Making the decision

[Guest guest]

I did not start gaining weight until I was 27. From 27

to 37 I went from 180 lbs to 540 lbs and then I had a

nervous breakdown. I went into a hospital and was told

by the doctors that it was impossible to lose all that

weight. So I decided to show them. In three years I

went from 540 to 200 without surgery. I then moved

from NYC to LA and married every 40 year old males

dreams. A 20 year old. Big mistake. When I discovered

her cheating on me I promptly resorted to my good

buddy food. It did not take long to gain all of the

weight back and more.

I then became disabled and could not work. I met a

wonderful woman who stood by me even though I was over

600 lbs and she was a normal weight. The doctor I was

seeing at the time suggested having my stomach

stapled. I new I could not go on at this weight and

was desperate. I saw a doctor at the County Hospital

in San Bernardino who did this type of surgery. When

the County would not approve the surgery, because they

said it was cosmetic, this surgeon did it anyway. I

was desperate and willing to try anything. I did

whatever I was told and rapidly lost almost 400 lbs. I

now weigh 260 lbs and can fit into normal sizes but am

now trying to lose the last 70 lbs. It was not an easy

decision, but I did not want to die. Since losing the

weight I have been able to go to law school and return

to work. I am not as thin as I would like to be, but

at least I can walk, play golf, swim and exist in the

world. For me, fear was the greatest motivation. I

remembered hearing stories about people being buried

in Piano Crates and did not want to be one of them.

Norman Siegel

[Guest guest]

Tonya,

I think this is an excellent question. For me I resisted the idea of

surgery for a long time. I kept telling myself that I could loose

the weight and I did loose it many times only to gain back more. I

had heard the statistic that 95% of diets fail to sustain permanent

weight loss, but I thought I could be in the 5% who succeed. I

finally realized that I would never succeed and I had better accept

being morbidly obese for the rest of my life or have the surgery.

The other thing that really influenced me was that even thought I was

already morbidly obese, I was still gaining 10 to 20 pounds a year.

If I couldn't stop that, I would eventually be unable to take care of

myself. My only regret is that I didn't make the decision sooner. I

wish you the best of luck. I know this is a difficult decision to

make.

Martha Han

> I'm full of questions today. From my limited

> experience with this group, it seems most of us have

> been overweight for a long time. Would anyone mind

> sharing what made them go from trying every diet

> around to considering WLS and what actually led to

> their conclusion that WLS was the way to go?

>

> Thanks,

> Tonya

> Considering WLS

>

[Guest guest]

Norman,

Thank you so much for sharing more about yourself with us. Its so

wonderful getting to no our members. Please keep posting and keep us

updated.Im sure you will reach your goal!

Shell

> I did not start gaining weight until I was 27. From 27

> to 37 I went from 180 lbs to 540 lbs and then I had a

> nervous breakdown. I went into a hospital and was told

> by the doctors that it was impossible to lose all that

> weight. So I decided to show them. In three years I

> went from 540 to 200 without surgery. I then moved

> from NYC to LA and married every 40 year old males

> dreams. A 20 year old. Big mistake. When I discovered

> her cheating on me I promptly resorted to my good

> buddy food. It did not take long to gain all of the

> weight back and more.

>

> I then became disabled and could not work. I met a

> wonderful woman who stood by me even though I was over

> 600 lbs and she was a normal weight. The doctor I was

> seeing at the time suggested having my stomach

> stapled. I new I could not go on at this weight and

> was desperate. I saw a doctor at the County Hospital

> in San Bernardino who did this type of surgery. When

> the County would not approve the surgery, because they

> said it was cosmetic, this surgeon did it anyway. I

> was desperate and willing to try anything. I did

> whatever I was told and rapidly lost almost 400 lbs. I

> now weigh 260 lbs and can fit into normal sizes but am

> now trying to lose the last 70 lbs. It was not an easy

> decision, but I did not want to die. Since losing the

> weight I have been able to go to law school and return

> to work. I am not as thin as I would like to be, but

> at least I can walk, play golf, swim and exist in the

> world. For me, fear was the greatest motivation. I

> remembered hearing stories about people being buried

> in Piano Crates and did not want to be one of them.

>

> Norman Siegel

[Guest guest]

Tonya:

I know I'm a bit late in answering this post, but I just thought that

I'd add my perspective.

I have been on some kind of diet since about the age of 9, which

means I had been trying the " traditional " route for about 30 years

before I considered WLS. There was one particular statistic that

really hit home with me: tradional dieting for morbidly obese people

has about a 5% success rate, while WLS has a 80-90% success rate.

Those odds alone made it appealing to me. But the clincher was

seeing Kaiser's comprehensive (although imperfect) program and

resources of support.

I figured, how can I go wrong with a whole team of health care

professionals helping me out? I didn't feel alone in this struggle

anymore. Finally, there were doctors, case managers, nutritionists,

and mental health care professionals that took my case seriously

enough. The answer was no longer: why can't you just eat less and

exercise more? The wholeness of my disease was being addressed in a

clinical way.

The fact that I can tap those resources when I need them is what will

keep me on tract for the rest of my life. Also, maintaining my

connections to support (like this online group) is also a HUGE factor

in my continued success.

Would I do WLS again? Absolutely. Do I have regrets? Yes, that I

didn't do it sooner. Do I miss some of my old favorite foods?

Sometimes, but everything has a price and there is always a

tradeoff. But no bag of cheetos ever made me feel as good as:

* riding a roller coaster for the first time in 20 years

* going to the Big & Tall section and finding that everything was too

big for me

* getting rid of all my diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, and

acid reflux medications

* loving shopping for clothes for the first time in my life

* not having to wear slip-on shoes anymore... most of my shoes are

lace-up now, and if they are slip-on, it's for fashion, not necessity

* fitting in a coach airplane seat with room to spare and NOT having

to ask for the seat belt extension

* living without constant aches and pains (feet, legs, joints, back)

The list goes on and on. Hearing that Carnie (my original

inspiration for investigating WLS) has gained back some of her weight

(about 10 lbs according to a recent People magazine article) scares

the living daylights out of me, but I am determined to turn that fear

into positive power.

It is a reminder that I have been given a gift--my tool--that will

work as long as I watch what I eat (I'm not perfect, but I try) and

exercise.

Briefly stated: Life has never been this good.

Gemello

-135 lbs

> I'm full of questions today. From my limited

> experience with this group, it seems most of us have

> been overweight for a long time. Would anyone mind

> sharing what made them go from trying every diet

> around to considering WLS and what actually led to

> their conclusion that WLS was the way to go?

>

> Thanks,

> Tonya

> Considering WLS