I am a newbie - so please forgive me if this has been ranted about before...
I just need to get this off my (now smaller than it used to be) chest LOL
I AM SO ANGRY WHEN PEOPLE THINK SURGERY IS THE EASY OPTION!!!!
They treat it like surgery is being lazy:
Just don't eat so much...
Exercise more....
Etc...etc...etc
Sigh! It is a tool, i need to work at it. It is not a magic wand.
It hurts even more when it is family.... feels like i am the wee fat one and they dont
want that to change, well piss off that is YOUR problem!
I made the choice for me if you can't support my decision.... well.... tough!
Thank you for saving me from burying my anger in chocolate X

When people say wow you've lost a lot of weight. How did you do it. I don't mind telling them. This is my life. I'm 43 years old. I have been dieting since I was 12 years old. Ups and down. Okay now my body is different. It metabolizes food different, the rate at which you loose weight is different, being overweight starts to be a catalyst for certain health issues. So guess what I made the right choice because of the shoes I have walked in. If you don't know my struggle than shut up. Everyone is different. You do you and I'm doing me. This is the best thing I could have ever done on my life. So whoever don't like it I don't care. This is my life and my decision and I feel soooooooooooooo good. Congrats to all sleevers, banders and everybody who has made the decision to be a better you kudos!!!!!!!!!!

I should be getting my date this week and after a 3 month waiting/dieting period...it finally happend. An "ex" (and yes, overweight) friend became the first person to actually say it to me. Well, in reverse.

"That's nice. I've actually been doing it the hard way. I've been hitting the gym 5 days a week and dieting. I've lost 17 pounds in 6 weeks".

Really? Right, and I've spent the last 3 months sitting around binge eating just waiting for the surgeon to come along and miraculously "trim" my stomach and all will be well. As a psychologist I understand jealousy (Actually, there was recently a research study released that found for every 7 pounds a person loses, they also lose a friend.) but I'm not sure I'll ever really understand how people who once claimed to have loved us or cared about us could actually be so cruel. .. guess it keeps me employed.

Killing yourself would have been easier.... WOW you might want to get some help.

I think you need to go read RJ story before you make a comment like that. Depression, suicide, true survival, and the will to live are themes that are REAL for some people. Your comment feels a bit sarcastic and that is unacceptable on this forum.

I should be getting my date this week and after a 3 month waiting/dieting period...it finally happend. An "ex" (and yes, overweight) friend became the first person to actually say it to me. Well, in reverse. "That's nice. I've actually been doing it the hard way. I've been hitting the gym 5 days a week and dieting. I've lost 17 pounds in 6 weeks". Really? Right, and I've spent the last 3 months sitting around binge eating just waiting for the surgeon to come along and miraculously "trim" my stomach and all will be well. As a psychologist I understand jealousy (Actually, there was recently a research study released that found for every 7 pounds a person loses, they also lose a friend.) but I'm not sure I'll ever really understand how people who once claimed to have loved us or cared about us could actually be so cruel. .. guess it keeps me employed.

What's this points out to me is that people somehow think that the "hard way" is somehow noble. Hard is not noble. Hard is hard. Sometimes what we want is at the end of a long hard path, sometimes what we want is a walk in the park. What matters, is that what we choose works for us. Everything else is just an interpretation.

I have dieted for the better part of 20 yrs. To me i have never worked harder than i do now to lose the weight. I think its because i see the progress much more. I never went to the gym 5 days a week or paid so much attention to what i ate. Thsi may be the easier way because we have the help of not being able to stuff our faces but this has been the hardest "diet" i have ever been on. So anyone that says this is the easy way out has no room to talk unless they have walked that mile in our shoes!!

So a friend at church approached me this morning and said "I hear you're having surgery. Is it the band or bypass?" Weird thing is I don't know how she knew because I have only told 1 person at church (well I guess then I do know how she knew). I told her bypass and she said "oh I talked to my doctor about surgery but she wants me to do it the hard way with diet and exercise."

Two things... This friend has no idea she is one of the reasons I looked into surgery. She is very overweight, unable to stand for long during choir practices and has diabetes and high blood pressure. I don't want to see myself in her situation in 5-10 years. Watching her struggle made me start to look into surgery.

And secondly, her doctor says she wants her to do it the hard way but in my friends case it will most likely never happen without surgery. Very sad

After she sees my great success, I will slip her the name of my surgeon and encourage her to ignore her primary doctor and go for a surgery consult and take the easy way out! Lol

It's funny how people seem to think dieting is so easy. Just 'push away from the table, tubby'. You wouldn't tell a drug addict that it's easy to quit, just stop taking the drugs. Well guess what, you can quit drugs, and you never have to do them again. But you can't quit food. You still have to eat, three to six times a day. Good people don't offer recovering adicts drugs, but have no problem offering overweight or dieting people food. Why are we seen as weak willed and lazy. If we were addicted to drugs they would embrace us for trying to change.