Fat, Single and Fed Up

[plynch]

As I said to delicateorchid on a post, I am 53 years old and I am sick of being big. I have tried all kinds of diets including the "no carbs" diet and I am physically unable to losoe any weight.

My last choice is surgery and the thought of it is daunting me a bit. There are many different types of surgery that I had not thought about. I have googled a few places but havent applied for anything yet. Its still early days

 

[flash]

Their is a way out be posative I'm 49 and not about to

 

[top_kat]

welcome

I felt exactly as you did as I was approaching my 40th birthday. 18 months later my band has changed my life in terms of my weight and my health, as yet it's not done anything towards my singleness but that's my choice

Surgery was my last choice, one I researched for 7 years before I finally had my band fitted with Healthier weight. I've got issues with my band in that we believe it's leaking as we cannot find restriction despite 14 fills...but simply by it's placement it's given me a motivation, a focus and a tool to make the choices in what and how I eat, I hope that one day the band will work as it should be, but I will take how it's given me my life back

Research all of the methods and choose what's right for you and your eating habits, everyone will have their opinions on the right method, if they've had something go wrong there will be different views, but life in wks world isn't all rosey so you have to arm yourself with as much as you can, to make the decision for you

 

[Butterfly_lady]

I had my surgery last year age 50, my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner

 

[Tinkerbelle64]

I'm 50 and I regret not haveing it done years ago,I've struggled for 30 years with my weight.21st march is going to be the 1st day of the rest of my life.Life for me begins at 50 lol.good luck to you with what ever method you choose.xx

 

[princess4d4]

hi welcome im late 40's and having op next month as others have said i wish it had been done a lot sooner and always remember you are not alone lots of support here from some great people

 

[The Old Woman]

Hi and welcome, I am over 60 and had a sleeve last year, best decision I have made. I yo-yo dieted for over 40 years and it got me down. I hope to have some quality years left just eating smaller portions of healthy food and enjoying life, so,far the signs are looking good. Research and take on board everyone's comments.

 

[Banderbird]

Hello, I'm 40 and had my band fitted in September. I've lost nearly 2 stone now without much effort at all, if I'm honest!!

My hunger is drastically reduced and I feel full on small portions and it's great!!

Good luck with whatever you decide x

 

[wrighty]

I am 56 and had surgery the end of last October as I could no longer walk without crutches and every joint ached with arthritis, looking backwards at what if/could have been does not help me personally, in such a short space of time I have lost over 4 stone and walk 4 miles a day with no aids looking forward to a new me, not without its struggles as a bypass was not an easy way out! I looked at the clinics the surgeons success rate and many other things before hand for a couple of years prior to making it a yes that is for me, could this be the start of a new journey for you? there are a lot of experienced people on here very qualified to give advice and all are supportive, my thoughts are with you.

 

[sarahrob]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Wendy1]

65 when i had my op 3 yr ago i love the new me, down to a size 10. YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD.

 

[Sharie65]

Had a gastric band at 46 and now a bypass at 48 after band failed. Looking forward to finally being slim by 50 after 40+ years of dieting!

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[Tasha Costa]

Hi Sharie

I have just been banded on Saturday... If he don't mind me asking how did yours fail??

 

[ASQ]

Hi plynch,

I am also "fat, single and fed up". I have also decided to go for surgery privately (probably a sleeve for me) and have started talking to UK providers.

Let's hope we both get what we want.

Good luck and best wishes,
Anna

 

[Sharie65]

Hi Sharie I have just been banded on Saturday... If he don't mind me asking how did yours fail??

It started off working really well and I lost 4 stone in the 1st 6 months but it then started to get increasingly harder to eat properly (this was with no fill as NHS don't like you having lots of fills). Was told by the bariatric nurse that when you start having fills is when the trouble starts! Everything started to come back up and I started eating slider foods so that I was getting some food inside me. It slowly got worse and I started getting terrible acid reflux at night and vomiting everything I had eaten. After about a year I had an x -ray swallow test that showed that my oesophagus had dilated and was dysfunctional (couldn't push the food down properly). The food I had eaten in the day was being stored in my dilated oesophagus and then vomited up at night. I also brought up lots of slimey bile.
I was given medicines and told to go away and see if it would correct itself. It only got worse. In the end I couldn't eat anything but custard and ice cream and frothed at the mouth after eating these. I was hardly sleeping at night and had taken to,sleeping up-right in am arm chair as I often choked in the night lying down. It was a frightening experience.
Another x-Ray 6 months later showed that things were getting worse. My oesophagus was badly damaged and I had developed a hernia. I was told it was caused by scar tissue that had built up around the band and was strangling it. I had the same symptoms as an over-filled band with nothing in it! It was my body's way of rejecting a foreign object in my tummy and I was told I was just unlucky. The only option was to remove the band and cut away the scar tissue. This happened just before my 2 year anniversary. As It hadn't been my fault, I was offered the gastric bypass instead but had to let the damage done to my stomach and oesophagus settle first.
And so I had my bypass on the 28th January 2014. Don't want to scare you but that went badly wrong and I am still recovering 7 weeks later with an open wound in my tummy. Long story!
I have just been unlucky with my weight loss journey. For lots of people, it's plain sailing and they achieve results quickly. The band most probably will work for you and I wish you all the best with it. It just didn't work for me even though I followed all the rules!

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