Keep working hard and use it as a motivator! Most people have responded positively to my weight loss and have also been supportive. If they are talking about you and you don't mind telling them about your surgery, than do it! Some people need to be educated. I hate when people comment how fast I've lost weight and start talking about having the surgery because they think it's some miracle that will make you drop all this weight. I explain to all of them that my band HELPS me lose weight and I couldn't lose all this without it but I have made a serious lifestyle change as far as my eating habits and exercise goes.

Keep going, you're looking great

I can totally identify with what your saying. I have several friends who have been what I thought were good friends for a long time 10 years plus. Not once has either of them said, you really look good since you have lost weight. They just look right past it and never even mention it. One I work with now and see everyday and the other I worked with several years ago but we have stayed in very close contact. We are still FB friends and she sees the pictures I post and there is no way you can not see how different I look. So, your right it is not my fault I took my life in a positive direction, it is their fault they have chosen to stay obese. There are a lot of idiots in the world and unfortunately we seem to have been friends or aquintance with several of them. Keep doing what your doing.

i am in no way trying to tell you how to respond to those people as ive only been banded 3 months. However , i would of loved to have heard of the band 10 yrs ago ! i have been struggling with a weight prob for many years, tried weight watchers with no success, and wasnt quite sure what to do. then 2 relatives had the band last june and a light bulb just went off ! i vaguely remember seeing the ads in magazines, but it wasnt until i heard from my 2 relatives that i took a closer look. well, i was banded dec 2011, down 25 lbs as of today, and wish i had known about it sooner ! i wish i had known you before , if you had let me in on the band , think what a role model you would of been to me !! for all those people who are'nt talking smack about you, but are struggling with their weight, hey, just casually mentioned that you had Lap Band and are taking control your weight and your life. I've been open and honest about being banded and have gotten 100% support, and even had 3 people consider getting banded to deal with their weight probs ! think of yourself as a great role model ! good luck !

I will tell any one any time about my band now but i dont think that i should have to explain my self to everyone all the time. I look good and although sometimes i still see the "big" girl in the mirror i know that i have lost lots of weight and i look nothing like a crack head lol. Its just hard sometimes to say hey im doing this to see my kids kids and to have my own children someday im doing this for me and to make a better life for me. I am happy and healthy and everything that happened to me because of all the weight i put on myself is gone i am really healthy for the first time in about six or seven years and im happy with that. I want to think all of yall for the support that yall have given me and ill try to write more tomorrow. thank you all for the kind words and for being so wonderful!

Word, peoples perception of anyone that does a procedure for weight loss is sometimes hurtful and demeaning. They think its cheating, and that its the easy way to loose weight. HA , they don''t have to eat the smaller portions or cut out alot of foods that we have loved all our lives. feel the stucks or the constipation, or be compared to someone else they know that got it done. I hate when Im compared to someone else that got it done. "I didn't have that gaunt sick look like so and so" I just said we are all different. You are right we shouldn;t have to explain it, what I do do, is tell people that I feel better, look better.

Your right and i don't have to explain myself if i don't want to like i have said before all the people that love me know the truth and that is all that matters and it is hard to give up all the foods that i used to love. But when i look at new and old pics that makes it worth it to me. I haven't changed the person that i am on the inside just who i am on the outside. some people just cant deal with that and i live in a very small town. There for if they don't know exactly what is going on they have to make up something or there is not gossip. And it sucks but im a better person then that.

If people are saying things about you then they aren't friends anyway and who needs friends like that. You are right those that are close to you are the only ones that matter. My sister has a saying that I just love. " If they (people) aren't your direct food chain then they don't matter" Don't let yourself get down because they are jealous of you and don't know the real you. You don't have to explain yourself to others if you don't want to and if you do then you will. I have had some awesome support from my family, at least again the ones that matter, some friends and some co workers but others not so much and that is ok because they don't live my life and I have made the best decision for me and my family. Keep your chin up, you are doing great.

Thank you karla your awesome!