Choice: Franken-surgery or Just Eat Less

Hi,

I've always thought of gastric bypass surgery (GBS) and all its cousins, as "Franken-surgery." The one and only good thing it does is force you to make the kinds of eating changes that make you lose weight. You simply can no longer eat the way you used to. You have no alternative. There are no more lies or head games. The unfortunate part of GBS type operations is that they can still eventually fail and you can still gain back the weight you once lost.  About thirty years ago, my BFF at the time, did that.

I was her support for the entire year that it took her to lose her weight. I watched her throwing up. I witnessed the pain she was in. I saw the agony she went through and I decided that I was NEVER going to do that. I would rather be fat, than to do that. Within a year an a half she had stubbornly fought her way back to eating as she used to and put the weight back on again.

Please do not misunderstand. I am not judging people who have decided to do GBS. It seems that many people are doing it and successfully losing weight from it. If that is the course a person has chosen and it has worked for them, then I say "Hooray, you did it. Way to go!"  It is just that, for me, I don't see it.

But why not adopt that "mind set" of "accepting that you must eat less," and leave out the expense and trauma of Franken-surgery? If you think about it, the whole purpose of GBS is to make you stop eating so much. Why not just decide to "stop eating so much" without the major trauma to your body and your pocket book?

I think I am thinking about this because I am still struggling to lose weight. For a long time I thought it was the "kind" of food that caused the problem. So I cleaned up my eating by cutting out carbs and eating fewer processed foods.

I got my A1C back down to a normal place and my new doctor says that I am no longer pre-diabetic. I am excited about that. But I still have high blood pressure and have not made it past the 30-pound-lost marker. I am still obese.

I've tried the 16-hour per day fast for a few weeks and still not seen any real weight loss that lasted on my scale. After reading the "Anything Goes Diet" and focusing on it for a few days I think I really need to focus simply on eating less in a way that works for me. It now makes sense to me to eat, say, once day, and the rest of the time, just stop eating.

We don't come with a tattooed label on us that says we MUST EAT THREE MEALS A DAY, or even we MUST EAT FIVE SMALL MEALS A DAY.  There are really no rules but the ones we or someone before us has made up.

I had been considering eating as I do now and trying a once a week 24-hour fast... and I may still do that. But I'm also thinking about just eating a nice normal meal once a day, with a protein snack thrown in sometime during the day, and the rest of the time, just not eating. I've discovered that I can go for long periods of time without eating which I had thought was not possible. And not only can I do it, I like doing it. I like the way it feels. I really don't like that "bloated" feeling that comes from eating large, especially carb-laden meals. It is so much more pleasant to have an empty stomach. It provides almost an odd sense of freedom.

Maybe I could do the opposite of the 24-hour fast. I could eat once a day for six days and on the seventh day, have two, perhaps even three meals. Then go back to the once a day meals. I could eat whatever I wanted. I know how important it is to me to eat healthy, so I would make sure my one meal had both protein and vegetables. I would still eat salads for the fresh raw veggies.

I could add to the salad a moderate size of animal protein (beef, pork, chicken, fish, or eggs) plus a serving of cooked veggies with some nuts or a fist-sized portion of some carb. A small portion of carbs. And I don't have to do the carbs each day. I wonder how long it would take me to begin to see a weight loss if I did that. I won't know if I don't try it.

I feel like trying it. I feel frustrated by all the things I've tried and not being successful at the one thing I really wanted: the weight loss. I am a human being, I should be able to lose weight just like other human beings are doing. I need to do something that I can do. I refuse to do Franken-surgery, (as my doctor suggested) but that does not mean I cannot focus on achieving the same kind of total calorie reduction in a way that makes better sense to me.

I am sure there are folks who will have objections to this idea. I'm sure that if someone had mentioned this to me a while ago, I would never have even thought of being open to the idea. But I've gone down the road and ended up somewhere else. I need to do something that works -- for me.

From my reading I know that cutting out food, as in fasting, does no harm to the body if done in a controlled manner. It has been scientifically proven that small daily fasting does not even lower the body's metabolism or reduce muscle. The body will only cannibalize itself after extremely long periods of time without food. I'm not talking about that. The fasting I'm talking about simply gives the body a rest. I'm not talking about fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. I'm talking about eating a good healthy meal once a day, plus a protein snack at some other time during the day.

I think this would accomplish the goal of reducing the daily caloric intake without all the fuss and measuring and counting and control. I hate the fuss, measuring and counting and the control. When I do that my whole day is spent focused on food. I'm not interested in spending my life being focused on food. I'm interested in eating a good meal and then moving on to other stuff. Thank God!!

Ok. It makes sense to me. I'm going to try it. I can drink unsweet tea, and water all day long. I suppose diet sodas would work, too, but I hate soda, so why even bring it up? The only juice will be watered down cranberry juice (with no sugar or other sugary fruit juice added) -- and that only when I feel it is "medically" necessary. So, water it is. And a cup of tea now and then. And that is my new plan.

I'll be back soon with any news flashes...

LOL

Hope you are well,

Marcia