Emotional Trauma

[tiffanyb12211 21]

For those of you that were dealing with some emotional trauma or issues that you were dealing with, did losing the physical weight help you lose the emotional weight you were carrying. For example, I don’t feel confident like I use to before I gained weight and I feel once I lose weight I will feel confident again and those thoughts of being unworthy will dissipate. Did anyone’s emotional issues go away after the weight came off?

[maintenanceman 282]

WLS solves precisely two problems... being fat and (hopefully) associated health co-morbidities. The rest is work that you have to do. That said, being fat often makes us feel like crap for so many reasons. No longer being fat frees up a lot of energy and mental space to do that work.

I have found that engaging in high quality therapy pre-op and during weight loss and maintenance has been very helpful in processing all of the changes and taking full advantage of the opportunities for transformation. I can't imagine going through this process without therapy as a space to process it all.

Edited October 12, 2023 by maintenanceman

[tiffanyb12211 21]

Thank you! I currently am in therapy and my therapist wanted to know if some emotional issues were resolved after wls. I mentioned to her that I would feel confident again giving me the confidence to leave a situation I’m in and she wondered if others felt the same way

[maintenanceman 282]

2 hours ago, tiffanyb12211 said:

mentioned to her that I would feel confident again

I definitely feel more confident, more comfortable in my own skin.

Edited October 12, 2023 by maintenanceman

[BeanitoDiego 126]

I have begun to notice more confidence in myself when walking around at work and in public. A very nice feeling ☺️

[New To This23 102]

11 hours ago, tiffanyb12211 said:

I don’t feel confident like I use to before I gained weight and I feel once I lose weight I will feel confident again and those thoughts of being unworthy will dissipate.

Honestly, I hope so. Thank you for being so honest and bringing this up. I was not always overweight and now that I have been on both sides of the coin I have noticed how differently people that I know and don't know treat me. It has also affected my confidence at work and in making friends or even enjoying hobbies and life the way I used to. I do think that it (the surgery) will help a lot, therapy is great and I have done a lot of it, but I have yet to rebuild my confidence with it and I do think seeing my body physically change will make that difference, I know others will not agree, but we are all different people with different perspectives and we may share similar experiences, but we do not all process them the same.