I was watching weight loss videos on YouTube and came across a few people who did it naturally, and one in particularly basically said: "yes I lost my weight the natural way..no pills,no gimmicks no surgery!" I did it the hard way!...ok good for you. my whole thing is this, to each is own, I was a little offended by that comment because one as WLS patients we have to work extra hard to lose the same amount of weight a person who haven't had the surgery, we have to work out and eat right, there's no difference only we have a smaller stomach. people kill me with their opinions, don't judge those who is making the same lifestyle change as you. We just choose to go a different route.

It gets them attention. They think they get a prize for doing it without needing any kind of assistance. Get used to hearing it, get used to that comment rolling off your back. If only they knew how hard this was.

For me getting it off was not the biggest issue. KEEPING it off... THAT'S another challenge entirely! And one that I chose a permanent fix to help me achieve! I will NEVER understand the mentality that weight loss is a competition to be won by one person and lost by another who chooses a different path to take back their health. Ignorance at it's finest! Get used to it. Haters gonna hate, unfortunately. If they can make their lifestyle change permanent and keep it off, more power to them!

I agree that WLS is definitely not the easy way out. But having done both, lost pre surgery and with surgery, there is a tremendous amount of life changes and stress during either method and I don't think it's fair to say that weight loss is harder for those of us who've had the surgery. The specific loss of pounds is easier with the tools that surgery give us than it was before we had them. That said WLS is not an easy road to be on. Keeping it off is absolutley the hardest part of weight loss and having a sleeve is definitely a life saver in that department for me. Bkrchk is right on the money.. I wish that weight loss was just celebrated by everyone who's ever been in those shoes and not played against the different methods to success.

I always kind of looked at it like child birth some people just brag about having natural child birth. I did a little research found out I could have a beautiful baby without all the pain so the drugs were for me. I needed to lose weight did a little research found out the sleeve would be a great option to help me get the weight off and keep it off. Plus I get to be a part of this community so I made the right choice for me.

There were times during this journey that discourage me and made me think, losing weight natural way would be a lot easier!! Seriously!! But only beause I couldn't naturally do it!! That's why I cose the hard way to do!!!

For the longest time I told myself that I could do it on my own. And I could, but I was never successful at keeping the weight off. That's the hard part. So after being diagnosed with sleep apnea, high bp and severe anemia, and just turning 40, enough was enough. I'm only 2 weeks out, but I truly feel if I stayed on the track I was on for the past twenty years, that within ten I'd be dead. This is not something to be entered into lightly, and some people just don't realize what a struggle it is.

Thank you for sharing your weight loss surgery YouTube video! We recently added a Video Section to BariatricPal. Can you please post some of your videos? It takes two minutes and our members would greatly appreciate it!