While sitting in a cafe with a couple of friends discussing my progress, one of them, who is quite overweight hrrself, said something about how I gave up to take the easy way out.

Ahh. But thanks to everyone here I was prepared for that. I didn't even skip a beat. I said something to the effect of, yeah.. we all do it eventually. .. like you with your glasses. She looked really confused and just stared at me. After a minute I said, well it's really no different. .. you couldn't see clearly so you took the easy way and got that surgery for your vision... I'm sure you could have seen just fine without it if you really tried. Well needless to say she got the point and we changed the subject!

You should have told her the easy way out would be to never have tried at all and continued the destructive behaviors. Going on a liquid diet for a month is not easy. Going into surgery and recovery is not easy. Trying to change your eating habits for good is not easy.

I hear that every once in awhile. I used to explain the whole surface area of the stomach and all that biochemistry and then it dawned on me . . . it really doesn't matter. I think people project THEIR own fear of failure on others, to justify their own in action or inaction.

I tend to laugh it off, but also push them away, because this is hard enough without the negative sideways comments. Your vision surgery comment is spot on, I may steal that!

In the meantime I am running sometimes, walking 5 or 6 miles every other day, going hiking AND now I can get on a rollercoaster. ha ha ha Success! Still a way to go, but little things add up to big things.

I'm so glad to be here with all of us lazy people who choose to take the easy way out. Three cheers to the easy way!

I don't care if it IS the "easy way." As someone who also does the AA program due to a drinking problem, if there was an equivalent of VSG for alcoholism, I'd take that "easy way" in a matter of seconds, too. Probably even faster, because I would LOVE some kind of surgery or something that just magically made my alcohol cravings go away. The easier, the better.

There are multiple solutions to obesity, and this is one of those solutions. The way I see it, if there's a different solution that's better for someone else, that's fine too. But this was the best solution for me.

And I also wear glasses to drive and for distance viewing. I could also have surgery, or I could wear contacts, but the solution I went with was glasses. So I chose one of the medical solutions to help me see clearly, because I've found sight to be valuable.

I don't care if it IS the "easy way." As someone who also does the AA program due to a drinking problem' date=' if there was an equivalent of VSG for alcoholism, I'd take that "easy way" in a matter of seconds, too. Probably even faster, because I would LOVE some kind of surgery or something that just magically made my alcohol cravings go away. The easier, the better.

There are multiple solutions to obesity, and this is one of those solutions. The way I see it, if there's a different solution that's better for someone else, that's fine too. But this was the best solution for me.

And I also wear glasses to drive and for distance viewing. I could also have surgery, or I could wear contacts, but the solution I went with was glasses. So I chose one of the medical solutions to help me see clearly, because I've found sight to be valuable.[/quote']

AMEN!! That's exactly my point... I have used the same analogy with other things, like duh.. taking insulin is not "the easy way" for treating diabetes! ! Etc... just seems like people get it better when you give them something to relate to and it keeps me from going on and on and getting all worked up. The point is... most people that have a medical condition seek medical treatment. This is no different!