I'll be honest and say I'm ashamed of myself for having to resort to WLS to handle my problem.

The only person at work who knows is my boss, and that was only so he would know in case something went wrong.

The only person in my family I told was my baby brother, and it was for the same reason. I needed him to tell our mother in case something happened.

My children don't even know. The oldest (8) saw my scars and I told him I got in a knife fight.

Other than that, no one knows. They all just think I went to Mexico for a week and laid on the beach.

Who did you tell and why?

I told everyone capable of hearing and still do.

I gained most of my weight with my oldest daughter now 11. I now have three kids and after each pregnancy tried my hardest to loose weight. Clearly nothing worked. I'm now 30 years old and knew I needed to drop the lbs to better my life and be able to stick around for my kids.

I was excited to have my surgery to help change my life. I told every one, and I will keep that part of my life open to any one who wants to know how I lost the lbs.

Only my husband.

Everyone that knew what I looked like before and knows what I look like now! I am not ashamed of the way I chose to handle my weight loss. I was ashamed of weighing close to 400lbs. I am very excited and empowered by my results both on and off the scale.

i forgot to tell you why i tell everyone. I want everyone to know that this was my saving grace in life. I want others to be inspired by this decision cause they may want to make the same steps and they may need a hand to hold. I have always been an open person though. I am an open book and if people dont like my decision they can fly a kite....lol

I told everyone because I feel it helps to remove negative stigmas associated with obesity and Bariatric surgery. I have only gotten positive responses. I think my confidence in the decision and how I presented it may have shutdown any possible naysayers..

i have told and will tell anyone who will listen and even people who wont, well especially people who wont. They are my target . I wrote about this in my blog and share it with everyone on facebook and then some. bartenders know i have had it, waitresses, friends of friends, heck I am not only not ashamed, I am damn proud of it. As you should be, even if only proud of yourself. Its your decision who to tell, I wont get into any of that, its a very touchy subject. But please do not be ashamed of who you are and what youve done, there is no need for it.

Good luck and congratualtions.

I have told my husband (obvious reasons there: insurance bills, driving me to/from hospital, etc.), my sister (b/c she'd be happy for me), my mom (she asked too many ?'s and wouldn't let it go), a friend at church, and a friend who gave me her surgeon's name. That's it, no more. All of my other family and friends know that I am doing Sugar Busters and am having success, but that's all. Right now I don't want or need any more comments about "Why I still wanted the Lap Band if I was having success losing weight?"

I told my husband, kids both adults, my close group of girlfriend's five of them total. My husband took it upon himself to tell all of his friends and all of his coworkers. I was and still am upset about it. I didn't want to have to defend my very personal decision and asked him to not discuss it with anyone. Two of his friends have asked him why was I lazy and took the easy way out. That was the reason I didn't feel the need to disclose this information. I am by no means ashamed of my WLS. I just didn't feel the need to tell these people who aren't apart of my support system.

Sassysassypants1, that's exactly how I feel. I specifically haven't told my MIL for just that reason, the woman CAN NOT keep her mouth shut. Just recently I visited with my kids and she made a point to tell my cousin, "She's finally lost some weight you can see." Now isn't that just sweet of her?? Heck no!!!!

I've had my surgery date for two months and haven't told anyone yet.

I'll have to tell my husband at some point if I want a lift to the hospital, I guess, lol.

Edited April 21, 201511 yr by mrs kaje

I haven't hidden my surgery from anyone. My whole office knows and they are all fantastically supportive. All of my family and all of my friends are the very same. I haven't divulged to my online social network (facebook) because a lot of those people are acquaintances and to be honest I'm not ready for all of their opinions - although I am sure it would be mostly positive. I have a blog livelovelapband.blogspot.com.au and that also has a twitter page. I will at some point post those details to facebook so the rest of my world knows too. If I happen to see any of them out and about and they ask how I've been losing weight then I will absolutely tell them. As others have said, there is absolutely no shame in wls - it's life saving and if their opinions about it are negative then just brush it off because it shouldn't mean anything to you. Good luck...

I told just about everyone. I had made a concerted effort to lose weight and be healthier prior to surgery, so it was already noticeable that I was losing weight. I found that by telling people what I was doing and why, I had a greater support system. I was also able to help other people realize their health goals.

I have told everyone. I am proud of my decision to get healthy and could not be happier with the results.

Anyone who asks how I have lost the weight, I tell them I had WLS and then share with them how it works and how difficult it is.

I have received nothing but support and questions from folks that have been interested in getting help themselves but are fearful.

I told my partner, after all he's in this journey 24/7 with me. I told my family and some friends and neighbors. We live 1500 miles from family so I could have gotten by with not saying anything. Those that have know me for years know I have yo-yo'd year after year. Anyone that cares about me should be supportive but I agree you open yourself up. Even those that are closest to me are often times not very tackful (I think they just don't hear what comes out of their mouth or speak without even thinking).

I have Facebook but chose not to mention it there because, as was stated above, a lot on my FB are acquaintances were made through a hobby we share and not really friends and family that know me well. I did start a blog mymirrorsreflection.blogspot.com and share my struggles and accomplishments there.

This is nothing you should be ashamed of, those that criticize are those that have no idea how difficult this process is. it's not just go have surgery and voila get skinny, it's a daily process of changing our lives. When someone starts talking about my surgery I'm happy to let them know what it entails, most often they had no idea whatsoever how life altering it

Stand proud you've made the best decision for the rest of your life! Good luck and please keep of posted of your progress!