I hate when I try to confide in someone and they say "You don't need surgery" … ? I say " Oh yeah...tell that to my bad knees and achy back..You try carrying a 70lb child around everyday" this was how I felt.. Do they really think I haven't tried other ways. Maybe they think WLS is the easy way out. This is why I only told a few selected people. I have enough battles to fight.

On 10/16/2018 at 6:10 PM, Bmanns01 said:

My surgery date is October 29 and I have ran into the same issue. I stopped telling people I'm having the sleeve done. (Easy for me as I am having my gall bladder removed at the same time. So I've just been mentioning that and not the sleeve.) Now that I am day 3 of liquid diet, I am ready to just go to bed and sleep till surgery day. Between the hunger pains and the comments about how disappointed people are in my choice, I just am having a difficult time. The worst are the ones who have told me they know I'm going to fail because "if you don't have the willpower before surgery to lose the weight, you're not going to have it after and you're just going to stretch your pouch and gain the weight back." I really don't think I would be able to do this without my husband and kids making our house a support zone for me where I can hide from the nay Sayers. I just joined this page in hopes of finding some answers/support from people who have been in my situation.

Screw the nay sayers, trust me they won't go away. I'm seven years out and the one piece of advice I'd give myself back then it's not to tell anybody. People have all kinds of opinions some educated and some not. Do your research and if this seems like a good option and you are committed to change and ready to do this, do it. Keep your mouth shut and show them with action. They will begin to see your positive results and quietly they can watch the transformation. Trust me the negativity will be replaced with wanting to know what you are doing to look and feel so much better. What they think had nothing to do with you it's all about them. Be committed and quietly do your thing. It's not the easy way out and it doesn't matter how you get healthy or what people think. Today I am living a life I only dreamed about. I'm thrilled I didn't give into other's stupid ideas about how I should manage my weight loss. I just quietly did it and the people who were the loudest complainers are the ones asking how I'm doing it. I wouldn't change my decision for anybody. Do it, change your habits and enjoy your life. Good luck to you.

Edited October 24, 20187 yr by Swimmer

@Swimmer - thank you for the encouragement. Less than a week till surgery and I am still really nervous. It's gotten better since I stopped telling people what is going on. Now I only have to deal with my own doubts and not anyone else's.

On 10/17/2018 at 8:06 AM, skinnylife said:

You don't "need" anyone's approval of your decision. No need to defend it to people that don't get it. Understand that the rapid weight loss is hard to hide. People will talk and speculate you had WLS. Ignore the haters and press on with your life. Once your weight loss settles it will no longer be a topic in conversations. Life becomes normal.

I love how you put this. It is 100% correct. I'm 4 years out and its not even a thing anymore. Everyone is not supposed to "understand" your life and decisions.