Hi! I'm new here. Have been reading for a couple of months but decided to sign up today. My first consultation is on Jan 29 and I'm pretty sure I'm going with a sleeve. Was first interested in the bypass but after reading and researching I think the sleeve is a better fit for me.

I had lunch with a close friend today who knows about my decision to have WLS. She is totally against it which I respect but she keeps coming up with these weird facts like all people that have wls regain the weight, etc...and, also, that if I just put my mind to it and exercised and watched what I eat I'd lose the weight naturally. Oh, and that I just want to do the surgery to be skinny...Sigh........

I have struggled almost all of my adult age with my weight and have developed high blood pressure which scares me. My body is starting to feel the extra weight. I had spinal surgery 2011 (laminectomy c5&6) and need to get the extra weight off for the sake of my spine. I turn 50 this year and want to start the next 50 years healthier!

I guess what I want to say is how do you make people understand? I realize that from her point of view it is hard to understand why someone would do something so drastic to their body. But my health is starting to scare me. I never used to think about it but after my spinal surgery it's been kind of downhill....

I haven't told my mother or parents in law. Just my husband and close friends know about my plans for now. I don't want everyone to focus on the weight loss but on how much healthier I'll be. Maybe it was a mistake telling people except for my husband. I can feel myself already getting irritated by all of the questions about how much weight I've lost!

I think I've rambled enough! Haha : )

The truth is, for many with WLS it is harder to keep it off than lose it in the first place. That being said, the statistics for losing wieght and keeping most of it off show WLS is a better bet than going it alone with diet and exercise (which you will have to do with surgery as well!) My best friend was worried about me too, I was surprised she tried to talk me out of it. Maybe someday we won't need surgery, and there will be a pill or something that corrects the problem, but for now, its our best bet for better health. There are lots of medical research papers out there that tell of the success and problems with weight loss surgery, perhaps one of those might help your friend see the facts more clearly.