The easy way...

I just overheard a conversation at the beauty salon.  One lady discussing her friend who had wls to lose weight.  She on the other hand did it the "hard way" and "dieted".

Sigh....

I've had wls...and yes it made my appetite go away (somewhat) and it reduced the quantities I'm able to ingest (vastly).  But if you're reading this and thinking that wls will make you lose weight while you eat anything you want...THINK AGAIN!

What wls did for me is to allow me to STAY on a diet not avoid it.   Since my surgery I've been on the strictest diet I've ever followed  (and I've done them all...).  Wls only means your body will not be able to take in the quantities it did before IT DOESN'T MEAN you don't have to diet!!!

How this is deemed the "easy" way I'll never understand.  I still have to make choices, I haven't had a slice of bread in 4 months...don't even talk to me about wine!!! God I miss that!

I guess it is easier to stick to the plan but man...this is a DIET!!!!  You still give up food, you still count and worry about what you eat!  Along the way you learn to accept this new way of life...and you face the fact that you will ALWAYS have to balance your choices.  If you wanna call this the "easy" way out....have at it!!!

Anyway...that's my rant of the day! 

"The easy way out", in my opinion, is having the fat sucked out of your stomach via liposuction. No, I'm not talking about fine tuning after working your ass off. I know a woman that had a tummy tuck, lipo, and breast implants without working out. She then got pregnant and gained a TON of weight after the baby was born. She has the audacity to say that I took the easy road in weight loss. Um. Excuse me?

I love your post!  You are telling it exactly how it is with WLS.  One of the reasons why I don't tell people about my surgery is because while it does help with eating less its still me that is sticking to my eating plan and its still me that is exercising every day.  I don't want all my hard work to be "discounted" because I had WLS.  Frankly, one of the reasons why I think WLS works is because everyday you think of what you went through to have most of your stomach removed and for me, I have no plans to fail so I do what I need to do to lose the weight.  WLS is a motivator but not the cure.

Ok, i literally snorted as I read this! Um, this woman obviously has no clue about what WLS entails.  It's kind of like we're in a secret society of smarter people!  Lol!

Yes of course she is right...signing yourself for lifetime restriction is the easy way. Whatever, people and their opinions! The difference between me now with weight loss surgery and before is that I am working harder now because I actually feel like I have a tool that will help me lose the weight. I tried everything before and couldnt lose and keep it off. 

WLS does make losing weight easier, IF you stick to plan.  I can't consume the vast quantity of food I could before, but I can still make bad choices. 

This isn't a diet, it is a lifestyle change, I am not planing on stopping the why I eat once I reach goal.  I still plan to continue to workout several times a week once I hit goal. 

All the non-wls people see is the sudden drop in weight right after surgery, they don't know all the hard work that goes into it, and that we can have the same struggles as them with losing weight after wls. 

They can think that they are better people for "doing it the hard way" but it was pretty darn hard to admit to myself that I couldn't do it on my own and needed the surgery to help me lose weight so I could be health for my family.

my 2 cents

Unfortunately there's no surgery that corrects stupid.

Ignore it. Not your problem. Just do you.

Thankfully the majority of my friends and family have been so understanding and supportive.  I've had co-workers come up and tell me they don't know how I do it and that they know how hard I'm working at this.  So that has really been awesome.  It makes me fume to think that someone might thing WLS is easy in any way.  From the time we are contemplating it all the way through maintenance - it is a hard fought war with ourselves to stay on track!

That lady who did it the "hard way" and "dieted" is simply proclaiming her ignorance.  By doing it the "hard way" more than 90 percent of people who actually lose weight will gain it back.  Grats to that lady and her high probability to be a yo-yo dieter for the rest of her life.