Weight loss surgery

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Hello all.
I understand what I am considering is a massive decision, and I'm not taking it lightly. I've struggled all my life with my weight and I'm fed up. I've tried diets and exercise and it's all successful to start but every time I try I can't keep the weight off it comes back PLUS extra.
When I was 17 I was a size 18 and to me then I felt massive and very unhappy but looking back now I would kill to be that size again. I'm almost thirty and each year that goes by I am getting bigger and bigger and I'm a size 26 now.
I've recently started antidepressants after feeling so desperate and helpless I was ready to end it all. I found it really hard to speak to my doctor about it but he put me on antidepressants about two months ago and although I'm not in that very dark place anymore I still don't feel like myself.
I've been thinking about weight loss surgery. I know it takes hard work and commitment but I think it's what I really need at this point and I'm ready to seriously do something about this. But I don't know how to approach my doctor about it. Do I have to wait for him to bring it up or can I directly talk to him about it and find out if it could be an option?
I really worry about speaking to my doctor about these kind of things, does anybody have any experience with that initial conversation that you could share with me?
Thanks x

I had weight loss surgery (gastric band) in 2013.
I paid privately as I was not eligible to have the surgery on the NHS.
My GP was very sympathetic . I simply went to her and said I wanted to lose weight as a proactive measure before I became ill because of my obesity .
If you have the operation privately you do not need to tell you GP
All my life I had been slim until my forties when I began to pile on the weight for a variety of reasons.
I tried everything to lose weight nothing worked.
I have never looked back. I was a size 24 and have lost 6 stone. I am now a size 16 and comfortable. If I want to lose more weight I can have the band adjusted. You do need to exercise but that becomes easier as you lose weight. Walking the dog swimming ir simple exercise. I could not face exercise classes
I eat smaller portions no, I do not crave food and sometimes look at a plate of food and think "I cant eat all that"
Its one of the best things I have ever done. The surgery and the after care was excellent.
Its just a matter of becoming used to what you can and cannot eat after the band is fitted.

I had a sleeve gastrectomy on the NHS, took just under year and a half from start to finish but I was fasttracked as had a BMI in the 50's.

You've just got to take the plunge and ask about it, explain all the diets you've tried etc. They'll probably want you to try tablets first and you'll most likely have to attended weight loss groups with the docs.

Good luck, it changed my life.

Hi, I had gastric band fitted 12 years ago lost 10 stone in 18 months got to a size 14 and I am still size 14. It was tough at times but doable.

Good luck

Can I slightly hijack and ask anyone who did have a gastric band and lost large amounts, was your skin ok afterwards or did it go saggy?

If you lose a large amount of weight you will get saggy skin no matter what method of weight loss you use.

I have quite a bit but I don't give a fuck about it because I'm so so much healthier, it's a small price to pay.

Thank you all for your advice and sharing your own experiences I really appreciate it. Does anybody know what my circumstances need to be to be eligible for the surgery? My BMI is about 46.
My mum is big too and she's recently started with serious health problems because of it with diabetes and very dangerously high blood pressure to the point she was hospitalised and on the verge of a stroke. She's now on a lot of medication. Although I don't have these problems yet, I'd like to get ahead of it before I get to that point. I'm less than half my mums age and I'm already bigger than her

BMI of 40 or over usually. The rules vary though depending on area .

I got gastric bypass on NHS with bmi of 50 with no co morbidities
Was a 24 and now a 14/15
The NHS won't do the band anymore in most areas due to complications with it long term.

Ask your gp

What are the chances of them making me try the tablets first do you think? I really don't like the idea of medication to lose weight and I've heard some horrible things about them. Did anybody else do the tablets? I've just plucked up the courage and got a doctors appointment on the 14th.
And I've read that you have to have a liquid diet for a while before hand and after surgery, what are your experiences with this? I'm gagging just at the thought of drinking mushed up food or is it more like the protein milkshake kind of thing?

light I've already been to the GP to discuss this - you have to have tried several mainstream diets (normally WW and slimming world) and the tablets (orlistat)
Then you get referred to a dietitian and to an exercise programme (this is the stage I'm at now)

My liquid diet was 2 weeks of nothing but milk and muller light yogurt, it has to be done to shrink the liver before surgery.
Afterwards you'll have nothing but sips of liquid for a couple of days and then puréed foods for a couple of weeks etc untill you are on normal foods. If you have a bypass or sleeve then you will needs 3monthly injections of vitamin B12 for life .

You have to show you tried everything, even the tablets.

A friend of mine had a gastric band fitted via the NHS - she's really petite at under 5ft, and was a size 26. It was a huge success in terms of weight loss, but she had a lot of complications with the band frequently becoming blocked. On several occasions she was hospitalised with dehydration, and on another because she ruptured her oesophagus with vomiting. She eventually had the band let out (I am not sure what the correct terminology is, but basically it was just an empty tube with no fluid) and has now had it completely removed. All that said, has no regrets about having it as she had tried everything and her health was seriously impacted by her weight. She's maintained a 14/16 since with a combination of WW and exercise and looks (and feels) great.

I'm already on 3 monthly B12 injections for life anyway Afuna, I have pernicious anemia

Sorry to hear that but atleast you know you get enough now!

Most won't die the band due to the complications with it. The sleeve or bypass is the go to now. The bypass though more drastic is actually reversable. I had the sleeve though and love it.

It's drastic but it doesn't just physically reduce the size of your stomach but stop it producing so much of the hormone that makes us feel hungry. You still have to work hard too control the urge to eat a thing but by Odin it is so much easier.

I've had it 2 years and went from size 36 to 18/20 (would probably be a size smaller but I have quite a bit of loose skin).

Feel free to pm if you wish btw, I'm prob not a lot of help though

Sorry for typos..iPhone be drinking

So I've been to the doctors today to ask about the surgery. She said it's really difficult to get referred for the surgery and will take years to even be considered for it. But she's put me on the tablets for now that limit the absorption of fat and I've been referred to a dietitian. She says an option further down the line could be some kind of daily injection that lowers your appetite which sounds interesting but I'll have to look into that a bit further.
Starting to think about my options for going private too, although funding that would be difficult. I'll see how I get on with the help from the doctors for now and go from there

That medication though - I couldn't tolerate it, had the squits constantly - I ate skimmed milk and muesli and a weight watchers meal for example and 💩
It took me probably a year to get to finding that funding was agreed and then almost a year for surgery

Good that you were referred to a dietitian. Meanwhile you could cut out all sugar from your diet, and read up on the metabolic syndrome (it's a cluster of disease called by that name). There's some really good lectures on YouTube by professor Robert H. Lustig on this topic, and once you've seen it, you'll get why cutting out sucrose-fructose is important. It's not just about the calories, you see, they're metabolised in different ways and especially fructose makes its way over the liver to fat, unlike other types of carbohydrates if I got it all right. I'm sort of size 18 now but have a BMI of more modest 26 (still counted as overweight though!) and that's why I have been reading up on this interesting topic!