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Shhh...Keep it in the Closet!?



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Hey I am going to be banded on Sept. 8th. I have share it with a few of my family members and they are being supportive so far, but of course they told me that I did not need it. I have shared it with some of my co- workers and church family. My reason for sharing was so that when I start losing people don't asking me a million questions like I am trying to hide how I am all of a sudden losing weight. I hope that I don't regret my decision. I do just feel after I have it that I don't have to go into details with people, they'll already know that I had, so the ice is already broken. Talking further will be my choice!

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To tell or not to tell? That is the question.

Hey girlies how do you tell your family or friends that you are having or had wls?

Well, I am not a girlie, but I hope I can "weigh in."

I didn't tell most folks... my wife, my pastor, and two close friends know.

My mom, family, my coworkers, my boss, my Water aerobics class, none know, and hopefully never will.

My thoughts, it is none of their business what I am trying to do, how I am doing it, or (in the case of my mother) how I am paying for it.

I just tell them that I am cutting the carbs, and "restricting" my intake.

But that is me.

Amen to that!

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I mentioned wanting to do this a while back. My Brother in law had a LOT to say about it, but then he has a lot to say about everything. Something to say about every subject, but knows little about basic social stuff. *rolleyes

My mother will be supportive, I'm sure, and I'll tell my sisters. I'm going to keep it a little hush hush from some other people until I get into it more, have definitely app'ments, etc.

My best friend is supportive.

When I mentioned it to another friend a while back, she too took a bit of a negative stance against it, so I won't say anything to her yet either.

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I do have to learn to keep my mouth closed about the band, because I have a friend who I told when I first started on this journey. She knows about all my medical problems and knows I have gone up and down for years, so I let her in on my plans for the band. Well, she saw me today and she noticed that I am losing weight on my own (pre-op) so she started saying that I should try to do it on my own and just stick to a diet. :eek::eek:Well she is my elder so I kept quiet, anyway she should know diets just don't work (she is about 75 lbs overweight also). She still thinks I am having GB surgery. She is one of my travel buddies and she doesn't like to see me sit and eat sensible.:blush:

My sister just went silent when I told her. So no one else will have to know.:rolleyes:

My son and his fiance (size 1) plus her family are very supportive, so they will be my support system.:tt2:

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I

My sister just went silent when I told her. So no one else will have to know.:thumbup:

Do you interpret silence as non-supportive? The reason that I am asking is because when I shopped the idea around to my best friend of 20 years almost 1 year ago, she would get silent. So I stopped trying to let her in on that part of my life. She still does not know that I had surgery last week! It just makes me kinda sad because we share everything.:frown:

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April:

With my sister the silence and raised eyebrow is definitely a sign of non-support. At least I did not have to justify it to her.

I told my girlfriends in ATL (by email) and they were all very supportive of me and they know how much better I will. I'll be happy to get back together with them next year.

Anne

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Yes I think that silence is a sign of being non-supportive. In a way I am glad that I didn't tell anyone. Only my mom knows and that is because I needed a ride to and from the surgery center. If it weren't for that then I wouldn't have told her. I am a very private person and I don't share anything personal about me with anyone in my life. Its kind of weird that no one knows about my surgery. Its as if I don't have the band at all. Wishing everyone all the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I think it's perfectly normal to want to keep it quiet. It's unrealistic to think that everyone will be 100% supportive and tell you what you want to hear. Personally, I am keeping it from my very large and opinionated extended family, just because I know they would want to burden me with their personal opinions about what I should or shouldn't do without taking out the time to research the facts. Everyone in my immediate family knows (father, mother, 1 sister) mostly because they're an awesome support system but also because my mom and I are going through this process together and will hopefully be banded on the same day.:crying: If you decide to make 'mums' the word, make sure you have a good support system even if it's only 1 man strong. Remember, "No man is an island", and somewhere through this process you'll need to be able to draw strength from somewhere.

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I

My sister just went silent when I told her. So no one else will have to know.:biggrin:

Do you interpret silence as non-supportive? The reason that I am asking is because when I shopped the idea around to my best friend of 20 years almost 1 year ago, she would get silent. So I stopped trying to let her in on that part of my life. She still does not know that I had surgery last week! It just makes me kinda sad because we share everything.:thumbup:

Apryl,

I can definitly feel you on the best friend thing. By best friend and I are/were both obese. Together in college we were able to lose weight (her-80lbs and me 100lbs.) Once that was over I gained all my weight back and then some and she been able to yo-yo around close to her goal weight for a couple years. She is not at all supportive of my decision since she feel that I threw in my towel out of pure frustration. Though we were both mordidly obese, I have always been much bigger than her and have tried to explain how I came about my decision. But she just wouldn't hear it. So one day I just finally said to her that as my best friend though she may not agree with my decision she at least needs to be supportive cause I would do the same for her. After giving it some thought she did apologive for her negative comments and though she still does not support it is more open to at least discussing it and will be there for me.

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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