hiatal hernia how does this affect the surgery ? I have a final appt. on Monday then I have to schedule or cancel.
You can't lose weight without extreme calorie restriction and intense exercise because your body is fighting against your weight loss through the decrease of leptin in your system (see my other posts about how leptin is one of the biggest culprits that keep most obese individuals from long term weight loss before surgery). It is the same reason why almost all of the Biggest Loser contestants regained all of their weight. After losing the weight, they have to eat fewer calories and burn more calories than a person of the same weight who was never obese.
Surgery actually provides a way around this leptin response. After surgery, one of the side effects is the bypassing of the normal leptin response by your brain, and your body doesn't fight the fat loss quite as hard. It's temporary, but over a year, give or take, you get time to adjust your weight set point downward and build a new relationship with food that will keep you lean for years afterward. It's actually these side effects on our hormones that make the surgery so effective.
They can fix the hiatal hernia at the same time as the surgery, it's really not a very big deal. They discovered mine during surgery and just fixed it while they were in there.
Concerns about surgery, risk, side effects and the doubt that we can really be successful are all normal. We formulate these doubts when faced with change, or with something outside of our normal comfort and risk zone. The vast majority of people who have the surgery are very successful and maintain most, if not all, of their weight loss for the long term. Most people do not experience any serious side effects. It is an extremely low risk surgery, and it is very rare for someone to become clinically underweight after surgery.
People take risks every day that could potentially turn south and change our lives forever, but risks such as driving are just the norm. People tend to disregard the risk of it because they see it as a necessity. We justify the risk. For me, this surgery was a necessity, well worth the low risk associated with it. Was I anxious? Of course I was. I am always anxious about any procedure under general anesthesia. There will always be a risk.
Numerous studies have shown that the "all cause mortality" rate is lower for people who get the surgery than obese people who do not get the surgery. This implies that there is a higher risk of early death from remaining obese than there is to have serious complications or die during surgery or shortly after. There are many, many things in life that are more risky and could lead to injury or death. There are also many, many comorbidities to being obese that lead to early death as well, and that is the greater risk, in my opinion.
You obviously need to make your own decision and determine what your risk tolerance is and whether you want to take your chances one way or the other. We can't escape risk, regardless of our decisions, especially when we are obese. My perspective is obesity is almost a guaranteed ticket to an uncomfortable life and early death. Surgery is almost guaranteed to reverse all of that.
Lastly, it is 100% OK if you decide the risk is too much for you. It's totally ok. As you have tried in the past, there are steps you can take to improve your health without surgery. You can re-dedicate yourself to that and work hard. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making that decision if you don't feel the surgery is worth it to you. I totally get it.
Regardless of what you choose, I wish you the best and hope that things work out one way or another. We all deserve to be comfortable, safe and happy, surgery or not.
Good luck!
