Why do people..

..keep telling me all I need to do it eat less and go to the gym. Skinny people have no idea what a fat person struggles with.. They think they have the answer to everything when it comes to my body chemistry.

I have been on a roller coaster of diet pills, diets and exercise for about 8 years since I decided to lose some weight. I went to a doctor and paid her to give me phentermine for a year and a half.. Ohh I lost weight all right.. 80 pounds of it. But as soon as I started having complications from the pills I was taking and plateaued I stopped taking them and the weight slowly crept back..

I shouldn't have told people what I was doing I guess because they are uneducated and think this is the "easy" way out!


Just a lil frustrated...

I stop them in their tracks with a simple "My doctor recommended I have this surgery". 

Take this as an opportunity to educate them.  MOst people don't know that once you pass a certain percentage of body fat that the fat starts working as an organ, and it tries to feed itself.  Obesity throws the body's entire energy balance mechanism out of whack and it takes something drastic to bring it back in line - the most effective course proven so far is WLS.  When you look at the long term stats of the people who do it the "right way" they can't usually maintain for 5 years.  Some of them, like that guy from the biggest loser, damage their metabolisms so much that they gain back no matter what they do.

The truth is that our society doesn't understand the struggle of the obese, and they don't want to.

Well, they are partially right! You do need to eat less and go to the gym! We all do! (they probably do too, just saying) We are just utilizing the sleeve to empower us to do that. The sleeve is just like WW or some other plan. It's not the "easy" way out, trust me. This has been FAR from easy. After you get the sleeve, you will eat less and go to the gym/work out at home.

So I just smile and say "Yes you are so right. That's exactly what I'm doing."

I think that most people believe, even about themselves, that things like weight and addiction are a "moral" failing rather than a physical problem.  

Then the solution seems so simple, just cut it out!  Of course we know that's like telling a depressed person to "just snap out of it," or telling someone with a broken leg to "man up and walk it off."

I think this will change over time as the science gets better, and pretty soon 90% of america will be obese.  So there won't be anyone left to take anyone's "inventory."

 Very well said!!!  I will borrow the "moral" failing line as well as the walk off the broken leg one 

 At 375, I can tell you that just walking through the grocery store has me pouring sweat by the time I check out.  That's just one example.  You're right, skinny people, including my thin blonde PCP, have noo clue.  

I can't believe just two weeks out from surgery how many "people" feel the need to give me diet tips.  This is my new response once the advice begins.  I say, "Resist the urge to tell me how you stay thin.  We are not all made the same; my diet struggles are not in the same universe as yours.  You couldn't possibly understand what my reality is with weight."  That shuts them up, and I don't have to listen to how I need to find other things in life that fulfill me as much as food did.  God, that comment just kills me!

Gawd I really have problems with people that think "they know" how others "should" deal with their weight issues after we just just had surgery that cut out 3/4 of an internal organ called a "stomach". That is plain BULL SH*T.

First we (VSG'ers) have taken a serious step towards our health and well being.

Second Anyone else can never understand what we did and what we are going through.

Hang on to this place and know the people here are family.  

Remember this--  Life gets better and so does our health.  Hang on and talk to people that have done this.  Don't expect anyone else to ever understand.  After a year and 4 months my problem (this time) is sleeping,  it's not my blood sugar or high blood pressure.  I come here to talk with my kindred VSG'ers.  That is what works for me.  :-)  Always.

I understand your frustration... Hang in there! I only told a few people about my surgery pre op- my immediate family, my boss, 3 close friends (one of whom is an RN and since my surgery was in the next state, I figured I might need her if there were any complications). One of those friend was very improve at first- we've been friend since middle school, well over half of our lives, and she didn't give me credit for doing all my research or for wanting to improve my body so that I could still walk when I am 40 (degenerative disc disease diagnosed when I was 26). She eventually came around and has been very supportive. It's not that I felt the need to hide what I was doing, I just didn't want to hear people's unsolicited "advice" or their horror stories about WLS. Now that i'm post op I still don't advertise that I had WLS, but I am honest when people ask and I really don't mind talking about it. I've found the responses to be overwhelmingly positive. It's done and over with now- there's nothing for people to try to talk me out of. I really think you'll see a shift in howpeople react to WLS after you've had surgery. So hang in there- it's totally worth it and it WILL get better!