Taking the easy way to lose weight

Yeah, it's like having an appendectomy is taking the easy way out of appendicitis, or having a gall bladder removed is taking the easy way out of gall bladder disease, or having a c-section is taking the easy way out of childbirth. Or is it just me? Fred

^5 to all of you.  Your responses are great!  I haven't had anyone have the audacity to say that to my face, save my spouse two years ago when I first considered surgery.  (He has since revised his notions!)   Most of the people close to me have seen what I've had to go through just to get to the point where I could HAVE the surgery, let alone what I've been going through after wards.  The easy way would be to eat whatever the heck you want, in whatever quantity you want, and then try to medicate all of the problems that come from living that way only to die early of morbid conditions. 

THIS HAS NOT BEEN EASY. IT'S STILL A HEAD CAME. JUST MAKING THE DECISION TO HAVE THIS DONE WAS NOT EASY. AND FOR MY DEAREST FRIEND ELAINE WHO PASSED AWAY LAST NIGHT (SHE HAD TO HAVE ADHESIONS REMOVED BEFORE SHE COULD HAVE WLS AND HER COLON WA*****TURED LEADING TO SEPSIS) IT DEFINATELY WAS NOT AN EASY DECISION FOR HER OR HER FAMILY.

I am sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry about your friend.  She will be watching over you as you change you life and she will be so happy for you.   

I think if I ever hear that... I'll say "Good for you. If you think it's so easy why don't you try it yourself..." I don't know who said it but it sounds good: Walk a mile in my shoes before you decide if they fit... IJ...

I saw a lot of this in my Catholic upbringing, you have to pay penance for what you have done, as if we consciously woke up one day and said I am going to eat crap and not leave my house and gain 200 lbs and make myself entirely miserable!  That is such an unrealistic attitude.  So I guess men with receding hair lines shouldn't just shave their heads, that is genetic as well as obesity!

If there was an easy way out that would get rid of a migrane would they be first in line? or would they rather deal with it the hard way

Here is my point of view.  Only the uneducated person would say that surgery is the easy way out.  We live on the strictist regimen of diet, protein intake, and vitamins.  This is for life, there are no breaks.  With the VSG we have a little more wiggle room to cheat, but not much.   We can't go out and decide, "oh I want that Banana Split for desert, so I will start my diet tomorrow."  The "normal" (I use the term losely) person can decide to go on a binge eating episode at anytime.   We do not have the luxary of taking a day or week off of dieting. You tell me what is the easy way out?  Someone who gets to decide "when" they will be good and when they will "treat" themselves.  Or the person who must remain on the "diet" and track every ounce of nutrition they put into their bodies for life.   Yes, we have a tool that helps us stay on track.  We do not have bodies/minds that allows us to eat 1200 calories a day and be happy.  We need the "help" to stay at the very low calories in order for our bodies to lose the weight.   The "normal" guidelines for required daily calories is a joke and is NOT for everyone.  I do NOT lose weight unless I cut my calories below 1200.  How many "normal" people do you know who eat only 1200 calories a day?     The next time someone says that, ask them when was the last time they cheated on their diet.  Remind them that you/us cannot cheat.  This is a life long comitment.

I approach this a little differently.  When I first started this process it was because I didn't want to gain any more weight.... and I just couldn't maintain anything I lost before the raging hunger would hit again. This is what I say, when people ask how I've lost so much weight. I found out I have a problem with my stomach.  My body produces excess amounts of grehlin, the hunger hormone.  I was constantly hungry and no matter what I did, I couldn't feel full.  I compare it to having a large turkey dinner.  After a dinner like that, everyone is loosening their belts and moaning about how much they ate....  I never felt full... my body was still sending me the message to eat and within a hour or less.... I would be ravenous.  I then say that "they" (I never give more detail than this unless someone asks) removed the large curved portion of my stomach where most of the grehlin is produced and the stomach that is remaining can hold approx a 1/2 cup of food.  I go on to say that the most wonderful part is that... I can eat like a normal person now and that the raging hunger is gone. Just like an appendix or gallbladder would be removed so that it wouldn't kill us....  so have our stomachs been removed.  I tell people that my stomach was "killing" me.... maybe it was a slow death... but I honestly believe that it was "killing" me.