Why Even Consider Weight Loss Surgery?

It has just occurred to me that I’ve posted this post on my birthday. In terms of presents and gifts this is the best gift I’ve ever given myself. Right, the soppy I’m getting old stuff is over with now!

Weight loss surgery. Gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, duodenal switch, three procedures that can change your life. I am very open about my gastric bypass and I’m so pleased that by sharing my journey through this with people it has helped inspire some people to take the steps they were afraid to take and they have had surgery themselves.

I would never suggest to someone that they should consider weight loss surgery because that’s just rude but I do hope that by being open about it that people feel like they could come to me if they wanted to talk about it. Buy why would anyone consider it in the first place you ask?

For me I always looked at weight loss surgery as something I would never be big enough to qualify for. Unfortunately my weight got that out of control that I easily came in the BMI qualification range. I got so desperate trying to control my weight and failing that a gastric bypass really seemed to be the final option for me to get a handle on my weight once and for all.

What if, unlike I was, you’re happy with your weight and see no need for weight loss surgery? Completely putting aside the fact of how unhappy I was with how I looked at that size I was very conscious of how unhealthy it was to be sitting firmly in the morbidly obese category.

Unfortunately being obese or morbidly obese heightens your risk for so many diseases not even mentioning obesity related disease. Being obese increases your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and infertility to name a few things. On a very basic level being so overweight and carrying around so much extra weight your lifespan is probably being shortened the bigger you are and the longer you carry around the weight.

In my family heart disease and cancer are quite prevalent and worryingly so. To be honest I knew it was only a matter of time until I ended up with type 2 diabetes and while infertility wasn’t an issue for me I’m sure my weight negatively impacted on my pregnancy.

Most people assume that I had gastric bypass surgery to lose weight and to look better. While that’s been an amazing bonus in some ways it was not at all what drove my decision to have gastric bypass surgery. I was so worried about my health in the short and long-term and wanted to reduce my risk factors for everything I could while I was still young and hadn’t already developed any irreversible obesity related disease.

There’s also an element of risk with undergoing any procedure like this and the anaesthetic in itself is something that has to be considered. Any weight loss surgery is a seriously huge decision and has to be something that feels right for you. If you aren’t fully on board mentally and emotionally with it there’s no point in doing it.

For me I knew beforehand that to take my life back in my own hands and gain some control over the battle with my weight finally that this was what I’d been needing to do. If you haven’t reached this point yet that’s okay you may never feel that weight loss surgery is an option for you but please just tuck it in the back of your mind as a potential future option.

If this post has made you start thinking about the possibility of having some type of weight loss surgery and you would like to talk privately with me please feel free to email me from the contact page here on the blog or private message the Melissa Loses It Facebook page. There’s a link to that at the top of the page. If you want to talk to a health professional about it your GP is often the best place to start.

If you have already had weight loss surgery why not comment below and tell me what it was that got you start thinking about weight loss surgery.