I've seen quite a few people around these parts talking about people they know who have lost weight "on their own" while they personally had WLS and I must say, this mindset makes me a bit pissy.

Before having VSG, I tried every freaking diet out there. I exercised like a maniac. I tried drugs I knew were potentially harmful to my long term health. I resigned myself to being fat every single time I failed before slapping myself around and trying something new or trying something old again and again. I saw nutritionists, I saw gastro specialists. I considered a hypnotist, but I waved that off as hogwash. (No offense to anyone who tried it, just not my cup of tea.) I lost weight, I gained weight, I lost weight, I gained weight, I lost, I gained, I yo-yo'd myself right into a flucked up metabolism and mass frustration for myself and my family.

I finally decided that I had no other options and settled on the Vertical Sleeve after researching my WLS options for almost a year. I went through 4 months with one surgeon before realizing there was no way in H E double hockey sticks could I let him cut me open before starting the process over with another surgeon that I felt comfortable with.

I did all the pre-op work with a nutritionist (whack job!!) figuring that if I could concentrate on losing for those 6 months, maybe I wouldn't need surgery after all.

I saw the counselor (WHACK JOB!!!) and never got to the root of my troubles other than the fact that I am a greedy piglet. (She swears I am repressing sexual abuse in a past life -- no REALLY, a PAST life, not just in my past. Uhmmm...)

I did my pre-op diet for a month instead of the required two weeks because I wanted to.

I exercised my fanny off (literally) over the last 7 months.

I weigh, measure and log my food.

I read labels.

I make good choices putting my Protein needs first.

I make sure to get in my 10k steps every single day even if that means running in place for an hour at 10pm when I know I have to be up, bright eyed and bushy tailed in 7 hours.

I look for recipes that are healthier for my family that I can eat as well but I often cook two meals so they can eat what they like and I can eat what I need to eat.

I put the fork down before I want to so that I don't spend the next 30 minutes bent over the toilet even when it took me an hour to prepare a meal and I've only had two or three bites because ,my tiny tummy isn't tolerating more than an ounce instead of it's usual 3 or 4.

I read menus days in advance if I know I am going out so that I can order seamlessly with everyone else.

I attend parties and conferences and work functions and eat mindfully so I can enjoy the event without calling attention to myself.

I suffer through stalls in my head so that my family doesn't have to hear my incessant whining because I know they've suffered enough of my nonsense over the years.

I appreciate everything my changing body has allowed me to do over the years despite the abuse I put it through and I appreciate how much it's thanking me as I am relieving it of all the excess weight.

I went to kickboxing even when I don't feel like it and now I teach it so I don't have a choice but to go.

I joined a high dollar gym and hired a high dollar trainer, not because I am a high dollar girl but because I am now forced to go.

I look at my saggy skin and my floppy boobs and my melty thighs and my squishy bum and my hangy arms and while I regret that I didn't do this 5, 10, 15 years ago, I smile that I did do it seven months ago.

I am losing this weight ON MY OWN. If you honestly think I'm not, please tell me who is doing it for me. They owe me a whole bunch of money, time and heartache for all the things I've put myself through over the last year+ and I owe them a HUGE amount of thanks for getting me where I am today.

Edited December 22, 201312 yr by LipstickLady

Great post LL! Thank you for sharing

Letting dumbass people get under your skin hurts you, not them.

If I can get something done with less effort that is called intelligence. Choosing to do this surgery is an intelligent move.

Health matters. Your health matters to you and your loved ones.

If we work the sleeve we will enjoy the results of a wonderful technological advancement to solve the obesity problem.

So just to play devil's advocate for a minute, let's say we did take the "easy way out". What's wrong with that? I don't think it's easy getting surgery and making a commitment for life, but let's say it is. Isn't the end game losing weight and keeping it off?

Is someone giving out awards for doing things the hard way? Because if so, they owe me a few hundred I'd like to claim for always having to learn things the hard way.

My ex-husband encouraged me to take pain meds during childbirth. I didn't take them but he was right when he said there are no awards for suffering through childbirth with maximum pain. Either way, you'll still have a baby at the end of it. It's the same here. No awards for losing weight one way or another.

My husband told me to stop looking at this as failure and start looking at is as troubleshooting success. Finally, finally after fricking YEARS of trying, we've found something that seems to work for us. How is that not success?

And I do think the tool helps me, so I agree with the earlier posts that we're better off than people who are trying this without a sleeve. I could never eat this little food without hunger pangs without my sleeve. So yes, we are better off than those who don't have a sleeve.

But that's why we chose it. Because 90% of people who lose weight without a sleeve gain it back. While some people gain back some of the weight after a sleeve, the number is less than 50% of weight regained for less than 50% of those sleeved.

I'll take those odds.

If I can get something done with less effort that is called intelligence.

Less effort? I've put a hell of a lot of effort into this for much longer than any other "diet" I've ever done. HA! And trust me, I've worked HARD on other diets.