If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I’m not a huge fan of the proliferation of bariatric surgeries these days. I’m also not a huge fan of the pharmaceutical industry. But side by side, I’d much rather see people get this surgery than swallow “diet pills,” prescription or not. Both of these things remind me of the huge increase in prescriptions written for people with “depression” in the 1990s. Of course, depression, like morbid obesity, are very real illnesses that require medical intervention. However, depression medication for people that aren’t mentally ill and bariatric surgery for people 30lbs overweight (and yes there are doctors out there that will do both of these things) is in my layman’s opinion, unnecessary, stupid and possibly dangerous.

But as you will see when you read the Bariatric Girl blog, she spent 3 decades morbidly obese and thanks to life saving surgery, she is no longer ill and obese.  A human life has been saved. Thank the god of your choice for that! Seriously. There should not be a stigma about obese people having life saving surgery. If I had to have this surgery and someone had a stupid comment about it, I would just ask them, “hey, would you like me to drop dead?” Because let’s face it, people that are morbidly obese are on death’s doorstep. That’s what the MORBID part means.

If you are depressed, and have a clinical brain chemistry issue, if you are an obese yo-yo-tried-everything-dieter-for-decades, diabetic, severely ill, severely obese, yeah, you need medical intervention; and that is between you and your doctor.  And I can honestly say here, that if I needed life saving bariatric surgery, I would get the surgery instead of staying ill and obese.

Weight loss is a very personal journey; but one constant always remains the same for everyone : You must take in less calories than you expend. Period, end of story. Bariatric surgery alters your digestive system for life. Like any other surgery there are risks, and like taking pills, there are risks. The question you have to answer is, will the risks outweigh the benefits? I think in the case of some fussy primadonna with too much time, money and 40 lbs to lose, this surgery is way more riskier than the so-called benefits. This is what I call “taking the easy way out” .. you aren’t clinically ill, you’ve found a doctor that will perform this surgery (and hey, look at how many plastic surgeons have worked on Michael Jackson, when he certainly did not need it, lol) and so instead of learning to control yourself, you go out and get this surgery. I think it’s dumb. But your mileage may vary.

I was 120 lbs overweight when I started my new life as a slender person. 2 doctors told me I did not need this surgery. I do not have diabetes, I do not have high blood pressure, I don’t have any of the major illnesses associated with obesity. Arthritis and GERD (which has since gone away since I changed my lifestyle) are my challenges. These don’t necessitate bariatric surgery. I explained in another post why all of the fat people my age, in my family, have diabetes and high blood pressure, FAST FOOD, DINTY MOORE and SPAM. lol. I’m an artisan-bread-dipped-in-olive-oil girl, always have been, my problem is I intake way too many calories and did not exercise. That’s how I gained 120lbs. That’s also why, at 120 lbs overweight, I did not and do not have diabetes, cholesterol problems or high blood pressure. I’ve got the genetics for all three baby! I’ve never done the things to make those genes express… fast food is a killer, people. I know of several young adults that have had to have their gall bladders removed because of gall bladder disease due to obesity and fast food diets.

So, let’s take a look at what kind of diet these people that have had bariatric surgery eat. Now, this is absolutely fascinating, because it is the exact opposite of what Weight Watchers and and a lot of these other diet programs suggest. The only diet program I know of that comes close to mimicking the diet that a person who has had bariatric surgery easts is that doctor’s Medfast diet. Here’s the link from Duke Medical Center that give complete instructions to the bariatric patient after surgery. And here is the meal planning guide for bariatric surgery.

I guarantee you that if you eat the same diet the bariatric people eat, you are going to lose weight. Protein powder and clear liquid starting out the first 3 weeks. Oh yeah, you are going to lose weight.

The question is, can you overcome the horror that lurks in your own brain? The cravings, the cheating, so on… people that have had this surgery cannot cheat without getting very sick or busting their “pouches.”  Bariatric surgery is a straight jacket for your digestive system.  You either do what you are supposed to, or suffer the consequences.

I started losing weight when I adopted a modified version of what the bariatric person would eat. I graze and drink small amounts throughout the day. I do not eat large meals, or drink huge glasses of water. I do not stuff my stomach with raw vegetables. I keep my intake down to half cups of anything. Considering that I could put away a half gallon of ice cream before I started living like this, half cups of food/drink spaced two hours apart has reset my appetite in ways I never imagined. It’s so easy now not to cheat! That’s why I call it “bariatric surgery of the brain.” heh.

If that someone is still here, or comes back, baby, this post is for you.

If you’ve cheated and eaten a lot there is nothing you can do. You’ve blown your diet. What you must do right away is get back on the wagon and set your mind firm on the path of not cheating, and not deviating from your exercise, not one bite, not one lazy day in a chair doing nothing.

Here’s what I do when I am tempted to walk into an ice cream store and start plowing my way through a half a gallon of ice cream:

Tell yourself, NOT RIGHT NOW. Tell yourself: This wonderful, fatty, sugary food will be there for me after I lose all my weight; it’s not going to go away, it will still be there IF I want it WHEN I lose all of my weight. I don’t need it right now, I can wait. The day I weigh 135 lbs is the day I go looking for a huge cake or a half gallon of ice cream…

But guess what? I’ve got a while to go to my goal weight, and I have to be honest here, because I do not cheat on my diet, not one bite, I honestly am not craving this crap food like I used to. I can walk past the ice cream store many times without giving it a thought. Of course, I am human, so there are times when visions of sugar plums start dancing in my head, but guess what? Since I do not cheat on my diet, EVER, not one bite, EVER, the sugar plums aren’t as entertaining as they used to be, sometimes they are downright boring and I want them to go away so I can enjoy my damn salad in peace.

Losing weight is in your head. You must work with the brain you have right this moment. When a Dr. cuts you open and gives you bariatric surgery, he’s really messing with your head by making your stomach smaller so that it stops signaling your brain to eat. I’m going to discuss more about this in another post; but one Dr. actually told me the big secret to fooling your brain, to resetting your brain to accept smaller amounts of food and that is to injest smaller portions of food. This flies right in the face of all those diets out there that claim you can “eat all the raw vegetables you want!” No. And how many times I have failed on diets like that, keeping my stomach stuffed full. Vegetables or not, this does not work to solve the root problem of overeating and that is your brain. Your stomach MUST stop signaling your brain for food and the only way to do that is to give it less food, period.