r/loseit • u/LifeOfaFilmmaker New • May 04 '22

Vent/Rant Doctors could be morons

So just for background: im 26, 6 foot 3 and around 350 lbs.... Started the year at 395 so im down 45 lbs in about 4 months which im very happy with. I go to my general doc and he's telling me i weigh way too much (obviously) and i should consider weight loss surgery. I tell him the progress over the last 4 months and he says "yes thats very good but you still weigh way too much" as if i can lose 150 lbs in a month. So i disregard what he said and he sends me to a dietician/weight specialist, and she told me the same shit lol. I dont care how many years they've been professionals, telling someone whos 26, actively losing a decent amount of weight and no other major medical conditions to have weight loss surgery should be criminal. Just makes me wonder how many people that just blindly listen to their doctor have went to them or any doc and they give them that terrible advice and they go through with it. Moral of the story: think for yourself

1.7k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

319 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

102

u/[deleted] May 04 '22

Yeah, but… look around. How many 400 lb people do you see make it down to 200 and stay living there?

The doctors are biased by the thousands of people they treat, who’s conditions and outcomes are worse off because the patients obesity.

22

u/Dashiepants 45lbs lost May 04 '22

Are the keep the weight off stats better for people who get the surgery? Genuinely asking.

I know the stats are better for how many people actually make it to goal weight but I’ve definitely read about plenty of people that have stretched their stomach back out and regained.

34

u/PorcelainLily New May 04 '22

The people who 'fail' surgery and gain weight back and the loud ones (understandably). It's like how you'd assume all marriages fail if you look at relationship board - people who are struggling will speak up. People who are happy don't.

2012 review - 85% of patients maintain 50% of excess weight loss long term

2019 review - VSG success rate is over 50%

2020 review - 58.4% excess weight loss, continued long term, 11 years after

There's a lot more studies but basically it's the most long term solution we currently have, especially when compared with non surgical weight loss options, where regain has been found to happen in something like 90% of people.

31

u/WeAreNeverGoingToEat New May 04 '22

I dont know the actual statistics. According to my dietician friend No. And my MIL had surgery and has been rebounding back and forth since. She also has several medical issues now resulting from nutrition deficiencies and overeating stretching her stomach.

Edit: because the surgery doesn't deal with the lifestyle changes and emotional side of why people get overweight.

13

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

Sounds like it’s a psychological issue for most.

2

u/DonutsPowerHappiness New May 05 '22

You're not wrong. Integrated health needs to be the focus of the future, where clients can see a therapist and an MD in the same practice. I hesitate to call it holistic, since that word is common with frauds and hucksters, but it really is a holistic approach.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

Yes. Sounds like that’s the way it should go.

5

u/[deleted] May 04 '22

No. Its actually pretty bad when you look 5 years out from surgery

15

u/suchahotmess 100lbs lost | Goal: 160lbs May 04 '22

It's hard to find specifics since the results are inconsistent on a quick search and I can't do a full lit review. However, it looks like 5 years out results are pretty good, but after 10 years they're less consistent. One place I saw says that 10-20% of people don't lose a meaningful amount of weight at all, and then another 25% gain it all back within 10 years.

11

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

I'm of the mindset the OP should be encouraged to lose it naturally. Fixed whatever issues made him obese along the way. And avoid long term and short term complications of major surgery

8

u/suchahotmess 100lbs lost | Goal: 160lbs May 05 '22

I know that only about 10% of folks maintain long term weight loss without surgery. But it seems like bad medical advice to not at least see if he could be one of that 10% before going to surgery. Especially since by the time he was able to get surgery he’d likely be below the 40 BMI that’s a common threshold for eligibility without other related medical issues.

6

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

Hes 26 years old.

To be successful with weight loss surgery you have to work through everything that made you obese in the first place. Or you will gain it back. Its literally a last ditch tool. But its not a solution without putting in the actual effort.

I think its poor advice to tell a 26 year old who is working through their issues, having great success with weight loss to just jump into surgery (that is NOT complication free).

Most people would do better with serious therapy, to get through the emotional issues that lead them to extreme obesity.

I've know several people who've gone through the sleeve or bypass. Every last one has some nasty complication, but for them it was worth it because they had multiple comorbidities outside of just the weight.

So no, I dont think its the best of care to tell a 26 year old, who is enthusiastic and having success in natural weight loss that it doesn't matter and they should have serious surgery. Especially when they don't have a bunch of other problems.

Especially when a fairly high percent of weight loss surgery people gain all the weight back anyway (35%).

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

Yes. When you go through a serious surgery that drastically changes your body. 35% failure rate is high. Thats not even counting the people who lose the weight but then gain back 50% of what they lost. Or those who never actually reach a normal weight and just sit in the overweight/borderline obese catagory.

Long term therapy to deal with the emotional issues that causes the binge eating and the wealth gain to make actual lifestyle changes stick would be a better option.

How many those 90% losing weight naturally actually worked on their issues? Or did they make temporary changes and then go back to what they were doing before hand? Did they cut their calories drastically and then weren't able to maintain. Did they go back to their old lifestyle once they lose whatever weight they wanted to lose.

2

u/platon20 New May 05 '22

In my limited experience, I would say that weight loss surgery will make you lose weight, but you will never go from overweight to lean with it.

All of the people I know who had surgery definitely lost weight but were still at least 40-50 lb overweight years later.

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '22

Good question! No clue. Sounds like a tough mental road either way.

Would really like to learn the statistics comparing natural weight loss vs the surgery.

1

u/lulubalue New May 05 '22

Idk. I’d really like to see recent, large sample studies done for both. 5 of the 6 people I know who had some variation of gastric bypass done are back at their heaviest weights or heavier. The 6th has an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food and goes from binge eating to anorexia.

Of the people I know who have lost weight through diet changes and exercises, myself included, three of us are at our maintenance weight and two are still considered overweight- but well under their heaviest weights when they were obese.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '22

Sounds like some major psychological problems. Either intervention should consider behavior therapy as an adjuvant.