Weight Loss Surgery
Without Prejudice
Watched a great show last night on Bariatric Surgery. It was made in the U.K. where more people now are dying from obesity than from smoking. One man was 44 stone and a young woman was 24 stone. The program followed their stories from before the operation to seven months after.
The man that was fourty four stone had to lose ten stone before the Surgeon would agrre to do the surgery. He did this by having a ballon inserted into his stomach pouch to lessen the amount he could eat and drank Bouillion for sustenance. He lost the ten stone and was admitted for the surgery. It took three and a half hours and was keyhole surgery. Really not that gory and surprisingly not too much bllood.
His frame was massive and all you could do was feel sorry for the man, who had never had a girlfriend, becamee winded at walking to his Sisters house up the street which was a mere 100 yeards away. Morbidly obese people have an addiction to food and its not like you can abstain from food for the rest of your life. You can ban alcohol, drugs, cigarettes but food is necessary to sustain life.
The man was so brave and confident he could do it. Take on the rest of his life change by having a stomach stapling, reducing his stomach to a mere 20% of what it was before. The first part of the operation was to remove the balloon and then the stomach was reduced in size, The skill of the Surgeons in these operations has to be commended. The Surgeon showed the fat surrounding the organs, the fat that kills in the long run. There are not too many old obese people.
It was one of the saddest things I have ever watched and also one of the most enlightening. The changes to the peoples lives was massive, huge, they were obviously very apprehensive before surgery. As everyone is. And considering that it is regarded "Cosmetic Surgery" by some people certainly didn't help. Families were worried about their loved ones going through an operation and some even said,
"You are fine as you are", but they weren't.
They had been discriminated because of their size, stared at, made fun of, ended up isolating themselves and becoming sedentary and lonely. The young girl did have a boyfriend but had been a hige eater from birth. She hadn't had the fun experience of being a carefree teenager going out clubbing or going on Holiday. The determination with which she faced the rest of her life was amazingly strong. They both said they had to hate the place they were coming from to make the necessary adjustment to only being able to eat bite size portions for the rest of their lives.
But the risks are so major to health that had to do something. The man was the heaviset man the Surgeon had ever done. He was 34 stone by the time he had the surgery and his weight loss was disappointingly slow at first. But eventually the pounds began to come off, slowly and surely. They were both still "Brain Hungry", meaning they saw foods they used to love and hungered for them but then thought of the consequences and decided against them.
The young girl worked in a bakery/Cake shop and was surrounded by temptation all day every day. For lunch she could eat a tiny amount of pasta well mashed up. Some fibrous foods can't be tolerated at all and some food will take a large amount of chewing. There are side effects like feeling sick if you eat too much and vomiting. But the benefits were huge. The man reduced in size what he gained in confidence. He had a girlfriend for the first time in his life. He could walk a few miles a day.
He knew with his size, eventually he would need plastic surgery to get rid of excess skin. But he wasn't the least phased by that. He had terrible odeama in his lower legs before the operation, they ached and turned red and painful. The risks to his health for dying from stroke, heart attack, diabetes were reduced pound by pound. And in the end you just wanted to cheer him on.
The same for the young girl, she could dress up, go out with her girlfriends and feel confident. The day she went into a shop and could try on a normal dress was so delightful for her I wanted to cry. She could strip off her clothes and not feel embarrassed. She gained body confidence, she gained health as she was also an asthmatic and smoked prior to the operation and was wheezing all the time. They still went ahead with the operation however. Hers was also stomach stapling not Gastric Banding. It was for life.
She looked at food and didn't want it. She never craved anything. Its was a major life change and I never ever saw either of them for one minute unhappy. Once the decision was made that was it. They just continued to make gains in themselves instead of on the scales. I know they both would have died early. The next few years would have been alright but as they aged, the strain on their bodies would have become too much.
It was seven months after towards the end of the show and everything was positive, every part of their lives. They were changed individuals. They were satisfied people. They had taken up the challenge and gone with it and you could see the pride on their faces. The morbidly obese are no different to any addict. Their addiction just happens to be food. Neither of them had mental issues that "made" them fat. They had just started on a downward spiral they could not stop. No matter how hard they tried.
I think it is expensive, even if you are morbidly obese but what price do you put on health? Govermnets should provide the means for morbidly obese people to be able to access surgety for nothing. Seriously. The actual procedure only took about three and a half hours even on the 34 stone man. I can't see why its not offered to the morbidly obese immediately. The benefits are so huge. And if you are not morbidly obese, just obese and have a history of diabetes, stroke, heart attack in the family then I would (If it was me) just pay the money.
Being overweight is horrible. I've been there. I was 84 kilos for years and I am tiny, only 5'2", now I am 58 and still want to lose another ten kilos. But the benefits to my health have been outsatnding. I have lots more energy, I also am more confident. And being able to fit into "Normal" clothes is just a delight. I go out more, I get complimented and now I just say thank you, before when I was overweight I would have wondered what someone wanted.
I have hanging skin on arms and I could not give a bugger. I love my new body, its the athletic body I had as a girl and I earned that body. I swam, ran and did gymnastics and dance. I put in to my body then less food and more exercise and I felt healthy. Now I feel healthy again. I have probably added another twenty years to my life and I want those twenty thirty years.
So if you are considering taking the step I say go ahead. I had cut out an ad for Gastric Banding and did nothing about it two years ago. I lost the weight myself and I came across the ad the other day and I know now I wouldn't have been accepted. You have to be a 100 kilos or a mass body index off the scale. And if you had asked me 18 months ago if I could lose 26 kilos I would have said you were crazy.
The only draw back I thought I would hate was losing my bust and it does go first, but after 12 months the fat redistributes. I will never have my 42 E bust again but neither will I have the butt to match and I could not care less. If you have the money and you are way too big, have gastric banding or the sleeve, you will never regret it. Yes, there is pain at first, the people on the show said. Yes, there are down days, but the impact on your health is worth every bit of struggle.
I had days when I wanted to just eat and eat and eat. I love my food. But I found ways around it. I made choices, fresh pineapple with sweetener instead of pastry or hot chips. I cleaned out all my cupbaords and the fridge when I started on the weight loss journey. I read every tip. I found freezinf cold water burns calories, so I had that before a meal. I put food on Barbie doll sized plates. I oven cooked dry pita bread and made them my "Crunch".
I had strawberries with sweetener as my treat instead of a Mars Bar. I had to change everything an I had to move more. Move and move and move. I started in the back yard by making three trips to the washing line instead of one. I decided to spring clean all the time and not just my house, everyone's house. I love cleaning anyway and it became my exercise.
I have changed my whole life from 18 months ago and honestly if I can do it, you can too.
:ove Janette
Watched a great show last night on Bariatric Surgery. It was made in the U.K. where more people now are dying from obesity than from smoking. One man was 44 stone and a young woman was 24 stone. The program followed their stories from before the operation to seven months after.
The man that was fourty four stone had to lose ten stone before the Surgeon would agrre to do the surgery. He did this by having a ballon inserted into his stomach pouch to lessen the amount he could eat and drank Bouillion for sustenance. He lost the ten stone and was admitted for the surgery. It took three and a half hours and was keyhole surgery. Really not that gory and surprisingly not too much bllood.
His frame was massive and all you could do was feel sorry for the man, who had never had a girlfriend, becamee winded at walking to his Sisters house up the street which was a mere 100 yeards away. Morbidly obese people have an addiction to food and its not like you can abstain from food for the rest of your life. You can ban alcohol, drugs, cigarettes but food is necessary to sustain life.
The man was so brave and confident he could do it. Take on the rest of his life change by having a stomach stapling, reducing his stomach to a mere 20% of what it was before. The first part of the operation was to remove the balloon and then the stomach was reduced in size, The skill of the Surgeons in these operations has to be commended. The Surgeon showed the fat surrounding the organs, the fat that kills in the long run. There are not too many old obese people.
It was one of the saddest things I have ever watched and also one of the most enlightening. The changes to the peoples lives was massive, huge, they were obviously very apprehensive before surgery. As everyone is. And considering that it is regarded "Cosmetic Surgery" by some people certainly didn't help. Families were worried about their loved ones going through an operation and some even said,
"You are fine as you are", but they weren't.
They had been discriminated because of their size, stared at, made fun of, ended up isolating themselves and becoming sedentary and lonely. The young girl did have a boyfriend but had been a hige eater from birth. She hadn't had the fun experience of being a carefree teenager going out clubbing or going on Holiday. The determination with which she faced the rest of her life was amazingly strong. They both said they had to hate the place they were coming from to make the necessary adjustment to only being able to eat bite size portions for the rest of their lives.
But the risks are so major to health that had to do something. The man was the heaviset man the Surgeon had ever done. He was 34 stone by the time he had the surgery and his weight loss was disappointingly slow at first. But eventually the pounds began to come off, slowly and surely. They were both still "Brain Hungry", meaning they saw foods they used to love and hungered for them but then thought of the consequences and decided against them.
The young girl worked in a bakery/Cake shop and was surrounded by temptation all day every day. For lunch she could eat a tiny amount of pasta well mashed up. Some fibrous foods can't be tolerated at all and some food will take a large amount of chewing. There are side effects like feeling sick if you eat too much and vomiting. But the benefits were huge. The man reduced in size what he gained in confidence. He had a girlfriend for the first time in his life. He could walk a few miles a day.
He knew with his size, eventually he would need plastic surgery to get rid of excess skin. But he wasn't the least phased by that. He had terrible odeama in his lower legs before the operation, they ached and turned red and painful. The risks to his health for dying from stroke, heart attack, diabetes were reduced pound by pound. And in the end you just wanted to cheer him on.
The same for the young girl, she could dress up, go out with her girlfriends and feel confident. The day she went into a shop and could try on a normal dress was so delightful for her I wanted to cry. She could strip off her clothes and not feel embarrassed. She gained body confidence, she gained health as she was also an asthmatic and smoked prior to the operation and was wheezing all the time. They still went ahead with the operation however. Hers was also stomach stapling not Gastric Banding. It was for life.
She looked at food and didn't want it. She never craved anything. Its was a major life change and I never ever saw either of them for one minute unhappy. Once the decision was made that was it. They just continued to make gains in themselves instead of on the scales. I know they both would have died early. The next few years would have been alright but as they aged, the strain on their bodies would have become too much.
It was seven months after towards the end of the show and everything was positive, every part of their lives. They were changed individuals. They were satisfied people. They had taken up the challenge and gone with it and you could see the pride on their faces. The morbidly obese are no different to any addict. Their addiction just happens to be food. Neither of them had mental issues that "made" them fat. They had just started on a downward spiral they could not stop. No matter how hard they tried.
I think it is expensive, even if you are morbidly obese but what price do you put on health? Govermnets should provide the means for morbidly obese people to be able to access surgety for nothing. Seriously. The actual procedure only took about three and a half hours even on the 34 stone man. I can't see why its not offered to the morbidly obese immediately. The benefits are so huge. And if you are not morbidly obese, just obese and have a history of diabetes, stroke, heart attack in the family then I would (If it was me) just pay the money.
Being overweight is horrible. I've been there. I was 84 kilos for years and I am tiny, only 5'2", now I am 58 and still want to lose another ten kilos. But the benefits to my health have been outsatnding. I have lots more energy, I also am more confident. And being able to fit into "Normal" clothes is just a delight. I go out more, I get complimented and now I just say thank you, before when I was overweight I would have wondered what someone wanted.
I have hanging skin on arms and I could not give a bugger. I love my new body, its the athletic body I had as a girl and I earned that body. I swam, ran and did gymnastics and dance. I put in to my body then less food and more exercise and I felt healthy. Now I feel healthy again. I have probably added another twenty years to my life and I want those twenty thirty years.
So if you are considering taking the step I say go ahead. I had cut out an ad for Gastric Banding and did nothing about it two years ago. I lost the weight myself and I came across the ad the other day and I know now I wouldn't have been accepted. You have to be a 100 kilos or a mass body index off the scale. And if you had asked me 18 months ago if I could lose 26 kilos I would have said you were crazy.
The only draw back I thought I would hate was losing my bust and it does go first, but after 12 months the fat redistributes. I will never have my 42 E bust again but neither will I have the butt to match and I could not care less. If you have the money and you are way too big, have gastric banding or the sleeve, you will never regret it. Yes, there is pain at first, the people on the show said. Yes, there are down days, but the impact on your health is worth every bit of struggle.
I had days when I wanted to just eat and eat and eat. I love my food. But I found ways around it. I made choices, fresh pineapple with sweetener instead of pastry or hot chips. I cleaned out all my cupbaords and the fridge when I started on the weight loss journey. I read every tip. I found freezinf cold water burns calories, so I had that before a meal. I put food on Barbie doll sized plates. I oven cooked dry pita bread and made them my "Crunch".
I had strawberries with sweetener as my treat instead of a Mars Bar. I had to change everything an I had to move more. Move and move and move. I started in the back yard by making three trips to the washing line instead of one. I decided to spring clean all the time and not just my house, everyone's house. I love cleaning anyway and it became my exercise.
I have changed my whole life from 18 months ago and honestly if I can do it, you can too.
:ove Janette
