Just a note

I was asking my doctor about a piece of information I had received about a delayed weight gain, a number of years after weight loss surgery. I was wondering if this delayed response was a particular issue that I had to watch for and be concerned about. His response was enlightening and yet totally obvious. He stated that in lectures to new patients in group support meetings that he has seen weight regain with all procedures over all periods of time.  His  strongest point during the lecture is always:  A good operation done correctly gets all the weight off, the patient then has to keep it off. 

So it is the patient's responsibility to keep the weight off. How novel. I have discussed previously the problems with regaining weight dearly lost and why. But this statement really puts that issue into perspective. If you have this surgery because you are overweight, you are responsible to yourself and to those who care about you to ensure that you do not regain the weight. It takes a personal responsibility to keep the weight off. The path you took to get to the weight loss was one traveled with some trepidation, some  excitement, and some hope. It was not a SIMPLE solution to your weight problem. It required a substantial commitment, in terms of money, desire, and the willingness to change your life. 

As a cook I hear from customers all the time that all it takes to lose weight is a starvation diet and exercise. Its easy isn't it?  No it is not. A great chef at a restaurant owned by a slender person is told that all he has to do is exercise and diet. All will be well.  Yet he still is heavy, still at risk, and to some degree still looked upon as lacking some will to change. 

Choosing  bariatric surgery is not the choice of a weak-willed person. It is a choice made to better yourself using a tool that is available and safe.  But it is not easy. It changes you. It allows you new freedoms and a new healthy body. It does not make you smarter, more reliable or a better driver. It does make you less heavy. It enhances your life in ways you have no idea about until they happens. It changes not only your waist size but your attitude. But like the doctor said, the surgery can get the weight off, but the patient has to keep it off. You have to decide if you want to go back to the way you were before the surgery. I have thought long and hard about that question and there is NO chance of me returning to that life. I am healthier, stronger, happier and in a better place and will never go back to that persona again. It means that I have taken personal responsibility for maintaining my diet and my exercise. I still eat Eight Bites, not because I have to but because I choose to. I can eat more but choose not to. Choices......

So it is very personal when you decide to have this life-changing surgery. But it is also your decision to ensure that you maintain it. I wish all of you the very best, and a longer and healthier life.