:confused:Hi 2 days until my band and I'm wondering if and what you tell people about your new lifestyle. I have told a few people about my decison to get this and it has been negative. Has this happened to anyone else ? Once I start losing weight I'm going to have to explain it. What do you guys say when people notice the weight loss.

Honestly only a couple of people know about my band and they've been supportive and those that don't know about my band haven't really noticed the weightloss except for my pharmacist lol - All I'll be telling them is that I've cut soft drink, bread and rice which is completely true, explain that and how high in carbs they are and because you ate so much before and then decided to cut them out you've lost alot which isn't lying at all, I mean we can't have soft drink and we can have rice and bread but not alot so really your actually being honest =) Good luck

I also only told a few people and they have been very supportive. The first few months no one noticed I was losing weight. I was wearing the same clothes, just getting bigger. It was around Labor day when I had to buy new clothes. That is when everyone was surprised at how much weight I had lost. I told them I was not eating bread, sweets and junk food. I also said I got a WII and was excising almost everyday 20-30 minutes. I should get commission on every wii that was bought because of me. Well everything I said is true, I only never mention I had lap band surgery.

I tell people the truth. I had weight loss surgery. Simple as that. I like to be straight up with people and have found that most, if not all, people have been very supportive. It gives me a chance to tell them about the lapband and my new lifestyle. I'm happy with the decison I've made to have my lapband and I'm not a bit ashamed of taking back control of MY life! Life is too short to worry about what others think. If they are negative...then to he** with them! :wink2:

Seriously, what kind of person would fault you for wanting to lead a long, healthy, and productive life? Remember...misery loves company! :w00t:

work people --- a couple know beforehand. everyone else will get the star jones treatment: "diet and pilates". if they figure it out -- good for them. overweight people i will tell the truth.

i finally made the decision after 3 years of waffling back and forth because someone (actually at work) told me she had the surgery when i asked her about her weightloss and she encouraged me to go see her surgeon. i am grateful to her for her honesty in helping me save my life. i hope to do the same for someone else.

family and friends will know as the situation arises. so far everyone has been very supportive.

Edited November 8, 200916 yr by mom.on.the.go
horrendous spelling error.

I love mom.on.the.go's answer. I have been trying to decide how to handle this as well. I think I will adopt your strategy with hints of the other suggestions here.

I will start out by telling folks that I cut my portion sizes and choose healthier foods plus exercise. For my overweight friends I will add "and a lap-bad helps me to feel full longer so I can do these things."

I was very open and hones with everyone from the beginning. Even before I had all of the money that I needed for the surgery, I would tell people that I was getting it. For me, it was kind of like "The Secret". I had to put it out to the universe or it wasn't going to happen.

Even now, everyone in my office and my family knows as well. I hate that they call all the time asking for weight updates, but am glad that everyone is supportive.

I too have been honest and open. Surprisingly, the support came from unexpected places and some of those who you think would have been on board were not! I think lying, intentionally or by omission, adds to the shame of being overweight and the thought some have of "it's cheating" and not "the natural way" to lose weight. That is just how I feel, and everyone has to make their own decision about how to handle it.

I just told a close friend and told her to keep it quiet. I'm not banded yet. My surgery date is Dec. 22nd. She, my friend, asks why I want to keep it a secret. I honestly don't know how I feel about this matter...telling everyone. You all have made some brilliant suggestions. But right now I feel if I tell anyone I'll jinx it. After it's said and done...I still don't know?????? :w00t:

Edited November 8, 200916 yr by illuminationlady

Well, hell. Forget what I said earlier. My friend just accidentally outed me on Facebook. Ha Ha. Speaking of "The Secret", problem solved! I guess the decision was made for me. That takes the pressure of worrying about it off of me. ha ha

BTW, I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction. It works!

My husband and I are telling people that we cut our portions. I don’t think we will get the support we deserve and I really don’t want to hear anything negative. Maybe after a while we will tell everyone but for now it’s staying with us. Good Luck to you!

Well, I eat normal food, just not huge portions so I can go into any situation and not have to tell anyone anything. I refuse to diet ever again, I dont do Protein shakes, I dont avoid food groups, nobody would ever know unless I told them. At work for example, I might take a tin of tuna and a salad, I might have an apple for a snack. Completely normal, arouses no interest from anyone.

The most anyone would think is that I'm a fitness nut. I do do a lot of exercise and do crazy stuff like bootcamp just for the fun of it.

I told my best friend (actually, ex best friend) and she told her boyfriend - both told me what a "deadly" mistake I had made and so forth and spent hours coming up with all the negative's they could. That was not what someone 5 days post op wants to hear.

Not that I took them seriously - they're both grossly over-weight (a lot bigger than I ever was) and they don't want to do anything about it. That's fine - but for me, it wasn't an option. I wanted (needed) to change. Funnily enough, I've found my thin friends being very supportive and happy for me - funnily enough.

Anyway, it's definitely made me more mindful of who I tell because a lot of people seem to need to put their opinion across, no matter how ill-educated that opinion is.

At first I was a little embarrassed about it, but my closest friends all knew from the beginning that I was working on getting weight loss surgery and they were supportive (I had been obese long before they knew me and just wanted me to be happy). Then as my surgery date grew closer I began telling other not so close friends, and they turned out supportive too.

Most recently, while in a Motivation class, some pretty big generalizations about overweight and obese people started popping up, so I spoke up and told the class about my band. Perfect strangers and peers. No negativity that I could glean. Just curiosity, mostly from the girls I had been talking to and the teacher, who was concerned for me nutritionally.

I find that good people don't judge. They accept your decisions, who you are, all of it, without thinking themselves superior or thinking less of you. This pertains to not just a person's weight and how they choose to deal with it, but religion, sexual orientation, how you raise your kids, what have you.

I hope supportive people start coming out of the woodwork for you soon. They do exist and you shouldn't feel ashamed of WLS. You did what was best for YOU and if others don't approve... well, that reflects more on them than you, don't you think?

Well, hell. Forget what I said earlier. My friend just accidentally outed me on Facebook. Ha Ha. Speaking of "The Secret", problem solved! I guess the decision was made for me. That takes the pressure of worrying about it off of me. ha ha

BTW, I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction. It works!

It absolutely works - I even created a virtual model with my head on it and put it on my vision board...along with my dream house. I tell myself every day that I am happy and grateful to be at my perfect weight...and the weight is coming off.....:w00t:

I tell people the truth. I had weight loss surgery. Simple as that. I like to be straight up with people and have found that most, if not all, people have been very supportive. It gives me a chance to tell them about the LAP-BAND®® and my new lifestyle. I'm happy with the decison I've made to have my LAP-BAND®® and I'm not a bit ashamed of taking back control of MY life! Life is too short to worry about what others think. If they are negative...then to he** with them!

Seriously, what kind of person would fault you for wanting to lead a long, healthy, and productive life? Remember...misery loves company! :w00t:

I also have told people the truth.. Nothing but positive attitudes.. By my telling the truth, 4 other people from my work are now on their way to being healthier by having this done, They just needed a jump start and I was the one to give that to them. I do get the occasional food POLICE, but I just call them that, and they back off...lol :wink2: