The Top Ten Reasons Why WLS not easy way out

[Guest guest]

The Top Ten Reasons Why

Weight Loss Surgery is NOT

" The Easy Way Out "

One person's experience and perspectives.

10. It's very expensive. Many health insurance companies don't pay

for the

surgery, and even when they do, co-payments and other costs add up

quickly. Also, it can become very costly to constantly replenish

wardrobes as the weight comes off.

9. Recovery can be very painful. Besides the pain from the surgery

wound,

patients may experience nausea or severe gastric distress. Patients

with

sleep apnea may become sleep-deprived, with all of the associated

adverse

affects, when they must discontinue use of their CPAP machines to

avoid

disturbing the staples creating their tiny new stomach pouch.

8. Recuperation can take a long time. Patients may be " out of

commission "

and absent from work for a prolonged period of recovery time. In

some

cases, patients may not be able to return to work or normal pursuits

for up

to 10 to 12 weeks.

7. It's hard work and a major time commitment. For optimal results,

patients should engage in aerobic exercise for up to an hour daily.

For

bodies unaccustomed to vigorous exercise, this can be very hard.

It's also

a real challenge for WLS patients to learn all they must about

nutrition so

they can assure that their food and vitamins are sustaining their

body.

Finally, it can be exhausting to consciously, carefully and

painstakingly

chew every bit of food that enters your mouth.

6. Vomiting isn't fun. Nor is diarrhea. It may take patients many

months

(and frequent episodes of vomiting or diarrhea) to identify

incompatible

foods and to learn the practical limits of their newly reduced

stomachs or

digestive systems.

5. It takes extraordinary courage to consciously limit food choices

for the

rest of your life (and potentially limit social opportunities built

around

meals). For many patients, life after WLS means treating food as a

fuel,

not as a source of drama, excitement, comfort or a central life

focus: i.e.

eating to live rather than living to eat. While some procedures may

be

reversible, for most patients WLS is a lifetime commitment,

requiring a

lifetime of major lifestyle changes.

4. Weight loss surgery can be dangerous. As many as .5% of surgery

patients may die from the procedure, and up to 5% may experience

debilitating medical complications (especially if they listen to

their peers' advice more carefully than their doctor's.)

3. It takes great bravery and strength to deflect other people's

judgments

and society's myths about obesity. Fat people are often blamed and

shamed by family and friends with simplistic advice, unrealistic

solutions, and uninformed prejudices. Whether it's for genetic or

metabolic reasons, diet and exercise, willpower and discipline have

never, by themselves, been

enough. Our appetite regulators simply don't work. Without WLS, we

don't

know when we're full!

2. What gives anyone the right to judge which path is right for

another? Is

a person who runs a 10K taking a " better " or " tougher " route to

wellness

than the person who walks vigorously every day? Is working with

weights

better than water aerobics? Different strokes for different folks.

Each of

us finds our own right way, and how dare others judge our path to

health and

longevity! By their reckoning, the most courageous thing would be

for us to suck it up and die young.

1. For many morbidly obese people, WLS may be the ONLY realistic

alternative for achieving a long, healthy life. The newest research

provides

irrefutable evidence that body weight is largely a function of

genes just

like height or a family propensity for cancer. These genes help

regulate

appetite and metabolism. People prone to obesity seem to gain

excessive

weight easily, while finding it difficult or impossible to lose it.

That's why diets almost always fail and why WLS is currently the

only viable

weight loss option for many morbidly obese people, according to

endocrinologist Cummings of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound

Health

Care System. Most people can lose no more than 5-10% off

their " natural "

body weight by exercising and eating wisely.

Decades of diet studies show that more than 90% of people who lose

weight by dieting gain it all back within 5 years. " There are

exceptions, but when

you are speaking of general rules, the only people who are able to

lose more

than 10 percent of their body weight and keep it off are people who

have had

gastric-bypass or other bariatric surgery, " Cummings notes.

Glenn: www.gastricbypasscoach.com

Glenn Goldberg, J.D., R.C. offers free subscriptions to his biweekly

newsletter, " Through Thick and Thin " , at his website at

www.gastricbypasscoach.com.

WLS is " NOT the easy way out! "

© Glenn Goldberg 2003