virtua

Las Cruces

[quote name='Rani' date='20 March 2010 - 03:43 PM' timestamp='1269125034' post='458458'] I've never been a proponent of surgical intervention for weight control. Though I know several people who've done it successfully. My instincts just tell me that when you walk through the door and they tell you your hair will fall out, something isn't quite right. My feelings about the subject got a lot firmer when my niece had stomach stapling. Something went wrong. She nearly died more than once through it all and as of over the last three years has had 29 corrective surgeries. She's thin, but there's a very good chance she will never have children because her body won't be able to handle the stress. And she's only 30 years old. The cost ended up being well over a half million dollars, only a small portion of which was picked up by the insurance company because they don't cover complications from elective surgery. My sister was bitching about the cost and I reminded her she could have gotten her daughter a gym membership with a personal trainer and nutritionist for about $12,000 a year. Surgery, is well, surgery. Even lap band requires general anesthesia and counts as invasive surgery. We all know how to lose weight. Really we do. Less calories, the right calories, more exercise. Michael Phelps reported that he consumes between 9,000 and 14,000 calories during training and competition. And he had issues keeping weight on. So I'm thinking deprivation, even when caused by surgical reduction of the stomach probably isn't the answer. For anyone who's done it successfully, more power to you, but I'm still not a fan. And never going to be. I just don't think it's necessary and doing anything the easy way never works in the long run. Ruby (if you watch the Style channel), has gone from 716 pounds to just over 300 as of this season. Not a lap band or surgical intervention in sight. Yeah, it's harder, but so is anything worth doing right. 'Rani [/quote] Well said, I'd second that surgery is expensive, permanent and possibly dangerous. As an alternative work with a bariatric dietitian and do the diet without the surgery. This is what I've done and so far so good. Also if you're a reader, check out Mindless Eating, pretty good book about the psychology relating to food. Its not preachy and its pretty interesting stuff about how we make decisions about food. No matter your decision, I truly hope it works out for you.