The Easy Way Out

[slm2007 7]

Great words and I even used that example of "easy" against someone who said that to me.....My comment back was...if it is so much easier, why is that a bad thing? The car makes it easier, the computer makes it easier, the microwave etc....you use them don't you? If it helps your quality of life why not?

Thanks for the great post! Great Words, Great Message .....

[suzahhn 19]

I agree, I actually said this to someone before I like how you phrased it all.

[HeatherinCA 10]

It's still a diet, it's just help! I've explained to my friends, I can lose 40lbs on my own maybe 50lbs, I can't lose 150lbs. I physically need help with that. That is why I chose surgery. Also I think a lot of people don't quite understand weight loss surgery, how it works, and what it does for you. Also they don't understand why we are fat, and how this is a disease, and problem, it's not as simple as stop eating so much for most of us.

Also I know it's not about weight loss surgery, but i like to tell people to watch Heavy on A&E I think that give a great inside look at overweight people, how we got this way, and why it's so hard to change that.

[Mommyto1 1]

Here's how I look at it. Did I take the easy way out? I don't think so. I've totally changed the way I eat, I've started to exercise (which I hadn't done in years) and I've lost weight. Could I have done it without the band? I had tried it, so many times and had very little success and very short term success. Maybe the band gave me my motivation to finally get myself into shape. I wouldn't have went through this surgery if I wasn't going to take the weight loss seriously.

Ultimately, I was over 150 pounds over weight when I started this journey, I'm now 90 pounds overweight. I still have a long way to go, but I finally feel like I'm heading in the right direction. So, I really don't care if people think getting the band is the easy way out. I'm doing what I have to do to have a better & healthier life.

[54Shirley 105]

Easy way out? I don't think so ! There is nothing easy about going threw a list of Dr.'s just to see if your O.K. for surgery. Then the surgery, and living with it.

I did mine for Health. I would have died if I didn't do something, and ! I new it before the Dr. did. I was drowning in my own bodily fluids, they were even coming out threw the pours of my skin. then came the choking when I tried to sleep and the only cure was Bariatric Surgery.

I'm still here, as you can see.

At work all I heard was "can't you do it yourself? Don't you have the willpower or guts to do it." I shook my head in disbelief, and walked away from the ignorance.

People who don't have any clue as to what this is all about, seem to be the ones that keep saying the easy way out ! I disagree.....

[slm2007 7]

Oh, I just have to add this for all of us fat, lazy people to read.....my husband says to me (and not in a mean way but he just doesn't get it)...." I really don't want you to get this surgery, just eat less and exercise more" - -

My response.."Okay, honey, for example I got weighed on 2/25 and for the next month I've been going to the gym 3 or 4 days a week (I'm lucky I can fit that in) and living on Lean Cusines for lunch and a bread/butter plate for my dinner servings (and my son usually shares from that). Go to the doctor on 3/25...I gained a freaking pound! I'm starving myself and I gained a pound. If it was so easy for me to "eat less/exercise more" then I'd be skinny. "

I've been on this 8 month diet now and I've only dropped 15 pounds (up and down a few). It is not a simple antidote of "eat less/exercise more" for some of us. I can work and work and starve and starve and nothing happens for me. I get frustrated, quit and return to eating like I did before. With the band as my friend, hopefully, I will see that scale moving....even a simple pound per week....and it will keep me motivated. If I lose motivation, I get frustrated. I wish people would stop thinking we are lazy fat people because, while that might be true for some, I think the people on this board are dedicated to success and the work that comes with it.

[Msbandtastic 1]

That is why it is so great to have this forum to share our success with people who understand. The other day I went walking on the walking trail here in town. I was about a mile in a half in and moving as quick as I could when I came upon a woman and a man walking a dog. As I passed, the girl looked at the man and made this cheep smirky grin and said did you see that? The woman was dressed pretty nice and her hair and make-up were nearly perfect as well, unlike me, with my hair thrown up in a pony tail out trying to work part of my butt off. The comment hurt because I knew that she was making fun of me for being overweight out there on the trail. It's kind of the same experience when you go to the gym and all of the perfectly shaped people make you feel like you don't belong. When I got home, I was nearly in tears because that woman did not know about the journey I have been on or that I had surgery a little over a month ago to try and change what she saw only on the outside. When I got home, I told my husband what happened. I figured the woman must have been on a date with the way she was dressed and the man she was with must not have liked heavy women. The sad part was that she was not in the best shape herself, but making fun of me must have made her feel better about herself.

I just want to take a moment to say that I am proud of all of us on here who made a decision to have this surgery. This morning I am down 28 lbs and I have taken time to Celebrate each one. No matter if you have only lost 1 lb or if you have even stepped backwards a bit and may have gained a few, Stand proud and don't shrink and feel bad about yourself because of comments other people make. At first I prayed that girl had to walk a mile in my shoes. My mom committed suicide a few years ago, my first husband divorced me over it. I had a brother who was in a car wreck and broke his neck. I had 2 grandfather's and a grandmother pass away. Both of my sister's were diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and just a few months ago, my high school sweetheart and my father's son was murdered. After I thought about it for a little while, I said, no, I hope no-one ever has to walk the path I have had to walk. I read stories on here all of the time where life has beat so many of us up. Please, Please, Please, Celebrate your band and your progress and your hope. This is our beauty for ashes. It's about time for a little blessing, even if we had to have a surgery. It may not be the easy way, but for me, it is an easier way and I believe it is about time. God bless all of us that we stand tall on our journey and don't shrink and give up or in to the voice of nay sayers who have no idea where we have been, or where we are going. We are all in the same boat....................our side is just rising a little higher in the Water. Woo Hoo, GO us!

Thank you so much for this post. It was so beautiful and I feel exactly the sae way you do.

[mountain 0]

The way describe it (to the very few people I've told) is that it is like "non-smoking surgery". I have inlaws who have smoked for the past forty years and would give anything to be able to quit. If there were surgery that would turn a smoker into a non-smoker and therefore prevent cancer, wouldn't that be great? Okay - I have an addiction that is putting me at risk for blood pressure, cholestral, diabetes etc. Isn't it great that there is surgery that can help ME quit?

But truthfully, I've only told four people total and this is because I know how people can be - it would be great if everyone could just be happy when people try to help themselves make positive life changes.