If you're contemplating weight loss surgery....

[Themius]

This is actually really horrible advice to give someone. Yes water is better for you than coke. Tea and juice actually have just as much sugar in them as cokes do. Some times juice has MORE calories and sugar in them than cokes do. For the past 4 years I drink nothing but bottled water with those singles-to-go flavor packets for flavoring. One bottle with one packet has 0-10 calories and no sugar. I rarely drink soda, Starbucks, smoothies, or teas. I will have them when we go out to eat somewhere but seeing how we don't even eat out once a week that's a hardly ever situation.

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The recommended water consumption for your average person is only 8 8oz glasses per day. That's a total of 64oz. I drink that much and then some. Try knowing what you're talking about next time before you spout bullshit.

I replaced all my drinks with water which I actually like more than most drinks. And kombucha

[ohwell]

That's a myth, but it's better for you than soda because of the vitamins.

Fruit juice is generally bad though. It has all the calories of the fruit and none of the substance to make you feel full. This is a very bad thing and a trap a lot of people fall into.

That's definitely not a myth. High Fructose Corn Syrup is the sugar in most sodas(you pay more for ones with "real sugar" which still isn't the same as juice. HFCS is one of the main cited reasons behind obesity in the US.

[Coolthulhu]

Bah. I have the opposite problem in that I fail to gain weight no matter how much I eat and lift, but resorting to tricks with a lot of potential complications would be a defeat for me. And it's not like I'm not tempted, especially given I could legally get my hands on GH and steroids, but yeah, nah. I don't think either method of cheating nature should be encouraged, or something to be proud of.

Tea and juice actually have just as much sugar in them as cokes do.

Just because you like to sweeten your tea, it's by no means "horrible advice". There even are green teas that are naturally sweet. And it's easy to assume you're talking about packaged juices, because fresh fruit juice has a lot less sugar than cokes, on top of being healthy for other reasons.

[cozzri]

If you absolutely need juice, I suggest mixing it with water or tonic; most juice is so high In sugar that you will barely notice a different in taste up to a certain point. I mean, you are basically making your own flavored water, but it’s a hell of a lot more healthy for you than 100% juice or concentrate, plus you save money. When you are thirsty, your body isn’t looking for calories. Play around with mixing your own drinks, you can come up with some pretty good tasting drinks that will hydrate you and not pump you full of sugar.

[Hadriker]

I would still advocate eating less calories than you burn through the day for a progressive and stable weight loss.

It's not magic, but takes a certain amount of willpower. I guess invasive surgery is a valid option too and the choice is your's of course.

Although I hope most people would choose the first option.

Isn't that all these surgery do? make it so you can't physically overeat? Even OP said you still have to watch what you eat and stuff so you are still changing your diet it up. seems like it just makes portion control and overeating easier to manage without having to rely so much on willpower.

[Kathandira]

snip

Congratulations!

Now make sure you continue to follow your physician's orders. I'm sure you've already been informed, but the after care, and the going forward care are very important.

Proud of you!

[zenkai]

@gamer77 Congrats man.

[Rides]

I have made one change to my diet so far i cut out the soda's and drinks with calories and switched to flavored waters and matcha green tea and have already lost over 10 pounds in a few weeks without changing my diet i'm trying to get some more motivation to change the rest of the diet lol hopefully i will get there i wonder how many people make that new years resolution to lose weight every year.

[Cizr]

Woah I thought that you are a teenage kid based on your cringy posts and nickname but you are actually old man.

Good job with the weight loss! Hope you picked healthy habits and wont regress.

[gaymer77]

I mean do what you can to lose weight, but I'll always think less of people who go thru with the surgery. To me it just screams "I couldn't do it so I just paid money and took the easy way out."

If you think the surgery is the easy way out you know nothing about the surgery. It is a life altering operation that changes how you process food. Not only that but certain foods your body rejects some times. If there's too much sugar or fat in foods you'll often get dumping syndrome which is a horrible thing to experience. I had it during my third week post-op when I went to eat some split pea soup that I had had 3 other times post-op. My body didn't like it that 4th time and I was nauseated, threw up, room was spinning, started sweating profusely, and had to lay down until it passed. Some people can't process milk after surgery so they have to get almond/soy/lactose-free milk instead. Some people can't even have salads anymore because their body rejects it and makes them dump. Then you throw in that you have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of your life and can't have ANY NSAIDS (ibuprofen, naproxen, Alieve, and such) because it can cause you to get ulcers. Alcohol not only hits you quicker but hits you harder than before surgery because it more or less goes straight to your small intestine to be absorbed. Before surgery I could drink like a fish but on my birthday I went to Famous Dave's with my boyfriend and got a raspberry vodka soda that came in a small glass. I had maybe 1/4 of it and had to stop because I was already getting drunk off it. With the surgery, you still have to work out & watch what you eat. It is just a tool to help you in your journey to lose weight.

Just because you like to sweeten your tea, it's by no means "horrible advice". There even are green teas that are naturally sweet. And it's easy to assume you're talking about packaged juices, because fresh fruit juice has a lot less sugar than cokes, on top of being healthy for other reasons.

The horrible advice part I was referring to was switching soda for juice. There's just as much sugar & calories in an 8oz glass of juice as there is in an 8oz glass of soda. Drinking unsweetened tea is healthier but realistically people don't drink unsweetened regular tea because it is bitter tasting.

Woah I thought that you are a teenage kid based on your cringy posts and nickname but you are actually old man.

I wouldn't call myself old because I just turned 41 last September. The only part of my hair that is grey is my beard which started happening when I was 25 and started looking after my nieces which caused me intense stress (they were 10 and 12 years old at the time and constantly fighting & yelling at each other). The funniest & most ironic thing about my hair is at the bottom of my sideburns there is almost a straight line between where the grey in my beard stops and my natural hair color starts and then no grey on the top of my hair at all lol

[Alvito]

You look great! Nice job

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There are a lot of sad, bitter, and angry people here. Just ignore them.

Well it is worth pointing out that surgeries like this don't treat the problem they only treat the symptoms and many end up eating themselves out of it at some point putting them in a very dark place. Now some do learn to take care of themselves and eat better after a procedure like this, but if you can learn that you can lose the weight naturally as well. Having said that @gaymer77 holding the weight off for 6 years is impressive and that also means that he has adjusted to a healthier lifestyle and that should be recognized at the very least. The very sad and more common flip side though is people that do this and only change habits because they have to and keep trying to find ways to over eat or eat poorly. I just had a coworker get this done just over a year ago and she is now back above her pre op weight and damn near had a suicidal mental break once she tipped back over her pre op weight. If nothing else going down a 100 pounds as she did than back up in about 14 months is hell on your body. Again @gaymer77 is trying to help or offer insight and that is great. People need to know what they are about to do and not look at this as a one stop fix all.

[Deleted]

If you think the surgery is the easy way out you know nothing about the surgery. It is a life altering operation that changes how you process food. Not only that but certain foods your body rejects some times. If there's too much sugar or fat in foods you'll often get dumping syndrome which is a horrible thing to experience. I had it during my third week post-op when I went to eat some split pea soup that I had had 3 other times post-op. My body didn't like it that 4th time and I was nauseated, threw up, room was spinning, started sweating profusely, and had to lay down until it passed. Some people can't process milk after surgery so they have to get almond/soy/lactose-free milk instead. Some people can't even have salads anymore because their body rejects it and makes them dump. Then you throw in that you have to take vitamin supplements for the rest of your life and can't have ANY NSAIDS (ibuprofen, naproxen, Alieve, and such) because it can cause you to get ulcers. Alcohol not only hits you quicker but hits you harder than before surgery because it more or less goes straight to your small intestine to be absorbed. Before surgery I could drink like a fish but on my birthday I went to Famous Dave's with my boyfriend and got a raspberry vodka soda that came in a small glass. I had maybe 1/4 of it and had to stop because I was already getting drunk off it. With the surgery, you still have to work out & watch what you eat. It is just a tool to help you in your journey to lose weight.



The horrible advice part I was referring to was switching soda for juice. There's just as much sugar & calories in an 8oz glass of juice as there is in an 8oz glass of soda. Drinking unsweetened tea is healthier but realistically people don't drink unsweetened regular tea because it is bitter tasting.



I wouldn't call myself old because I just turned 41 last September. The only part of my hair that is grey is my beard which started happening when I was 25 and started looking after my nieces which caused me intense stress (they were 10 and 12 years old at the time and constantly fighting & yelling at each other). The funniest & most ironic thing about my hair is at the bottom of my sideburns there is almost a straight line between where the grey in my beard stops and my natural hair color starts and then no grey on the top of my hair at all lol

Sounds pretty stupid if you have to take supplements as a result of it due to lack of will to stop eating too much. What happens when you can't get hold of it?

[jackofwind]

People in this thread need to generally stop being miserable curmudgeons. I doubt even half of the people giving @gaymer77 shit would even dream of posting full body shots of themselves on this forum.

Grats on your weight loss and I hope you continue to find success!

[Moadar]

Good job. Man you look like a different person. Crazy how much weight loss changes someone's face.

[Katie N]

Instead of eating less and being more physically active you get surgery? You take such a risk where you could die, because you think it's too hard to lose weight without it?

[Shaetha]

That's definitely not a myth. High Fructose Corn Syrup is the sugar in most sodas(you pay more for ones with "real sugar" which still isn't the same as juice. HFCS is one of the main cited reasons behind obesity in the US.

Yes, because an entire generation being taught "fat bad, sugar okay" had nothing to do with increasing obesity rates. You're right though. It is party to a lot of obesity. The myth is that it's worse than sucrose. Chemically it's not different enough to matter, and chemistry is all the physical body cares about.

[h4rr0d]

The only reason you can lose weight and quickly gain it back is that you haven't changed your habits. And this is exactly the truth that is seemingly unfathomable to many fat people - you're daily intake while you're off diet is a LOT larger than it should be. Replace your coke with water, tea and juices, stop eating excessively fat food, gorging on 2 pounds of meat every day, eat vegetables and fruits, start light exercises and you're good to go. I've dropped from around 110 kilos to some 62 in around year and a half by doing specifically that. There are no magic tricks involved in losing weight, and you don't need a surgery.

What kind of juice are you talking about? Most fruit juices are about as bad as coke. I get, that the carbonation is also somehow a factor in weight loss, but talking strictly calories-wise, juices are not your friend.

Sure, coke has refined sugar/glucose syrup/corn syrup, depending on where you get it, while juice is pure fructose (much easier to process for the body), but if you don't use up that energy right away, it's going to end up as fat all the same.

[Airlick]

What kind of juice are you talking about? Most fruit juices are about as bad as coke. I get, that the carbonation is also somehow a factor in weight loss, but talking strictly calories-wise, juices are not your friend.

Sure, coke has refined sugar/glucose syrup/corn syrup, depending on where you get it, while juice is pure fructose (much easier to process for the body), but if you don't use up that energy right away, it's going to end up as fat all the same.

Eh, even just calories-wise, juices have some 2/3 of what standard coke has. And then they are actually healthy. It's true that they are still calories that you have to burn or they will inevitably turn into fat, but they help with weight loss in other ways. So there's really no reason not to drink them, assuming you're actually careful with your daily intake of calories.

[Patricson]

Congratulating on losing weight, I also looked for ways to lose weight, tried different keto-diets and strengthened my workouts in the gym. This, of course, did not help me, because I chose the wrong approach to all this. Therefore, I want to share my experience losing weight:

1. 5: 2 diet plan. It’s better to read an article about it.
2. Sport. You do not need to fight training. It is best to make a training plan with a trainer specifically for personal training. If you do not have time for this, then exercise, yoga or jogging in the morning will speed up the process of losing weight.
3. Reduce the consumption of junk food. Various sweets, fatty foods, fast food and the like should be excluded or at least limited.

Also with age, there may be problems with hormonal levels. It's all a bit more complicated. It will be necessary to take tests and check the level of hormones in the body. You may need hormone therapy. In this case, you need to contact an endocryologist.

[Gaaz]

First of all, congrats on the weight loss. It is not something I would have done, but hey, if it works - it works.
IMO, best way to lose weight is cycling. If you are serious about it and actually push yourself to get better and better results, not just slack it off when you start to feel like you are getting into shape, you can lose an energy equivalent of a 100g chocolate bar from your fat reserves per hour of training. And that is just from the pure workout alone, meaning energy spent on actually moving from A to B, not counting losses due to temperature differentials, terrain, etc...
Running is actually a not so good idea when overweight. You will have to start chugging glucosamine, msm and chondro meds by the bucket load to fix your joints (heels in particular).
Lifting weights also is not stellar, unless you are more concerned about bulking up of your upper torso, than actually losing weight. It is about half as efficient in terms of time spent as cycling.
Swimming is as good as cycling in terms of weight loss, but you can not really push yourself in the swimming pool for an hour or more non stop.
Basically, outside of an operation procedure, the fastest way to lose weight is to cycle (possibly swimming if you can only afford short, half an hour tops sessions. Cycle to the swimming pool and back btw). If you add L-Carnitine (mild versions, no more than 2g per day, do not go extreme straight away) additives to your diet, possibly even an actual fat burner, a loss of up to 10kg per month is not something out of this world. I managed comfortable -6kg per month over several months, with no L-Carnitine and no diet. But I rode 19 km (12 miles) 5 days a week and timed myself to check performance. Best result was just under 39 minutes. Plus occasional pleasure trips on a bike (no more than 50km at a time at a relaxing pace). And in case anyone interested, my first training session took me more than an hour to complete. So that is something like +50% performance in two and a half months.