Please excuse if this is a stupid question, I am still working at getting my head around all of this. ???? And I am hoping someone has struggled with same.

Ok, I get that I can't untell anybody at work and I understand the wisdom of that stance. Truth is, I am generally very quiet at work and I don't talk to my larger work family about lots of personal business. My supervisor who is also a dear friend knows all about my plans and she agrees its nobody's business but mine.

I plan to say simply that I have changed my diet and increased activity to explain the wt loss. But, when people are out of work, it's always a topic of conversation - even if you don't want it to be. What are you doing while off, where did you go, etc. Compounded by the fact that I am rarely out of work. I plan to take about a week and 1/2 and in over ten years, I have never been out of work that long.

How have other people explained their absence without creating some big lie? ????

I only told them about my hiatel hernia repair. Only a few close work friends know the truth because of some negativity I received when I was researching the procedure. I've lost 27 pounds in the last six weeks and not a lot of people have noticed yet.

So far my husbands entire immediate family knows my dad knows and a couple of our close friends know I've gotten nothing but love and support and that is just awesome. My work family oddly enough is my husbands family long story there but there's only one person at the office that doesn't know but he's new and I don't know him that well and he's not family so he probably won't be told IMHO

I was gone for 6 weeks-- I didn't tell anyone before I left except those who needed to know HR and my boss. I said surgery not which one.

When I returned I felt comfortable sharing what happened. If I haven't I would have stuck with surgery and not gone into detail.

I told people that I was having my gall bladder removed. It just happened to work out that when I did my pre-op visit they found that I already had gall stones so my doctor suggested that we take it out. That meant that I was not really telling a lie.

Vacation. Just tell them you were out on PTO.

I had my surgery November 23, and my recovery was a dream. I took a week off. In hind sight, I wish I hadn't told anyone. The weight doesn't FLY off like with bypass.

I told people hiatal hernia surgery...

I said diverticulosis surgery, which I have. And it explained time off and weight loss. Do whatever feels right. Don't feel pressured into anything. If you don't want to say, just tell your boss "it's personal". The word will get out that you'd rather not talk about it.