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One of my problems is that I suck at making decisions. I flip back and forth, or just turtle and hope the situation goes away on its own. Well I'm dealing with that now in terms of getting stomach surgery. The closer I come to the time of the surgery, the less certain I am that I'm making the right call.
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Pros and cons
Take a piece of paper, draw a line vertically down the center. On the left side, list all the pros, reasons that support getting surgery. On the right, list all the cons, reasons against getting the surgery.
I'm betting there's a lot more on the left than the right. Based on that, I'd say you should do it.
Just saying...
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
I have no personal experience
but I know several people who have had bariatric surgery. Of those the only one I believe regrets it is the one who failed to follow the diet and exercise regime afterwards and surged quickly back to over three hundred pounds. It's a commitment to not only the surgery but a change of lifestyle too.
What are the chances?
The probability of you regretting your decision to NOT do it is 100%. You will continue to feel trapped by your body. I know this from experience.
What are the chances that you will regret actually doing it? During your recovery period, probably pretty high. But that is temporary. Later? That's hard to say. Some people regret it. Some hate going to Thanksgiving dinner and watching people pile up their plates.
On the other hand, the old saying is that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.
I can only say that I have more regrets about not stepping out, not taking chances, than I have regrets about things that I have done.
Another old saying is that if you don't change something, nothing is going to change. That doesn't mean that bariatric surgery, or whatever it is that you are contemplating, is the best decision. But it might be. The worst decision is just sitting around and putting it off. So if you decide not to go for it, find something else. Something that has a good chance of working.
Most of my regrets stem from putting things off.
'Skinny' is for other people. =Health= is for us.
We get skinny hoping other people will have a good opinion of us.
We get healthy =for ourselves=.
If we are healthy, as healthy as we can get, by all available measures (exam, blood work, tests, scans), then damaging our health to meet someone else's expectations or desires for us, well, that's just plain ...
My doctor's partner physician dropped a lot of weight, and I told him he was looking good.
Which was of more value to that doctor?
My =opinion= that he was skinny, or his health?
His weight loss was from the cancer that killed him ...
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Very few things taste as good as health.
Give this an honest trial for 21 days.
Dear Dorothy:
Stop, tell them to put down that scalpel, and nobody gets hurt. Especially you don't get hurt.
I've been 'banging about' in diet and health for over a decade, and I give you these >very strong< recommendations.
First, sign up for the "21 Day Kickstart" here: https://kickstart.pcrm.org/en
Completely free. I've been to a PCRM class, heard Dr Barnard speak several times. (He founded PCRM - Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.) I have cross-checked what he says. Dr Barnard knows his stuff.
The PCRM Kickstart is not another "diet", not a way to sell their stuff, does not ask you to find and eat 'weird' foods. There is >no< portion control, >no< calorie (or anything else) counting, >no< funky "exchanges"...
Sign up for the program, give it an honest 21 days.
Typical: people tend to move towards a better weight. (How often do we see the fine print "Results not typical"...)
Typical: diabetes (even T-I) control improves, and symptoms reduce. For some, T-II >goes away<, or need for medicine and insulin drops. (Sorry, T-I will always need insulin.)
Typical: cholesterol levels drop.
Typical: over months to maybe years, cardiovascular disease is reduced, healed. Risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes-II all drop.
Frequent: erectile dysfunction goes away. (In the two years before I went plant-based, I was getting 'slow in bed'. Twelve years later, no problems.
If you get hungry - gasp - eat more food (they will get into what food is, and is not food).
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Next, here is your reading/viewing list (some should be in your local library, and remember inter-library loans - I'm not even trying to sell you somebody else's stuff.)
= Forks Over Knives film: https://www.forksoverknives.com/
= Dr Michael Greger: "How Not To Die". Don't let size of book scare you. Jump around in first part, use second part for how-to. and stagger through 130 pages (!) of science references. I've seen Dr Greger speak several times.
= What the Health - some groups are not our friends.
= T Colin Campbell, The China Study. https://nutritionstudies.org/ (9 minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBx97JHcKE, but look at his book) I've seen Dr Campbell speak. More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CN7PF10RKo
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Whatever you do, get enough vitamin B12.
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You can quit plant based any time ... but how do you undo surgery?
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"Satisfaction guaranteed, or your old health back."
And/Or
Buy an Apple Watch. You will either throw it away or lose a LOT of weight and change your lifestyle. I call mine "little nag" but it does not really nag, just withholds rewards. It has worked for both my daughter and myself. My son, well, he is now preparing for an ultra-marathon.
Apple watches do work.