Not everyone that has the surgery gains it back. Everyone who has the surgery and does not make necessary and permanent lifestyle changes does gain it back, though.
I don't care WHAT method you use.... dietary management from your doctor, gastric bypass, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, THEY ARE ALL JUST TOOLS... and the one common thread is they only work if you use them correctly. And permanent lifestyle changes in eating and activity are necessary, regardless of the tool one chooses.
I get really peeved when I hear "Everybody that has gastric bypass gains it back." That's because they don't stick to the eating program and lifestyle changes afterward. I know a couple hundred folks who've lost all their weight with Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystems, going to the gym, whatever, and still gained it back--but do you ever hear anybody saying, "Oh, it doesn't work, I know someone who used Jenny Craig and gained all their weight back." ?? No, you don't hear that... but you got a lot of folks who apparently have more medical knowledge and experience that the surgical and medical teams who provide support, education, lifestyle management (both before and after surgery), nutritional counseling, out there ADVISING people against having the surgery because of anecdotal stories they heard 10 and 20 years ago (it was a LOT more dangerous of a surgery in 1998 than it was when I had it in 2008).
If a person is still going to complain that they have to give up the things that made them fat in the first place (eating sugar, white carbs, sitting around and doing no exercise), they're not ready to lose the weight, regardless of the tool they choose. My sister had the surgery almost 3 years ago but went to a "surgeon" and didn't have a "bariatric team" that offered her education in support. Her motto is, "If I wanted to exercise, I wouldn't have had the surgery." She has it SO backwards, but she is wondering why she can't lose the last 50 pounds and is still stuck between 190 and 200 pounds! It's because it's a TOOL, and you have to work it. She eats bread and pasta and rice "only in small amounts". Sorry, but if you go back to eating the foods that made you fat the first time, they'll make you fat again. Period.
I also get peeved when I hear, "Just change your diet, eat healthier portions, and exercise." I did that very thing and lost the same 100 pounds about 5 times in my life (losing 500 pounds is a big feat for a little lady that's only 5'1"!!!), and until I got the surgery, it just kept coming back and coming back and coming back. It's really easy for someone who doesn't fight morbid obesity to say, "If you just put your mind to it...." I put my mind to it so many times that I "dieted" my way up to a size 24 (also not a pretty thing on a 5'1" gal).
Sillychicken, I know you were trying to be helpful. We have lots of "helpful" people in our lives who have given us the same information you have (it's nothing new.... please do not be offended when we say this isn't the first time this information has been presented to us LOL).
I would recommend using whatever tool helps you achieve better health, so long as it's a medically supervised program that encompasses all aspects of the patient's life such as the one Dar is embarking on and the one I had at Kaiser.
Unless you've been in our shoes, though, sillychicken, you shouldn't make recommendations one way or another. Like I said, I know you think you were being helpful, but that's old news and old advice. And it's advice that you have to follow after gastric bypass anyway--it ain't that your advice isn't good, but unless you've been or are a morbidly obese person, you can't possibly "know" what we deal with.
I noticed you changed your original post.
