Vague or tell people?

I think you have to share what you're comfortable sharing. If you don't want to share anything, then don't. If you want to tell the world, shout it from the rooftops. LOL

I only told a few people prior to surgery, but now that I'm 3 months out, it doesn't bother me to say that I had surgery IN ADDITION TO diet and exercise. I have actually found a few friends who had the surgery, but I didn't know until I mentioned I had it. It's been a very interesting experience so far, and I actually helped out a friend the other day who had surgery 3 years ago. Hopefully, it will help her to get back on track.

Good luck!

I tell everyone who notices I've lost weight, and I've never gotten a negative comment. I would hate to perpetuate the idea that anyone can lose weight the "old fashioned way" if only they try hard enough.

I tell everyone!  In doing so, I've found it seems that everyone knows either someone who has had the surgery, or they themselves have had it.  It's nice to meet people and learn from their experiences.  Along the way, I've had a few ignorant people who make comments about it being the "easy way out" or couldn't I have lost weight the "old fashioned" or "natural way".  I just say that I tried, it didn't work and this was the best choice for me.  Sometimes, I go on to tell about my lipid profile results prior to surgery and on my first follow up appointment.  For me, THAT is far more valuable than numbers on the scale. My cardiac risk went from just under the highest risk to right at a low normal.  I'm off all medicines for diabetes, most for hypertension, hoping to come off cholesterol meds soon. All of these things, in addition to the other NSVs, are hard to not share. 
I'm with Lora, in that I don't feel comfortable lieing...either intentionally or by omission.
 

I have opted to tell only a few very close friends and family, but for the most part people don't know. I did go with the "hiatal hernia repair" story, which was true, but I left the rest out. If faced with questions from an overweight person I may be more forthcoming because I would hate to add to someone's discouragement over lack of results from diet/ exercise, but I have not had that situation yet. Like others have said, your medical information including your weigh loss, is nobody's business.

I was in your exact situation.  I came to the RNY because of my awful reflux issues.  It was a bonus that it would help me lose weight, but my primary motivation was to solve my reflux.   I told people at work that I was having surgery to fix this problem, and that as a result I would likely lose a lot of weight, because the procedure is essentially the same as what they do for bariatric surgery.     I do not feel I am in any way misleading  people.   When people notice I've lost a good deal of weight and ask how I did it, I tell them I had surgery over the summer to resolve my reflux issues and it has severely limited how much I can eat and the type of foods I can eat.   

Its not anyone's business, that's for sure, but I'm a pretty open person.  To me, in my mind, I did not have RNY because of obesity, even though I was obese.  I had it for the very reason I tell everyone.   

6 months ago, when I first starting exploring surgery, I didn't realize there would be such a stigma.  But I made the mistake of telling my cousin I was looking into it, and she was like, "OMG! How could you do such a thing??  It's so drastic!  Why would you do that??"

I wasn't expecting such a dramatic response from her, a lifetime plus sizer like me.  So, fine.  Mouth shut.  My mom who had RNY in 2002 is really the only other person who knows.  I've only told hubby the bare minimum about how there is a surgery that might fix my esophagus problems and it would also happen to help me lose weight, therefore I would be visiting various doctors and having various consultations and testing.  I've not had the chance to share the latest with him, which was the result of my 2nd visit with surgeon on Friday, which was the go-ahead to get psych eval, and another list of things I need to get done and the possible timeframe of late January.

So, I'm not sure who would be supportive and who would flip out and make me second guess myself.   I wouldn't necessarily lie;  I would probably say gastric surgery which corrects my LES, but I don't know that I would give details about bypassed stomach and all that.  It still feels a bit shady.