I am afraid to get gastric bypass surgery

by Christy
(San Antonio, TX)

I am afraid to get gastric bypass surgery myself. There are just too many risks and complications that come along with it that I am not able to deal with.

For one, I have been big my whole life. I know that being morbidly obese is not good for my body, including my joints, heart, cholesterol, and reproductive system. (I have been trying to get pregnant for years now, but no luck.) But I never wanted to be skinny. I feel like everyone is made to be different. We all are not supposed to be our chart weight for whatever normal is in the eyes of the world. I would be happy if I just got down to the low 200's and was able to wear a size 14. Isn't that the most common women's size in America right now too?

And after gastric bypass surgery you have no control over how much weight you lose. If you do adapt a healthy diet, and you are one of the lucky one's that experience dumping syndrome, you could actually become underweight. Your body is not able to absorb all of the vitmains, minerals, and supplements that you take in, so you may be worse off than when you started. Not to mention that all of these additional supplements and liquid vitamins are not cheap. I cannot afford to live the way I should after weight loss surgery. Heck, right now I buy $1.00 loaves of bread and $2.00 packs of bologna in order to take lunch to work. Times are hard.

So yes, I want to lose weight, but bariatric surgery is not an option for me right now, or ever. I guess I will have to do it the old fashioned way. Eat less, and workout more.