Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Voicelessness and Emotional Survival => Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board => Topic started by: Overcomer on May 09, 2007, 08:39:48 PM
-
Hello all. All my life I have been a few pounds too heavy. The only time I was truly thin was in high school. I was a cheerleader and did plenty of aerobic exercise with all the pom pon routines, etc.
So now I obsessively compulsively eat.........especially when I am mad..............which is ALL the time. If I am not angry with my mom I am angry or stressed from work or my h's alcoholism, etc.
I weigh more now than I EVER have. I have a BMI of 33. I am seriously considering the lap band surgery. Only problem is they won't do it in the US unless your BMI is 40.......................or over 35 if you have comorbidity......like diabetes, etc.
I have even been looking into going to Mexico for the surgery. I think their guidelines are less strict on the BMI. I don't get it. 33 BMI is considered obese..............but not morbidly obese so I don't qualify. I could easily lose 60 pounds and even 80!!
At weight Watchers my weight guidelines are 138-174 and I weigh 230.........5'10"....................
Any insight, comments, etc.??
-
Kell,
I think that lap band is good for some people--but sure seems like it ought to be a last resort. It's surgery and surgery has real risks. I would think surgery in Mexico has more.
What other methods have you tried to lose weight? Have you dealt with it in therapy?
Love
CB
-
I am not sure how effective the lap band procedure is, however two members of my family had gastric bypass. Results were great at first. They shed pounds like water. A few years later, and along with reverting to bad eating habits, they look like they never had the procedure in the first place.
Do a lot of research before you commit. Good luck with having great results.
-
Every diet known to man and I have been overweight since the early 80s.
-
230 and 5'10" is not that big! But if you look at having to lose 60 lbs, that is hard! Have you looked into a nutritionist? LA weightloss has nutrition counselors. How about mixing therapy and a nutritionist? There must me something! How about a high fiber diet? I understand your pain about emotional eating. I tend to do the same thing. I stopped my afternoon ice cream and now it is a Latte. there is a new natural supplement that takes away your hunger. Can't remember the name. For breakfast I have a smoothie with Slimfast. Fruit (fresh, frozen, whatever you have), vanilla yogurt, flax oil, Knutson Farms cranberry juice. If you throw in some oat bran, that is very filling. Have another for lunch...only more oat bran. Oat bran is good fiber. Just some thoughts.
If you can't have lapband, what about stomach stapling? There is no other option?
Ami, eating the way God would want us to eat is what "The Maker's Diet" is about. I have the book but haven't read it yet.
-
People have died from post surgical complications with these procedures.
Is this worth risking death for?
Other people have had terrible post operative problems. There is at least one woman whose stomach was reduced in size to the point where she is eating constantly simply to maintain her weight, now.
Is this worth doing that to yourself for the rest of your life?
http://www.shlpc.com/practice_areas.php#gastric_bypass
http://www.gastricbypassmalpractice.com/gastricbypassmalpracticevictories.html
-
Well the lap band is not bypass surgery. I have tried every fiat known to man. I guess if I was thin and got a shopping addiction that would be fun-all new clothes!
-
It sounds like the reason for your weight ( which really isn't that big for the US btw ) is psychological so you might find yourself still overeating to dampen feelings and anger even after surgery. The money might be better spent on therapy first.
I have dropped over 60 pounds which I gained on meds by exercising ( walk/ swim ) and eating a lot of veggie diet, I monitor my weight but do not have any punitive attitude to food any more, which I found counter-productive.
I could still do with losing almost 40 to be at my ideal ideal weight, but I suspect I will only drop around 20 more since I haven't been at my ideal weight since high school!
This is a society with a very unhealthy attitude to self-image so you might want to break that down first before undergoing surgery. I found a lot of my attitudes I didn't even believe once I examined them more closely. I feel self- conscious naked, but then in a way that's a good thing- will make me think the person has to value ME before I bother getting naked with them etc....
What I am rambling is I guess, I am sure you are lovely, express that and help yourself deal with the anger and frustration and you'll probably find weight problems decreasing.
The biggest two factors for me are boredom and lack of motivation.
If I don't have enough to do or if I can't be bothered to cook or walk the dog...it can degenerate into a mindset and becomes a cycle of feeling crappy so then I don't bother more and so on.
-
Well, I talked with a lady who got the surgery in Monterrey, Mexico and is from Texas...............she is thrilled and they will do the surgery if you have 50 pounds to lose.................I am doing some more research but I am excited. If I do it and I lose my 80 pounds I will attach a picture of me in a bikini......
-
"Western culture -- an incubator for eating disorders
People with eating disorders seek external solutions for internal problems. They feel empty, depressed, anxious, fearful, sorrowful, guilty, frustrated, insecure and depressed. They want to feel better, which is good, but they choose woefully ineffective ways of doing that. In fact, starving and stuffing have the opposite effect: they cause MORE emotional pain and distress.
Nonetheless, manipulating food and body weight is encouraged by Western culture, which exhorts all of us, and especially women, to improve ourselves by "fixing" the external package, the body. Make-over reality shows on TV are a prime example. The message is, "Change your hair color and style, buy new clothes, paint your face, shove your feet into shoes that hurt and make walking difficult, tone your muscles AND LOSE WEIGHT and you will be happy, admired, and loved -- an instant new identity, a new you.
The problem is, of course, that sprucing up the outside (or starving it to death) does not fix what's wrong on the inside. True happiness and deep contentment are achieved through psychological and spiritual growth and ultimate realization of one's worth and place in the world, not by abusing the body. It takes a lot of wisdom and maturity to realize and accept this hard truth, and the young people most vulnerable to eating disorders are those who most lack those characteristics. "http://www.anred.com/who.html (http://www.anred.com/who.html)
-
Hey Kell,
I felt upset when I read your reply because I felt as though nothing anyone posted sank in...
I don't want a picture of you in a bikini. I don't want you to go through major abdominal surgery for superficial reasons.
I want a picture of you with your anger managed, your spirit at peace, and your heart serene.
Please read The Beck Diet before you go carving your body open...
love,
Hops
-
Yeah I understand. I hear but I am pretty set on doing this so I am not accepting a lot of negative feedback. I am doing lots of research before I do a thing.
-
Sorry, Kell---When you asked for insight and feedback in your first post, I thought you were asking for any research any of us might have done. Sounds like you got more negative than positive.
Let us know what you end up doing.
CB
-
Yeah I did. Just know that I have not been at my idahl weight and have tried every diet.
-
Ok I am jumping through all the hoops-went to an information meeting, have a consultation on Tuesday, a dr appointment on June 4. I do not think I am acting on impulse but I do appreciate concern from all. Gastric Bypass surgery is scary but the lap band procedure is a less invasive procedure. I am addressing all the emotional stuff-I understand, Hops. But is it so bad of me to daydream about wearing a swim suit or to be able to walk into a shop and looking good in normal clothes?
-
Of course it's not bad to dream of looking better, OC. ((((OC))))))
But I think if you totally change the emphasis AWAY from the superficial "looks" part, over to the HEALTHY and FIT and FEELING GREAT part...changing is easier.
Then it's all about how you feel inhabiting and loving your body because of how you feel, not how you LOOK. You're judging yourself looking in a mirror or through the eyes of other people.
I think if you start loving yourself, the rest will follow. You can surgically force your body to change. But listen to Ami...
I hope you'll do what's right for you. If you're not sure what that is, trust somebody.
love
Hops
-
My apologies in advance if my reply does not fit in with the current path of discussion on this thread, but I have a comment to make and I'm at work so I don't have time to read (but I will later!).
My mom had lap-band surgery about 6 years ago and she has had nothing but problems. She still throws up and has lost almost all of the enamel on her teeth, has been "conditioned" not to eat certain foods (so she eats a very poor diet) because she did not have health eating habits to begin with , and, in my opinion, is generally more depressed than she normally is since the surgery. She lost about 90 pounds, but has gained most of it back. No, she not only has the original shame of being over weight, but blames herself for the surgery failing and gaining the weight back.
I wish she'd never gotten it because it has probably taken years off her life.