god i hope they at least refer to a nutritionist first before going through such a radical procedure.
there are many aspects to one's relationship with food that can be addressed through therapy.

best wishes...I'm excited for you, to think of the changes this might bring to your life. Medication side effects have robbed you of a lot in recent years but the meds are so necessary...this seems like a very practical solution. will be thinking of you, over the coming weeks!

I hate this repeated statistic about how many people gain back weight or fail at dieting. (I believe the most repeated is 95% of people gain it back within 5 years.) It's because people think they can diet for a month or two or even 6 months, then go back to eating like they did before.
A diet is a change of lifestyle. We can talk about how hard it is to make lifestyle changes or keep lifestyle changes but it is absolutely possible for more people than the internet would have one believe.

Slow/fast metabolism, while not a myth, is wildly misunderstood and blamed for much more than it should be. Same with "genetics" and weight. The info has been so diluted over the decades and obviously is not helped with the companies selling weight loss "quick fixes".
I personally feel that shrinking your stomach or any kind of physically interrupting changes like that still don't address the root of the issue which is overeating, whether it be because of emotional issues or boredom or what have you.

This is a nice idea; I'd be up to do some thought exercises about it. However, people aren't overeating or eating unhealthily because they aren't in the circumstances to. Sure, food deserts exist but I'd accept that if it was just poor people who were overweight.
The US is super food-centric. We use food as an identity. Overeating is often seen as normal, down to the casual jokes made about it ("I want abs but I want a Double cheeseburger more yuk yuk yuk", as if u can't eat your double cheeseburger in moderation). Even a whiff of trying to get the population to eat to their own benefit is ridiculed as "muh freedumz".

Erica, I know you Reddit, and I would encourage you to subscribe to r/fatlogic and r/askfatlogic plus maybe even r/loseit.

Those three combined have really really helped me when I've been discouraged or questioning or just need some stress relief. They address a lot of common misconceptions about weight loss and the struggle/journey.

A lot of fat positive stuff online encourages diet myths, defeatism, and pseudoscience. I don't want to see you get too discouraged!!

I actually agree with this wholeheartedly. Most people's metabolisms, when weight is controlled for, are within a couple hundred calories of each other. People with "fast" or "slow" metabolisms are very rare. It's hard to conduct studies where we can precisely measure how much people are eating, because people suck at estimating their own caloric intake, but the most well-controlled studies that are based on experimenter measures of intake rather than self-reports tend to show that people's weights are based on how much they eat, not on different metabolisms. People who say "I don't eat a lot, but still keep on weight" or "I eat a lot, but can't put on weight" are mostly just poorly estimating how much they really eat. Maybe like 1% of people actually have a glandular problem that significantly affects their weight. For the rest of us, it's calories in, calories out.

However, I think that genetics still play a role, just not in metabolism. Rather, I think it plays a role in appetite. Some people just feel the impulse to eat more than other people do, so resisting cravings is much harder for them. This is just my hypothesis, I haven't done a ton of research into it. But for some people I know, losing weight wasn't even difficult. They just snapped their fingers, said "I'll start eating less," and did it. Eating more than they should was more due to them not really making their diet a priority, or not paying attention, than feeling the compulsive need to eat. Other people, they try to eat less, and they just can't stop thinking about food 24/7. They start having dreams about food. I think these people are facing more of an uphill battle than the others.

Yeah, a lot of fat-positive stuff is literally insane, essentially on par with denialism of the link between smoking and cancer, or climate-change denialism. The difference is that it seems to be a rare form of pseudoscience and denialism that infects the left more so than the right.

I'm all for "fat acceptance" if we simply mean by that not discriminating against larger people, and treating them with dignity. A lot of research shows that there's rampant weightism in society. People often unconsciously associate negative behavioural traits with being larger. Larger people have more trouble getting jobs even when physicality is irrelevant to the performance of those jobs. One study even showed that larger women are often given less financial assistance than thinner women are from their parents (for some reason, this relationship wasn't found for larger men).

But if by "fat acceptance," we mean the conspiracy theory that there is no link between size and health, and that the medical community is just lying about it having negative health effects because they are biased and mean, and even that intentional weight loss is bad because making the decision for yourself to lose weight somehow marginalizes other larger people, that stuff drives me crazy.

Also, didn't want to seem.combative by quoting you haha. It just reminded me of a self righteous rant I wanted to go off on.

And upon reading what you're putting down, we definitely agree w each other.

good luck, reprise! I have family members that have had the surgery and had great results.

I absolutely agree that it's not addressing the root of the issue. However, it fundamentally changes your relationship with food and basically gives you a period of 6-12 months to 1) lose weight basically no matter what and 2) break bad habits thay exist out of laziness/complacency (as opposed to actual disorded eating in itself like binging or whatever) 3) figure out how to improve that relationship.

Yeah, I read r/fatlogic sometimes. Believe me, I'm not a healthy at any size etc person at all. I know I'm fat, and I know it's bad for me. I do have hypothyroidism and I did gain most of my weight after being on psych medications, and those things don't help. But the problem is just that I eat unhealthy things and eat too much. I have to learn how to change those things, and this will help. It's like a hoarder or something getting a fresh new place to live in where they have a free maid for 6 months. Will it go to shit again if they don't address their mental illness and issues? Sure. Does it have to ever get that bad again? Nope

Do you think this procedure will mentally help you? Obv your brain is your brain and meds help but is your view of your body yet another tax on your mental state? Will this procedure be getting a hurdle out of your way?

I don't even think I worded what I wanted to say very well. For a reader I sure can be at a loss for articulation.

I think it will, yes. There was point in my life where something clicked and I started eating really healthy. I lost about 50lbs. I also was not clinically depressed for a few months. I am hoping it clicks again. Losing so much weight so fast is good motivation to keep it going. I expect when my body starts to feel better (as in, less pain), that will be a huge catalyst to long term change. And I have a really good therapist to help me navigate everything.

It's hard to explain how much being this big affects your brain. I am always aware of how big I am, I think about it all the time. I'm preoccupied with it. Not with food, but with how embarrassing and gross my body is. I've been overweight my whole life, but when I was 200lbs or so it wasn't like this at all. I'm not trying to r/gatekeeping (lol) but being fat and even morbidly obese vs being super duper morbidly obese is a big change and it's hard to explain or probably understand (as someone not super duper morbidly obese) how it can get that way and/or continue that way.

sorry if that's not clear. it's 5:30am and i haven't eaten solid food in a while

Sometimes even going from seeing yourself in the mirror and feeling “Bleh, I don’t like this,” to “Hey, an improvement!” can be the beginning of a better day. And it’s little steps like that which add up. We try to be body positive and feel comfortable with who we are, but nobody wants to look at themselves and feel bad, and our society makes us all feel ugly and unworthy all the time.

Sometimes it’s also just nice to have something off your plate (ha!) like “Okay, now I don’t have to stress out over trying to eat less.” As dumb as it sounds, even mentally it’s a lot of weight to carry around all the time.

Any specific plans to document the progress?

Keeping statistics and maybe even photographs could be useful.

i've been thinking about that. i think i'll take photos the day before surgery. i know what my weight was on tuesday when i went there (which is the most i'll ever weight!) so yeah I'll keep stats from that. I'll be going to my regular doctor once a month for about 6 months so i'll keep track of that

thanks and yeah. it's nice to not have to think and just follow a plan and know you have to or you'll get sick, and not really even wanting to eat anyway.

today was day 3. i worked (at a grocery store). not really hungry but i do feel brain fog and if i move too quickly i get dizzy. i'm probably going to end up leaving early the next two days.

i did leave early both days. done with work until the 19th. i was sick today at work for real, the protein shake i drank didn't agree with me i think. went from fine to bad in about 5 minutes. i was also really hungry for the first time today, but it's passed now

damn good job. it's no joke not to eat for days. you're almost there!

tomorrow morning i get to the hospital at 5:30am. shit is now real.

who will drive you home from the hospital?

let us know how it goes!! excited for you!!

my mom drove me home to her place. i may stay here for a few days or go home tomorrow.

it went pretty well... i had a bad reaction to anesthesia and was very very nauseated, they kept me in recovery for a few hours because i wasn't stable enough to go to the floor, had some O2 saturation issues. nothing major but super uncomfortable and stressful. i'm ok now though. have a fair amount of pain and really having problems drinking like i'm supposed to be but that's pretty normal for this stage.

i had the sleeve. the bypass wasn't really an option for me because of the mal-absorption part of bypass with all of the meds i take and how they'd need to be revised. they will still have to be just because there will be less of me to medicate but it will be predictable at least.

i had my preop appointment on 3/26 and between then and my weigh in on 4/3 i lost 26 lbs lol

still on an all clear liquid diet for now, and then shakes + clear liquids until the 16th, and then i'll probably be cleared for full liquids

my stomach now holds 2oz. it will stretch a bit in the upcoming weeks but not all that much. i need to drink 56+ oz of water/clears per day plus 18oz+ of protein shakes. seems impossible tbh but i'll figure it out.

were you nauseated come out of anesthesia? that shit always happens to me. and when i was younger i'd get disoriented and violent (lol).

sounds like you have some hardcore times ahead, but i am sure you will do well. and you've already lost so much weight!!

did you finish school or are you doing this on a break?

yes i was terribly nauseated, they kept me in recovery for a few hours because it was really bad and my oxygen was somewhat low. i remember them telling me i couldnt go to my room until i responded to them but i just couldn't do it apparently for some time.

yeah i finished quite a while ago now, dec 2017. i was trying to get into grad school but that didn't happen, then i tried to get a job in the field and that didn't happen, so i'm doing this now and waiting and then i'll figure out what i'm doing next. likely going back to school for social work.

im supposed to drink 60oz a day plus 6 oz shake "meals" and i can't get anywhere close

still in pain but hydrocodone helps. took extra a couple times cuz addiction is a bitch (former addiction holla but still an addict) but honestly the dose they gave me helps enough so imma be a good girl and just take that

i was planning on going home friday but lol that was very optimistic, so instead we got my cat and brought her here. she won't come out if my mom's in the room but she will for me. my mom went to work today so she's been chillin on the bed all day. i did an hour of work but that's enough for now

stay up, y0.

i lost 35 lbs in two weeks lol. 27 in the fasting week before surgery (water weight? idk it's always the same scale) and 8 the second week

im so hungry. i might get the ok to eat tomorrow. i bought some baby food meat in anticipation. i wish i was joking. im also gonna get some cottage cheese and some baby food sweet potatoes and some motherfuckin' scrambled egg substitute. also going to ask if i can have one of those little cans of v8 every day. and i bought some little 2.5oz plastic reusable containers on amazon. #ballin'