What are the right reasons?

I keep hearing "as long as you do it for the right reasons". What are the right reasons for WLS? I have heard this here a few times, but in other places as well. I mean, if someone came on here and was MO or SMO with no co-morbidities and only wanted to be skinny, would that be wrong? What if that person is completely committed and is taking it very serious, but her main reason is to be skinny and anything else is just a bonus? Is that really the wrong reason? I think if you are MO or SMO and have tried to lose weight and can't do it on your own then that is a good enough reason. Vain or not. No one says that about a boob job or any other cosmetic procedure. Those are accepted and usually done for vain reasons. We want to feel better about ourselves and that support bra isn't working so lets get a boob job!

Sorry for the rant. I have no co-morbidities, but I have other problems. Like doing housework for 5 minutes and being worn out. Or getting winded walking to check the mail or on the way to the bathroom at work. I fear diabetes that runs rampant in my family or dying like my mother. There is a big part of me, a very big part, that wants to feel good about myself and just be skinny. I want to be able to shop for really cute clothes at any store I want. Is that wrong? I don't think so. Again I ask what are the "right reasons".

My answer - for me, not for everyone:

To commit to a life change, not just to lose weight.

It has to be a life change or it wont work. No matter the reason you chose to have surgery commitment and hard work are key.

I agree, although I don't think others do.  I still see posts like "I got VSG so I can eat the same foods but in smaller portions".  Or "I still don't like exercising so I'm not doing it".

Sounds like the right reason to me - you want to lose weight so that you can move and not be worn out and out of breath and you want to avoid diabetes - all valid health concerns.

Wrong reasons in my opinion would be I want to have it so I can eat whatever I want - just in much smaller portions - and be extremely skinny.  That wouldn't be healthy - we all know there are skinny people who are ticking time bombs - not healthy at all!  For some, losing the weight is just one thing - they really need to change their whole life style - and unless they do it "for the right reason" they aren't making those changes.  Make sense?

I guess it is not just doing it for the wrong reasons; It's really just going about it the wrong way and thinking it's an instant cure. Because there are plenty of people that do it for "the right reasons" that think it is an instant fix. Either way is bad and any reason is a good reason as long as you are up for the challenge and actually make the lifestyle changes that are needed.

Totally agree - I don't think there is a bad reason to do it (other than maybe some anorexic type situation - but then if the surgeon did it, it's malpractice).  But definitely there is a wrong approach to doing it.  If you continue to live the same life, just on a smaller scale, you won't succeed.  You have to change what you are doing and how you are eating or you are going to get back to the same point you started at.

I think that when people say that they mean don't do it for vain reasons, like you want to be a skinny super model. Do it because you want to be healthy (I am assuming that is what people mean by the right reason). 

Here's my opinion, the right reason is whatever you want it to be. Whatever is the driving force making you work to have the surgery done is the right reason for you. Who cares if it is vain, do whatever makes you happy. I think THAT is the right reason. I feel like so many overweight people are so unhappy because of the unhealthy positions that we are in, in our lives that we just want some friggen happiness. **** if that means I can buy clothes at a regular store, fit in normal seats and be treated like everyone else then call me vain...names do not hurt my feelings! 

I did this for me! I was sick and tired of BEING sick and tired. The truth of the matter is that I decided that I need this tool in order to become healthy so that I could live my life for the rest of my life the way I want to and not have anything (especially fat related issues) hold me back. I did not have any co-morbidities either...I don't care, I probably would have. Diabetes and heart disease runs in my family. I lost 7 people this year and a few of them were escalated health issues that could have been avoided. 

I am a control freak and this is something I have never been able to control myself. I wanted to get this under control because it was important to me that I do whatever I can to be healthy for myself, my son and my husband. 

Your reasons aren't wrong, they are just your reasons and I can't wait to shop for cute clothes either!

That's what I think most people mean as well, but who cares if someone is doing it out of vanity? Like I said most people don't blink an eye at someone having a boob job or a tummy tuck. If you are vain and have surgery thinking it will fix everything and it will be easy then of course you are wrong and should not have surgery. If you are vain and fully committed to a lifestyle change then who the hell cares?

I have no health problems except my weight. I'm doing this for me, because I sick o being tired walking up the stairs, and fighting with my seatbelt. Also, yes I would love to be skinny! Wouldn't we all, but more importantly healthy. My father in law said to me, why can't you just stop eating so much. If this surgery is going to make you eat very little, why don't you just stop eating. As if it were that easy!