Archive for the ‘Ranty’ Category

In no way do I demean or want to belittle anyone who has had, wants to have, or will be having, gastric bypass surgery. I have thought of having it myself, because I know that I lack determination and willpower to lose weight on my own. It’s a sad truth, but I can admit that. I have a lot of weight to lose, and even the most minor setbacks and plateaus cause me to give up. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m working on it. And even after all the research I’ve done, and people I’ve talked to, and stories I’ve heard- I still feel that bypass is the easy way out.

Gastric Bypass surgically reduces the size of your stomach and length of your small intestine. You are physically incapable of eating and drinking the same amount of food that you were able to prior to surgery. If you eat too much- you vomit the food back up. Sometimes even eating the correct portions causes you to vomit. Little to no food intake means less calorie intake, which means weight loss.

And even with the surgery, it’s entirely possible to consume more calories than you burn. A prime example of how this is possible is with the brand of protein powder I am using up as fast as possible, because I didn’t realize how fattening it is: while it only has 2g of sugar and a generous 25g of protein per scoop, when made into a protein shake — that’s 2 scoops combined with 6 oz. of milk — it packs over 400 calories. FOUR HUNDRED CALORIES. IN A PROTEIN SHAKE. Two protein shakes a day would put me at 800 calories.

Quoted from Jenn.nu

Two scoops of protein powder, at 25g of protein each, would give you 50g of protein in ONE shake. Factor in the milk, which has between 6 and 8g of protein in 6oz, and you’re nearly at your recommended protein intake for the day. I don’t understand the need for two shakes per day. That’s almost twice the recommended 60-80g protein per day. Unless you’re becoming a body builder, I don’t quite see the need to consume that much protein from just shakes, and then more on top of that as well. You could cut out 400 calories a day by eliminating that one shake- meaning you wouldn’t consume more calories than you burn.

Bariatric surgeons generally recommend 60g – 80g of protein per day, while keeping your calorie consumption at 1200 or less (this may vary among individual surgeries).

It’s entirely possible to consume under 1000 calories a day after bypass. Ask anyone who has ever dieted how hard it is to do that the old fashioned way. It’s nearly impossible to do and still be healthy. And the point of losing weight- more than being skinny- is to be healthy, is it not?

Life after gastric bypass surgery isn’t just a matter of sitting around while your body burns calories. It’s true that you burn energy just by being conscious, but just as you had to be physically active prior to surgery, you need to be physically active after surgery.

This blogger had surgery nearly a year ago. And though on many occasions she has stated the need to work out, become more active, and tone up to help lessen the effects of drastic weight loss on her skin and body, she has yet to put it into practice. Instead, she makes excuses for why she can not exercise, a long work week, being a work at home mom, having children to keep up with and a house to look after.

Quoting Anna from the comments section of this blog:

I also work 50 hour weeks once you factor my commute time in, and I have a child and homework and pets to take care of and laundry and dinners to make and you get the idea. But I get a work out in almost every single day. Whether is be a quick one mile walk to and from the dog park, a 15 mile bike ride (takes 50 minutes), or 60 minutes of P90X, I do it. I have a friend on facebook that has FIVE KIDS and a JOB and she gets up before everybody else in the house to work out in the morning. Ben’s sister has three kids, a full time job and has lost 100+ pounds by eating right and working out. You get the idea.

And yet, this blogger still continues to lose weight, even without added exercise.

So while there’s no doubt in my mind that gastric bypass is, indeed, a difficult path to walk along, I still feel that it’s the easiest choice in terms of weight loss. Even if I had to take 20 pills a day and chew each bite 100 times before I swallowed, I would still feel it was the easiest choice. And I would still feel that anyone who gets the surgery is unworthy of praise. Because, in reality- what have they done to earn it? Aside from paying a doctor a lot of money to change their anatomy. They didn’t work hard to control their diet and exercise their ass off. They had the choices made for them.

I’ve been having such a hard time recently coming up with things to blog about. I guess when you do the same things day in and day out, it gets kind of boring to keep repeating yourself. But recently I’ve noticed a trend with some of the ladies I have on facebook. A lot of my high school classmates are getting married and having children. (Though not necessarily in that order.)

One such person, we’ll call her Oleysia* (Because that’s what she feels compelled to name her daughter. But that’s another story.) is being induced today. I’m not even going to touch the induction, because I could go on and on about it for days. I want to talk about the exchange between her and another girl from our class, let’s call her Mary.

Oleysia: but shes going on breast milk whether it be from bottle n i pump or straight from me.
Mary: Ya that’s a good idea! She needs to be. Its better for her! Just don’t be one of those gross moms who do it until they are 1 or older! Grosses me out!
O: Ya i wont teeth scare me lol
M:  Ha ha ya they should! And they don’t need it that long. That’s more for the mom than the baby by 8 months!

….Huh? According to the World Health Organization:

Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond.

And according to Dr. Jack Newman:

Breastfeeding to 3 and 4 years of age has been common in much of the world until recently in human history, and it is still common in many societies for toddlers to breastfeed.

So it really pisses me off when people have children and are ignorant of the facts. I replied to them both basically quoting what the WHO says on the subject of extended breastfeeding. And I know, at the end of the day, it’s up to this mommy to make her own decisions. But I would rather get on someones nerves by telling them how it really is than let them blindly go on their way making uninformed choices.

Because that’s really what I’m about here. Informed decisions.

*Doesn’t it sound like a brand of margarine? I can’t help but laugh, even though I know this kid is probably going to get picked on in school.