[phisigduchesscv]

Wow this kind of was a timely thread to bring back up for me. I actually recently went to ask my doctor about gastric bypass being an option for me because I'm 5'5" and weigh 300 pounds. I've been overweight my whole life (was a womans size 14 at the age of 12).

PM_mama, I am just like you and have tried nutrisystem, jenny craig, those fad tv diets, metabolife, Richard simmons, phen-fen and weight watchers (quite a few times). Every single time I lose about 20 pounds and no matter what I do I hit a plateau and can't lose any more. After a few weeks I get discouraged and go back to my old eating habits. The 20 pounds then come back and more often then not bring 5-10 pounds of friends with them. In some ways I wish I had never started "dieting" then maybe I wouldn't have hit the 300 pound mark.

Anyway, back to the gastric bypass. When I asked my doctor at Kaiser Permanente about it the only way they will allow someone to do that is if they are at serious health risks. Well I thought being 300 pounds was risk enough. My doctor told me though that the complications (1 in 300 patients have complications) from the surgery are not worth the benefits so the only patients that they look at for candidates are those who have uncontrollable diabetes or high blood pressure or have severe heart disease. Of course most things I read on the web or see on tv are all good things about the surgery so I was really bummed about the fact I'm not a candidate (blood pressure is 121/89, no diabetes, and heart in good shape). I've always wondered what it is like to be skinny and shop in "normal stores" and what its like to climb a flight of stairs without feeling like you have run a marathon. Now, when I was reading some of the bad things on this thread I'm a little more okay with the fact that I can't do the suregery unless i go do some private clinic and cough up the money. There's still part of me that wants to do the surgery but it will take me a few years to save up the money so I'll have time to really think it through

Carolyn