Does pride ever get in your way?

I am considering lap band surgery but struggling with something. I've lost a lot of weight (more than 100 pounds) in the past through a 12-step program, but have gained it back. I'm having a lot of issues with shame and feeling like I'm a failure. My emotions are telling me that surgery (if I choose to do it), will be the ultimate sign of total defeat. Has anyone else struggled with this?  I'd love to hear from you.

Yes, I have had those feelings as well. i witnessed the pain other women have suffered from WLS and it played a big part in my decision to wait so long. I had my procedure in March and so far my only regret is that I waited so long to do it.
I will recommend that you do lots of research before choosing a procedure.

I, too, had a difficult time with this.  I felt like everything I did, I failed at.  "what if this doesn't work either?"  We all have those issues because we end up right back at square one.  Do the research and find what fits you best.  Do what is right for you and only you. But I can tell you this...I have had some set backs along the way but I do not regret one step of my journey. 

Make the choice and start living without shame and failure.  Those two words should not be a part of our vocabulary. 

Good luck.
 

I might be wrong but, I think most of us here have felt this way.  Or at least something  close and that is part of how most of us end up here.

Please, please do your research before going thru with any kind of WLS!  Good Luck.

not really. i'm may be the odd person out on this one but i never viewed weight loss surgery as a failure or defeat. i've also never viewed it as a fix or solution to being overweight. it's merely a tool, as much as weigh****chers or jenny craig is to dieting. it might have also been my motivation that helped as well. my goal for losing weight has never been to be a healthy weight. it's been to have a healthy baby first, healthy weight second.

I'm with cryspyx on this. WLS may be proof of past weight loss failure, but to me it's not a sign of permanent defeat. In fact, in my view, having WLS is a sign of courage. It is not at "taking the easy way out." I have an obese friend who feels the way you do and keeps telling, "I feel like I ought to be able to lose weight on my own." She's so miserable about her weight that I think that her shame and sense of defeat get in the way of her doing anything positive to lose weight, whether on her own or with medication or surgery. All her energy seems to go into that misery, and she keeps gaining more and more weight.

I'm big on taking personal responsibility for my eating behavior, but at the same time, I'm aware that obesity is caused in part by factors that are completely outside our control - genetics, neuronal &/or hormonal dysfunction, inflammation, and so on. Research has shown over and over again that dieting is not a long term solution for obesity. It's a chronic, recurring, incurable disease. If you had diabetes and a doctor recommended that you get an insulin pump, would you consider doing that a sign of failure or defeat? If you had cardiac disease and a doctor recommened that you get a pacemaker, would doing that also be a sign of failure or defeat? Or would it be a courageous and positive way to take charge of your health?

PRIDE NO, MIND CONTROL YES.... I still find that years after being banded I still can SEE that I've lost weight and people tell me how great I look and I know   I'm healthier for it My mind still tells me I'm Fat. :( I was told by another Bander that it takes about 5 years for your brain to catch -up with your body. Any WLS is a TOOL not a solution to losing weight just like all the other things we have all tried, like others have said RESEARCH is your best ally! Find out what it takes to be successful just like anythign else you do in life and YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Is it easy NO, nothing in life worth having or doing is easy but would I do it again YES! in a heartbeat, WHY? becasue i was faced with Co-Mobidities = High blood pressure, Diabetes type 2, high cholesterol, morbidly obese.   I now  only to worry about the high blood pressure, which I've had since I was 25 but has always been controlled by medication. BUT at least I don't have to increase my Meds like some people :)