Fat ugly beast as the bride!!!-Am I taking the right step?

Ok, this is a subject that I am very passionate about as I am a gastric by-pass patient...a success story at that. I had the roux-en-y procedure done back in July of 2010, and by May of 2011, I had lost 111% of my excess body weight. I hate to tell you but with your wedding date being May of this year, you probably will just have been scheduled for the surgery. This is not a "oh I think I'll call the doc and get on the table for surgery the next day"...this is a several months long process. Any decent bariatric program will require you to go through a myriad of testing which includes blood tests, ultrasounds of your legs to be sure you don't have any blood clots, sleep apnea testing, and psychiatric testing just to name a few!! Also it is my opinion that any program that is worth it will REQUIRE you to lose weight ahead of time as there are a number of reasons that step is very important, but the biggest reason why pre-surgery weight loss is so important is to shrink (cont)

Your liver to a safe size to complete the surgery. As part of the pre-surgery weight loss regimen, you should be required to meet with a nutritionist on a regular basis and show what you have been eating and how often and duration of your exercise.

I’m sorry to be the realist when it comes to knowledge about the actual surgery, but at this point, you’d be better off to get yourself a nutritionist and start a clean eating regimen and a good exercise program. Going this route could actually be a good spring board for you should you decide to do the surgery at a later time after your wedding.

If you do decide to go forward with the surgery, you have to realize that this is a LIFESTYLE change…this decision is something that you will need to commit yourself to and live it DAILY otherwise you WILL gain the weight back…great example of that unfortunately is Carnie Wilson of the group Wilson Phillips. (cont)

Weight loss surgery is NOT a miracle cure. In order for it to be successful, you MUST be ready to make LIFESTYLE changes. A credible program will ask you to go through a series of meetings with the physician, surgeon, nurse, dietitian, and psychiatrist prior to doing the actual procedure, to ensure that you are ready. I don't think you'll have that time to have the surgery, recover, and handle wedding planning in 4 months.

I am a huge advocate for the surgery just so long as the person realizes that it is truly a lifestyle change.

I hope this helps and good luck with whatever path you take.

Edited to take out stupid remark...thanks SunshineJenn ;-)

I know several people that have had the surgery and I can honestly say that 100% of them have lost weight, but at a risk to their health. They all look malnourished in the face. I know they eat healthy foods and the required amount, it just simply isn't enough.

The procedure seems to age you. I would do it the good old-fashioned hard way: diet and exercise.

MnDex, a person has to commit whether they do it via the lap band or the conventional way. Weight loss is a commitment and lifestyle change, no matter which approach you take.

Agreed Jenn...I didn't mean to insinuate otherwise :-)

Oh and there was nothing easy about what I went through Jenn...just saying. Please don't make the assumption that the surgery is the easy way out...there was nothing easy about it. I still did all the work and cried my eyes out every day for the first two weeks post surgery because I couldn't have anything other than my protein shakes...yes it was my decision to do this but it still wasn't an easy, miracle, cure-all procedure ;-)