Shells_Almost_There

The decision was mine for certain. He gave me advice and left it up to me. He had previously had a bypass, so he knew personally about the topic as well.

I kept my surgery a secret on the strong advice of the psychologist who I was required to see as part of my surgery approval. He mentioned that people can be really negative about WL surgery and how people post-op, those who know will start to police what you put in your mouth. Super annoying. I'm now 3 years out and only a total of 10 people know who aren't medical professionals. I'm a really private person anyway, so this worked with my personality.
One other thing that helped me keep this as a "secret" is that I had previous weight loss successes that were in the 50-60 pound range, then a regain over a year or two (which is what led me to surgery) -- people close to me knew that I had lost larger amounts of weight previously so they didn't think anything of it when I started losing again.
So for me, this was a smart move and I am happy that I made that decision and stuck to it -- secrecy gets awkward sometimes, but my privacy was completely worth it!
Best of luck to you - you're in the very best part of the journey right now!

I have lost 180 pounds. No one asks if I had surgery.
Last summer I was walking 5 to 10 miles a day my friends are on fitbit with me, they saw that.
I eat literally all day. I eat every 2 hours but I don't eat carbs. People see that too. Steaks, pork chops and other Proteins. I will sit and pick all the croutons out a salad, people see that.
If you actually living an active lifestyle and eating healthy no one questions what you are doing.
In spite of what people think, the weight doesn't just drop off in a month. I lost 10 to 12 pounds most months, a steady decline but nothing insane. Most women lose at that pace after WLS.
98% of the population thinks diet, exercise and will power is enough to lose weight, if they see you actually practicing these they don't even consider surgery.
WLS is still a pretty rare thing and an outside idea to most people.
90% of the people saying tell, are always men. Spend one week as a woman dealing with other women and get back to me on people being supportive.
Also I don't know why new people think we don't eat a lot of food. Most WLS patients that are successful eat often. People are not seeing that you are eating 4 ounces at a time. They are seeing that you eat every 2 to 3 hours which is insane to most people. Also the amount of time you only eat very little is like 3 months max. Get real.

Besides forums, IRL, I avoid giving people any weight loss or fitness advice. This isn't my life. I don't want to be the weight loss go to person. First of all most people aren't serious and it is a waste of time. All you have to do is say I eat Keto or I don't eat carbs and they lose interest. I have lost weight before low carbing and so have other people. Most people don't want to give up carbs to lose weight. They just want to eat whatever in moderation.

I give back to the universe by posting on forums. Although honestly it is pretty pointless because the pre-ops and people less than 6 months from surgery think they know everything.

It seems like people try to unequivocally quantify "not telling people about surgery" as "lying," and at least for me, it's just not that clean cut. Much like many people don't talk openly about personal bedroom activities or their finances, no one needs to know about my diet and weight loss plans. Not telling someone about a private matter is not lying. Not a single person has ever asked me "Did you have weight loss surgery?" in the past 3.5 years. I had knee surgery about 6 months after my sleeve and I maybe told 5 people about that until it was done and people saw me on crutches. I'm just super private about things that aren't anybody else's business. But that's just me -- everyone is on their own journeys around here and more power to us all.
Also, here's something interesting - No one ever noticed that I didn't eat much food because I didn't make my diet a secret, but they sure did notice the whole "not drinking while eating" thing - because that's just not the norm in our society. That was rough at first - especially social things like Happy Hour or parties like the annual Super Bowl event that I go to.

Only the fat people notice. No one else does I promise.

The decision was mine for certain. He gave me advice and left it up to me. He had previously had a bypass, so he knew personally about the topic as well.

And it's not our job to edcucate people about weight loss, decisions are tough enough without people saying it's our job to edcucate. Do what you want !

I told mostly everyone from the moment I started the six month pre-op requirement. It was just easier for me. I didn't want to have to lie or explain why I was eating/drinking in a certain way. I've found everyone to be supportive and no one has dared say to me that I've taken the easy way out. They might be thinking it but I could care less. I'm doing this for my health not for anyone's approval. A good side effect of being up front about it is that people do not push food on me at family events, etc. They know I can only eat a small amount.

I'm almost 2 years post op and no one but the people I told know. My child doesn't even know. At this point my life is so normal, there is no point in telling.

It is an easy secret to keep as long as you don't tell people. The more people you tell the more likely you are to be exposed.

I couldn't agree more. I to fully intend to keep my surgery private. Just hope my wife can do the same.

I kept my surgery a secret on the strong advice of the psychologist who I was required to see as part of my surgery approval. He mentioned that people can be really negative about WL surgery and how people post-op, those who know will start to police what you put in your mouth. Super annoying. I'm now 3 years out and only a total of 10 people know who aren't medical professionals. I'm a really private person anyway, so this worked with my personality.
One other thing that helped me keep this as a "secret" is that I had previous weight loss successes that were in the 50-60 pound range, then a regain over a year or two (which is what led me to surgery) -- people close to me knew that I had lost larger amounts of weight previously so they didn't think anything of it when I started losing again.
So for me, this was a smart move and I am happy that I made that decision and stuck to it -- secrecy gets awkward sometimes, but my privacy was completely worth it!
Best of luck to you - you're in the very best part of the journey right now!

So I've done it!
Had my VSG last Thursday 2/23.
I've struggled with my weight my whole life. Creeping up to 40 I've seen that since putting a significant amount of weight on over the years, I'm not living the life I want. My kids are not getting the best version of me.
But....I don't want to share this with the people close to me. Of course my husband knows and I told my childhood best friend who has shared similar struggles and is interested in this too. But my immediate family, children, close friends and co-workers do NOT KNOW.
Has anyone managed to pull this off?
4 weeks prior to surgery I made a vow to cut back and get myself in shape surgery or not. I gave up sugar and then subsequently all processed carbs just before I was approved. Then shortly thereafter started the pre-op liquid diet and just told people I was using my Protein Shakes as Meal Replacements. So it's no secret that I'm trying to lose weight...I just left out the VSG part.
Truth be told I don't want to explain myself. I don't want people thinking I'm taking the easy way out. I don't or at least I didn't want people trying to talk me out of it...and trust me they would have. I don't want people watching what I eat and asking if I should be eating it, etc. I've seen what people do and say for others who have gone down this road first hand...at work and in my personal life, and I'm just trying to avoid all that.
And of course, I'm afraid of failing. I have the can do attitude. I really see myself being a success and I mean life long. But there is that fear from my past failures.
Any advice or personal experiences from people who have been down this road would be appreciated.

Only my Husband knows. I told everyone I'm doing a Fad diet. Which isn't unlike me. I did loose a pound a day drinking 80%veggie 20% fruit fresh made juice , for 24 days. So I told everyone I was going for 60 days (which is how much weight I have to loose) so we'll see!

I hope all went very well! I'm also thinking about a revision, but there's so much to consider - and my original surgeon doesn't perform revisions, so in addition to the surgery considerations, I'd need to find a new surgeon. Keep us posted on your new journey - best wishes!

I hope all went very well! I'm also thinking about a revision, but there's so much to consider - and my original surgeon doesn't perform revisions, so in addition to the surgery considerations, I'd need to find a new surgeon. Keep us posted on your new journey - best wishes!

I hope all went very well! I'm also thinking about a revision, but there's so much to consider - and my original surgeon doesn't perform revisions, so in addition to the surgery considerations, I'd need to find a new surgeon. Keep us posted on your new journey - best wishes!

I've just passed my 3 year surgiversary, and I wish (WISH WISH WISH) that I had the same experience as Lipstick Lady! (who is one of my favorites of this site, btw) I'm guessing that I could eat a giant plate of food, if I wanted -- I don't seem to have any restriction at this point (not that I'm going to push it and find out exactly - I just can eat a lot of steak or whatever when I'm not being thoughtful about what's going in my mouth, etc - whereas at the start, I was done after 1/4 cup, then 1/2 cup, then a cup, then...and that's when I had to put the brakes on myself and make a conscious decision to retake control). In thinking about it, the actual way I first noticed it was when I worked out, I realized I could gulp Water - which was absolutely not possible early on. I would feel like puking after 3 small sips for at least the first year, and I had a lot of burping and hiccups for about 18 months (I'm kind of happy that part has stopped! LOL)
My surgery was outwardly complication free, but I barely felt restriction after just 5 months of eating my same post-op food plan items. It was disappointing, sure, but I've still lost a significant amount of weight, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I may not be where I thought I would be after this number of years, but I'm SO much better than I was. I'm healthier, I work out, and I sure enjoy life a lot more than before surgery. Plus, I have to own my successes and failures - in the same way I did prior to surgery when I lost the same 60+ pounds 3 different times - regaining it after a year or so each time -- right? As everyone tends to remind -- surgery is just a tool. So very true!
This is all to say that everyone has their experiences and interpretations of it (as noted by LL in large green font above ) and my sleeve experience was quite different. Almost 37 months later, I'm still pushing ahead in a "slow but steady" way, but it has some very serious ups and downs - the way life can be. My best advice is to make the most of the 6 month honeymoon period (or in my case, barely 5 months), as it will set you up for future success.

Thanks after the sleeve, life was great for about 2 years, but the I started getting horrible pains in my abdomen turned out it was acid reflux. Self medicated it and started eating soft carbs, long story short, gained 50lbs in a little more than a year. (Had lost 90lbs with the sleeve) so yes on acid reflux but I also need a reboot.

@@LipstickLady thanks for the encouragement! In the few weeks since I wrote my original post, I have taken an inventory of what's working and what has gone off track. I made an appointment with my surgeon for my final post-op follow up (which I should have done back in September but I cancelled because I felt like such a failure). I'm ready to move forward, no matter what that might end up looking like. Also, this morning I watched like 10 exercise infomercials, and it took me back to when I weighed 357 freakin' pounds (my HW ever recorded) -- regardless of what I think I haven't accomplished in 2 years since surgery, I have made pretty big strides towards my goal no matter what.

The re-sleeve idea is one of many things I'm exploring because of where I find myself with my previous procedure and how far I still have to go. The intention of my original post was to receive support, because that's what this community is about, and also to see if maybe there was someone here who had done a re-sleeve. There doesn't seem to be, though, which is why I plan to work closely with a surgical team to learn about options and risks, plus focus on my day-to-day routine to get the extra pounds off slowly -- just as I tried to do for many years before I ever considered a body-modifying procedure in the first place.

@@LipstickLady thanks for the encouragement! In the few weeks since I wrote my original post, I have taken an inventory of what's working and what has gone off track. I made an appointment with my surgeon for my final post-op follow up (which I should have done back in September but I cancelled because I felt like such a failure). I'm ready to move forward, no matter what that might end up looking like. Also, this morning I watched like 10 exercise infomercials, and it took me back to when I weighed 357 freakin' pounds (my HW ever recorded) -- regardless of what I think I haven't accomplished in 2 years since surgery, I have made pretty big strides towards my goal no matter what.

@@LipstickLady thanks for the encouragement! In the few weeks since I wrote my original post, I have taken an inventory of what's working and what has gone off track. I made an appointment with my surgeon for my final post-op follow up (which I should have done back in September but I cancelled because I felt like such a failure). I'm ready to move forward, no matter what that might end up looking like. Also, this morning I watched like 10 exercise infomercials, and it took me back to when I weighed 357 freakin' pounds (my HW ever recorded) -- regardless of what I think I haven't accomplished in 2 years since surgery, I have made pretty big strides towards my goal no matter what.

Excellent question, as I hadn't heard of it either until a friend mentioned it -- Here's one resource on the topic:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEkQFjAEahUKEwja2NOhiobJAhVQ32MKHTlyA6o&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tijuanabariatrics.com%2Fblog%2F2014%2F06%2F20%2Fsleeve-gastrectomy-revision-surgery-why-145250&usg=AFQjCNHPrKz4tFDkt1fBWrquG0sR6j_Rmg

@@LipstickLady thanks for the encouragement! In the few weeks since I wrote my original post, I have taken an inventory of what's working and what has gone off track. I made an appointment with my surgeon for my final post-op follow up (which I should have done back in September but I cancelled because I felt like such a failure). I'm ready to move forward, no matter what that might end up looking like. Also, this morning I watched like 10 exercise infomercials, and it took me back to when I weighed 357 freakin' pounds (my HW ever recorded) -- regardless of what I think I haven't accomplished in 2 years since surgery, I have made pretty big strides towards my goal no matter what.

@@LipstickLady thanks for the encouragement! In the few weeks since I wrote my original post, I have taken an inventory of what's working and what has gone off track. I made an appointment with my surgeon for my final post-op follow up (which I should have done back in September but I cancelled because I felt like such a failure). I'm ready to move forward, no matter what that might end up looking like. Also, this morning I watched like 10 exercise infomercials, and it took me back to when I weighed 357 freakin' pounds (my HW ever recorded) -- regardless of what I think I haven't accomplished in 2 years since surgery, I have made pretty big strides towards my goal no matter what.