Why do people bash weight loss surgery?

[Pillar2butterfly 391]

That's easy...Because, everyone is a self proclaimed expert on whatever topic is at hand, but most literally don't really know sh**. WLS is not for everyone, but good thing in my case is that I don't have to worry about pleasing everyone, just me.

This will always happen...with WLS...on just about any thing really. Bottom line is that you do what is best for you...literally, to hold one's self accountable is to not care what others think of your choices.

[BigDog Bryan 262]

As others have stated, it's usually out of fear or envy that you will hear these comments. Now that health care is more available (NOT a political statement, just a fact), it's not as often a matter of insurance.

There is also the possibility that you can run into a zealot for another weight loss program. A person who has had success with another method will naturally be its biggest cheerleader. If they have not had success AND they have a weight issue, then it's fear or jealousy 99% of the time.

If they have never had a true weight loss need, just ignore them completely. They have no frame of reference and no sense of what a challenge this can be. Be VERY PROUD of your commitment to yourself and to improving your health.

[pr_pitbullgrl 1,039]

oh yeah i hear that shit all the time. i love the "everyone who's had it has either gained the weight back or died" hahaha. it's ridik. i just ignore people. they think it's the easy way out but we know better don't we? there's nothing easy about it. i work out five damn days a week and don't eat sugar or carbs. it's not less than any other "fit" person has to do to lose weight and get in shape. people are dumb. you'll always find supporters too. focus on that. xo

[BarrySue 602]

Because sometimes, people are stupid.

They are uninformed, short-sighted, and very, very stupid.

[katesuccess 990]

Great rant topic @her1981!

I don't tell many people, but I've had three non-fam people seriously ask how I've done this loss, because their lives are in danger from obesity:

I told my 60 year old brother in law who is over 450 lbs (about 5'7") and can no longer visit his father etc. His response? "It's just too extreme for me! It changes your body and your life even." Um yes, for the better. And too extreme? Like 450 isn't?

I told my friend who is mid forties and around 390 he says, (also around 5'9") and he said it was "Too drastic! I might consider it if nothing else worked--but that's just way too drastic a thing to do." I can't count how many joys he's given up because he cannot physically do them now. Drastic indeed.

I also told a woman friend in her mid-60s when she looked like she was miserable and about to drop in her tracks at our gym. She looked like I'd given her the winning lottery ticket! Now 9-10 months later she went self-pay she was so sure of it, and is already at goal! Yes, she's smaller than me, and i'm thrilled for her.

Lets just call me "extreme" and "drastic" in my completely changed joyful life!

[her1981 448]

@@katesuccess I could rant on and on. It's definitely one of my strong suits, LOL!

I truly feel like I'm living for the first time in a long time. I no longer feel limited by my weight - even though I still have a lot to lose. I feel comfortable in my body and no longer hide. It's a wonderful feeling. I love that I've actually been able to inspire/motivate a couple close friends to seek wls, but I am always so amazed that people are still frightened of it.

Edited May 12, 2016 by her1981

[QuilterGal 216]

Anyway, this has been the easiest and most successful way to lose weight for me. I will tell anyone that asks how I did it.

Me too. I have not encountered anyone who has been negative about my WLS. But if I did, I'd tell them to f--- off, that they were ignorant about the basic facts of WLS. This has been THE BEST decision of my life. OF. MY. LIFE. I am so much healthier and happier. I have my life BACK.

[Dub 9,922]

I don't understand why people get so "upset" whenever wls is mentioned/offered as a tool to aid in weight loss. "Oh, you don't need that. You just need to....." Or once you mention that you've had wls, you are no longer a credible support to people losing the "natural" way.

Overall, I find that people are generally misinformed about the different procedures and supposedly "everyone" they know who had the surgery has either gained all the weight back or died...Everyone is suddenly an expert on the ills of weight loss surgery. Don't they realize that there are other circumstances that could have led to their deaths? Why blame WLS?

If it's not what you would do, fine; but why not be supportive if a person decides it's right for them? I think it's interesting that when a person has cancer, no one shames them for getting chemo or radiation. This is exactly why I don't tell everyone. It's like you have the freaking plague.

So annoying! Rant over....

I suppose at some level, most folks have a bit of judgmental views about wls. At some level.

It's been a learning experience for me. Sure...learned lots about nutrition and such.....but learned heaps more about myself.

I was one of those who was ill informed over wls....even though I have a close family member who has been highly successful with it after their surgery 15 years ago. Highly successful.

It took a unique set of circumstances to stack up in my life for me to seriously consider wls. I't temporarily lost the ability to "just go to the gym and diet and get the weight off" as I'd done in the past. The health issues mounted....and it became abundantly clear that losing a huge amount of weight would be the first step towards addressing the issues.

Here's the bottom line for me.....I've done well in losing and getting temporarily fit before. I can kick into gear with the best of them.....until I couldn't.

I became interested and focused on the wls as an aid.....educated myself on it as best I could......went through a couple surgeons and found the right one.....and took his advice on the optimum surgery for me. Everything has unfolded as he predicted. I'm very grateful.

The coolest thing about all this is that I've already passed the point where I've stopped in the past. I'm more fit now. I'm more lean. I feel better. My health metrics are much better. I'm in a great place.....yet I am not satisfied. I will continue to get to my goal fighting weight and live there. I look at myself and do so much differently than I have in the past attempts when I'd gotten 2/3 this far. Then I was happy and ready to enjoy myself. Now....I'm grateful for the progress, sure.....but it's just a pleasant observation on the way to where I'm really headed.

I couldn't see the intricacies of wls.....couldn't really understand it.......did pass judgement on it.......until I lived it and my eyes were opened by my own experiences. I'd always kept my opinions to myself....glad I did as they were based on ignorance.

I feel that on balance, there is insufficient mental preparation for patients prior to surgery. The nutritional part is fairly straightforward.....but the mental game is one that must be the foundation and build on solid ground. I am tremendously grateful for Dr. Stapleton. She works with the patients in my bariatric center and is a vital resource. Her pre-op training is thought provoking and really helped me prepare.

I'm being educated in wls each and every day and have been humbled by the experience. I now see my back injury some 13 months ago as a gift. It was the final straw that gave that last push I needed. WLS followed 7 months later and I'm significantly lighter now and can see maybe hitting my goal weight prior to my one year surgiversary. Cool thought.......

[toastedink 115]

It's been a learning experience for me. Sure...learned lots about nutrition and such.....but learned heaps more about myself.

I was one of those who was ill informed over wls....even though I have a close family member who has been highly successful with it after their surgery 15 years ago. Highly successful.

It took a unique set of circumstances to stack up in my life for me to seriously consider wls. I't temporarily lost the ability to "just go to the gym and diet and get the weight off" as I'd done in the past. The health issues mounted....and it became abundantly clear that losing a huge amount of weight would be the first step towards addressing the issues.

Here's the bottom line for me.....I've done well in losing and getting temporarily fit before. I can kick into gear with the best of them.....until I couldn't.

I became interested and focused on the wls as an aid.....educated myself on it as best I could......went through a couple surgeons and found the right one.....and took his advice on the optimum surgery for me. Everything has unfolded as he predicted. I'm very grateful.

The coolest thing about all this is that I've already passed the point where I've stopped in the past. I'm more fit now. I'm more lean. I feel better. My health metrics are much better. I'm in a great place.....yet I am not satisfied. I will continue to get to my goal fighting weight and live there. I look at myself and do so much differently than I have in the past attempts when I'd gotten 2/3 this far. Then I was happy and ready to enjoy myself. Now....I'm grateful for the progress, sure.....but it's just a pleasant observation on the way to where I'm really headed.

I couldn't see the intricacies of wls.....couldn't really understand it.......did pass judgement on it.......until I lived it and my eyes were opened by my own experiences. I'd always kept my opinions to myself....glad I did as they were based on ignorance.

I feel that on balance, there is insufficient mental preparation for patients prior to surgery. The nutritional part is fairly straightforward.....but the mental game is one that must be the foundation and build on solid ground. I am tremendously grateful for Dr. Stapleton. She works with the patients in my bariatric center and is a vital resource. Her pre-op training is thought provoking and really helped me prepare.

I'm being educated in wls each and every day and have been humbled by the experience. I now see my back injury some 13 months ago as a gift. It was the final straw that gave that last push I needed. WLS followed 7 months later and I'm significantly lighter now and can see maybe hitting my goal weight prior to my one year surgiversary. Cool thought.......

I can relate so well to this. I too had a "final straw" moment. And I too was well prepped before surgery. I talked to a large team of people and went to a lot of support groups to make sure I knew what was getting into.

Success with weight loss surgery is what you make of it. I decided I was going to be successful. So I have been. End of story.

So again, for anyone who tells you that you can't do something or tries to down talk you for having the surgery, sounds like they have their own issues to work out.

[Teapot 26]

I also told a woman friend in her mid-60s when she looked like she was miserable and about to drop in her tracks at our gym. She looked like I'd given her the winning lottery ticket! Now 9-10 months later she went self-pay she was so sure of it, and is already at goal! Yes, she's smaller than me, and i'm thrilled for her.

This is such a great story.

I was formerly very much against WLS and honestly thought it was nuts. I was only aware of lap-band and gastric bypass and I knew so many people who had WLS and regained most or all of their weight. I knew people who had serious complications from WLS. Well, of course, everyone I know who's done medically supervised weight loss or WW has also regained most or all of their weight.

I guess I fell into the "too drastic" camp. But when I heard about gastric sleeve and something clicked in my head, like "yes, that is what I need". Well, I got educated about it, looked for some success stories, found this forum and changed my mind.

People (me) can be pretty ignorant and set in their ways with little or no justification. But they can also learn and change. Of course you can just ignore them, or you can educate them and you might really help someone like me or that lady at the gym.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Teapot

[Read2016 658]

I get that one about people dying from weight loss surgery, odd how the whole world seems to know someone who died from it.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Right, but what about the millions of people who survived and are doing well! I bet the reason is because many of us keep it secret due to people's ignorance, so they probably know plenty of people who've had it, but don't know they've had it.

In general I find people tend to thrive on drama, someone dying injects that into the conversation more than the person who did well.

Guess it's the glass half full or half empty thing.

You can die if you have cormodites from being obese but they just think you will die from surgery.

I guess they rather have you die slow rather than quick lol

I notice a lot of people mentioning we could educate these people about what the surgery is all about, I spend my entire day working we kids who struggle to read ( very rewarding and fun), adults can educate themselves via Google.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Edited May 12, 2016 by nyteacher125

[ebonymc 52]

It's called jealousy. I believe that people become jealous when you mentioned "going to have WLS" of any type b/c they want to lose weight too, but too afraid to have WLS themselves. They know that you will get healthy and look terrific at the same time. I had the band and looking forward to being sleeved now. I hope to get healthy and to getting my comorbidities back in control.

[ladyinsouth 1]

I've NEVER hidden the fact that I had it not before or since. I honestly don't care. It's a simple matter of MY BODY MY CHOICE STFU - that usually does it

[audaciousmarie 161]

I don't understand why people get so "upset" whenever wls is mentioned/offered as a tool to aid in weight loss. "Oh, you don't need that. You just need to....." Or once you mention that you've had wls, you are no longer a credible support to people losing the "natural" way.

Overall, I find that people are generally misinformed about the different procedures and supposedly "everyone" they know who had the surgery has either gained all the weight back or died...Everyone is suddenly an expert on the ills of weight loss surgery. Don't they realize that there are other circumstances that could have led to their deaths? Why blame WLS?

If it's not what you would do, fine; but why not be supportive if a person decides it's right for them? I think it's interesting that when a person has cancer, no one shames them for getting chemo or radiation. This is exactly why I don't tell everyone. It's like you have the freaking plague.

So annoying! Rant over....

I completely agree. Its annoying when people think the same things will work for every person. Some people can diet and lose/keep the weight off without surgery and some of us may need medical intervention (like me). I think everyone should just stop judging those that may choose wls because you have no idea what type of struggle that person may be dealing with regarding their weight.

Sent from my SM-G925T using the BariatricPal App

[ebonymc 52]

It's called thinking that you're going to get healthy and look terrific much more quicker. In my case, that's exactly what I need to do. A lot of ppl think it's a quick fix. And yet like someone said, they can't see that some ppl can lose at will with diet and exercise. What about the ppl like myself that have tried all types of diets for years. my diabetes is now controlling me to the point that I need to gain control back. I've tried to do it with the lap band once before but only lost 45 of the 85 lbs that I needed. I've gained back nearly 20 of those back. I don't think that I'll be telling anyone except hubby that I'm getting the sleeve b/c when it really come down to it, other than family, most ppl are just plain jealous.