Keeping WLS a secret.

[Dd12 2]

How many of you have told your family and friends about your WLS? I have told only a few people outside of my immediate family.

[KindaFamiliar 3,867]

I've told pretty much everyone...

For months before it happened...

For a couple of reasons...

One reason was that there was no way I was going to deny it like a stinkin' "friend" of mine who, to this day, swears she didn't have any surgery.. Lying b***h...

Anyway...

The other reason was that, when I started getting RIDICULOUSLY better looking and much, much hotter than I already was, people were gonna know something was up anyway... I mean, chicks dig me... They're gonna notice stuff...

I'm not ashamed of having the surgery...

And if anyone I know thinks less of me for having it then **** them!!!

I love what I did and I'm proud to have done it...

Viva la Sleeva!!!

Kinda

[_Kate_ 2,224]

Initially I made a decision only to tell my husband, best friend and friends/work colleagues I go for lunch with during the week. My Manager knew too. I left it like that for weeks and that's how I wanted it to stay. However the week before the surgery date, some people at work had noticed that I was marked off sick for a month on our team calendar and asked if I was having issues with my neck (I have spinal stenosis) and decided have an op and I just told them the truth. For me, at that time, It felt quite liberating !!

[joatsaint 2,814]

Pre-op, I didn't want to tell anyone. But there were a few I had to tell. My parents - I eat Sunday lunch with them ever other Sunday... there was no way way I could gracefully bow out of eating with them, without mom feeling rejected.

And my best friend.... I share everything with him, plus I needed a driver to get me home from the hospital. :-P I had seriously thought about hiring a limo or medical transportation to get me to and from the hospital.

[skyjones 40]

Good Morning I haven't told anyone but my husband. The reason is because when my cousin was talking about getting this surgery everyone was so negative telling her she gone die n things like that I don't have time for that...

[Graciesmom04 184]

I told very few ppl. My mom, my husband, my oldest son and 3 friends. I had C Diff a year before my surgery and IBS so my diet and body were really hurting. I just told ppl that I was still having issues from the C Diff...true and that I had a scope done (true) and the Drs put me on a specialized diet (true). They just didn't need to know the rest. I'm 2 lbs from my 100lb wt loss in a matter of 7 mo's. So, I am getting comments and tons of questions, but tell them, again a form of the truth. It's about portions and Protein and no carbs, bread, pastas, etc.

I do feel like a hypocrit, cause I do not lie....and telling this "lie" to ppl every day really eats at me...but it's no one's business. I hate being talked about and feel if they knew I had surgery, it'd be 100 times worse.

[ThreeFifty 166]

My plan was not to tell anyone. Pre surgery I told a friend who also started the process. when I found out I had to have someone drop me off at the hospital and take me home. I told my parents. I think my mother ended up telling her sisters/my aunts (she has 6) and some people in her church. I think between the people she told, it will probably get to everyone on that side of my life (which honestly I dont see often. hardly at all)

Ive told a few people that were expecting things from me that I couldnt do (going out to dinners, cookouts etc) but other than that no one at work knows, and no one I deal with on a regular basis know. some people...like co workers know I had surgery but my story has been that I had a hernia repaired. a couple people has notice Ive been loosing weight but no one has put 2 and 2 together. I haven't lost enough yet to where people start asking questions tho.

[McButterpants 2,846]

I told 5 people about my surgery - my husband, son, parents and best friend. Since surgery, I've told two people - my hairdresser and financial planner. Weird, I know. (The hairdresser because my hair was falling out and I'm not really sure why the financial planner - he used to be a minister, maybe I felt compelled to tell him!).

This is such a personal choice - the right choice is different for all of us.

I live in a small community where everyone gossips. I did not want to give anyone any fat to chew...I knew if I told my brother, he would tell his wife, who would take great enjoyment out of picking up the phone and calling everyone we knew - by the end of the day, word would have gotten back to me that I had weight loss surgery, got a new job and had sex with a goat. It was not worth involving them.

If you keep it a secret, you do have comments about your rapid weight loss. I'm sure that some people suspect I had WLS and that's fine - suspect away. When people asked, I just said, "I got some things straightened out with my doctor and totally changed my lifestyle." That's a good enough explanation for me.

Do what's right for you - that's the right answer!

[Hengirl 26]

I don't advertise it but I am happy to share info if someone asks. I feel like me being open about it could help someone else make the tough decision to better his or her health. Initially I wasn't going to tell anyone but after reading all the statistics about how many people who could be helped by WLS but are afraid of it, I thought I would be open about my experience.

[skyjones 40]

@@McButterpants you had me laughing lol. But I feel u on that

[AvaFern 3,516]

I told my 3 best friends about my surgery a few days after I had it. It has now been almost 2 years and only those 3 people know. I just didn't feel like dealing with the judgement that people tend to have about WLS and I decided it was my business. I have no plans to ever tell anyone else in the future.

[KathyRS 29]

I told nearly everyone. I'm a therapist and told all my clients, because I thought having them worry about me would be counter productive to their therapy. With being off two weeks, and then coming back and losing weight rapidly, I don't want them to think I'm dying of cancer or something. I got sick of telling everyone, so after I had personally told family and closest friends I made an announcement on Facebook (I have a private Facebook). I just said something like, "after years of back pain and months of research, I have decided..." I also teach a few psychology courses at the college, and did not tell my boss. I know she will find out with all the other teachers knowing, but I also know her well enough to know that if I don't tell her directly, she won't talk to me about it directly, and I'm just not interested in having that discussion. I guess I'm different. I could pretty much care less about people talking behind my back, so long as it doesn't ruin my professional reputation, and I don't have to personally address it. It's not even that I try not to care, I just don't, so I'm lucky there.

Edited August 21, 2015 by KathyRS

[ShrinkingPeach 1,291]

I told all of my co-workers cos that would be pretty hard to hide. They have all been supportive and excited for me. I told close friends but have not told any of my family and probably won't ever. For me, my family is not close by and I don't see them often so it works. My step-mother is a person who has made comments over the years about my weight and I just don't want to deal with her comments or attitude. When I see her at Christmas her jaw is going to break when it hits the floor...lol I plan on saying I have changed my lifestyle and exercise.

I think it is all about who you choose to share your personal business with. Weight is one of the few things people still feel like they can be so intrusive with. Would you comment on weight to someone if they had a terminal illness? Then why must we share our WLS when it is only one tool in the arsenal? I just don't feel like that is lying in my opinion.

[Champ715 207]

I was planning on telling one of my close friends but I've just changed my mind today. She was telling me about her dad's friend who got the LapBand and how surgery is "an easy way out for lazy people". That's precisely the kind of ignorance and negativity that I don't need/want/care about.

[jmw1982 59]

I haven't told anyone and don't plan to with the exception of my significant other. I worry though that my plan to explain the weight loss with diet and exercise will cause another round of, "It took you long enough" and "I told you if you just watched what you ate..."