Anybody cancelled Bariatric Surgery after starting CPAP?

topher · Post by **topher** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:48 am

JILL, I would put off the surgery. I was 346 when I went on cpap in late feb. as of today i am 315 and walking 1.5 miles in 20 min. at lunch everyday

DeltaSeeker · Post by **DeltaSeeker** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:55 am

Jill, I had the RNY surgery in 2000 during which they repaired an umbilical hernia. Went from 320 to 220 in 9 months before surgical hernias interrupted my exercise (I had just finished a 12 week session with a personal trainer when I discovered the hernia). 6 months after that repair, the hernia came back It was just about a 2 year period during which I couldn't exercise. I did gain back 20#, but have kept off the rest.

Surgery is NOT a magic bullet. As others have said it is a last resort. I was sure I wasn't going to survive to have the surgery. Sure I would have a heart attack or stroke prior. I am thankful and grateful that wasn't the case. I had high blood pressure, diabetes, severe edema, bad knees, and a host of other problems (as I'm sure you can imagine). Plus I had 2 year old twins. My final deciding factor as to whether or not to have the surgery was that my children hadn't chosen to come into this world, I was the one that wanted them. Therefore it was my responsibility to them to be sure I did everything medically possibly to ensure that I would be around as long as possible.

If other things had worked for me, I would not have had the surgery. At one point I had lost 140# on liquid protein (spend over a year on liquids only) so willpower was not a factor.

You have the right frame of mind - especially starting to exercise and diet prior to surgery! Bravo! As others have said, wait a while. It took you years to gain the weight and the best way to lose it is slowly. Believe me - it ain't no fun realizing you ate one too many spoonfuls of pasta and having to excuse yourself in the restaurant. Also, the anemia I'm experiencing now due to having the part of the stomach that absorbs the iron cut out really sucks.

If you can do it on your own, please delay the surgery! You can always reschedule...

If you want to PM me, feel free!

jilkurtz · Post by **jilkurtz** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:37 pm

Topher & DeltaSeeker,

Thanks for chiming in and congratulations on your weight loss - however you achieved it!

This is really very helpful and gives me the courage to ask some of the professionals locally about this. I've still got a few more weeks before I have to decide and I'll wait and see until the end of the month before I make a decision.

Jill

DeltaSeeker · Post by **DeltaSeeker** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:44 am

Jill, for that matter, you could also cancel surgery up until the day of if you change your mind...

Best of luck, whatever you decide!

BTW, the reason I decided it was time for surgery was that traditional diet/exercise alone has about a 2% success rate or less (losing all the weight you want to lose and keeping it off for 5+ years) whereas bariatric surgery had a 75% success rate.

Thankfully I've kept most of it off. What it does after the short term is to level the playing field between morbidly obese people and "normal" people. But, there is a lot of research going on these days biological, psychological, etc. (including an article in Time, I think) about what goes on in overweight people and why the world is becoming fatter and fatter. My mom is passing the article on to me today. I'll let you know what it says.

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:51 am

I was of the opinion (passed on by medical professionals) that the overall success rate of weight loss programs is 5%. That is discouraging statistic whether 2% or 5%, isn't it?

The weight loss program that is based on high-protein shakes/puddings does a bit better. Run by a hospital locally, it goes into a nutritional education program, and continues with maintenance, stressing exercise throughout--that has a 40% success rate.

BTW, there is good research showing that 10,000 steps a day will help with weight loss. This equates to about 5 miles, but one may build up slowly by 10% per week, after doing an assessment of how many steps one takes in a normal day. It is possibly a good plan to do several days, because there is always the unusual day, isn't there?

Pedometers to count one's steps are available at most department and sporting goods stores for $30 or less. One that simply counts steps is adequate for most purposes. They are simply worn on the waistband or belt; that said, having a leash (about 4-6 inches long with a clip onto the belt loop or waistband) is a very good plan.

Some have a requirement for measuring the stride of the wearer/user, but with a simple step count model that is unnecessary.

Many schools have been giving pedometers to their students with the recent concern about our "growing" obesity problem with our youth. So, before buying one, see if your children already have one!

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but it may be of help to someone.

Feel free to let us know if this is working for you!

Thanks,

Karen,

Former physical education teacher thinking that she should get her pedometer out and start using it again!

Anybody cancelled Bariatric Surgery after starting CPAP?

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