The EASY way?????

I don't know if this is common or not, but I'm getting sick and tired of hearing that WLS is 'The Easy Way out'.  I'm thinking of just making up a little info packet for all these idiots.  I've stopped telling people I'm trying to get it.  I just tell them I'm working on losing weight.  Everyone has all these ideas for weightloss.. "Have you tried the grapefruit diet?".. or XXX wonder diet? my cousin's nephew's sister in law's cousin did it, and she lost tons of weight!" Then, when you finally 'confess' that you're pursuing WLS, you get 'the look', and "Oh, you're taking the easy way huh? Well, I'd never do that, but hey, if you don't want to do it the old fashioned way, I guess it's ok" "Hey, have you tried any diets? Why don't you try a diet first?" How the &**&&^%%^&(*&&*&T^+...... er .. heck, can they consider major surgery, totally rearranging your plumbing  the 'easy way". I'm really thinking about making a 'press kit' with pictures just for these idiots.     

The worst thing about ignorance is its insistence.

Hi Dale, you hit the nail right on the head.  You can't tell but a few very close friends and maybe some immediate family members that you are having the surgery....you tell them AFTER.  The other way is to say.... If my issue that was killing me was cancer, would you say the same thing if I was getting chemo?  If they say, "Yes, but you did it to yourself" then you say, "OK, what if it is lung cancer from smoking, is it wrong to get chemo or do what will save your life?  If your heart is failing, is it wrong to get on the donor list?  The arguments are absurd. Another thing.  You just say,  1) Probability of me dying prematurely without or having serious complications surgery ?  100% 2) Probability of serious complications and dying at a center for excellence in WLS today? .2% But you are better off not saying anything.   Just show them on the other side of surgery.  So sorry you are going through all this. Greg

Hey Dream Dude... this is an old complaint, and the solutions are varied....from sthooting them the bird, to smileing amussedly, to pushing their head through a wall... I generally talk a snotty approach like..."I'm amazed that those easy rumors still exsist...' But the one I love best...is when a fat person says it....I love to say....."I just could not stand being obese one day longer....I don;t know how you do it...." Have fun, and ignore the stupid Russ

Of course I have a differing opinion. This was the easy way for me. Diets didn't work, and this did, and I had virtually no post op pain (took maybe 3 pain pills once I got home). I was walking around the neighborhood the same day I was discharged, and I lost all my excess weight in under 1 year. I have also kept the weight off for the last 4 years, and I eat everything under the sun, just in small portions. Also my insurance covered the entire WLS 100% and I got approved right away, so I would say it was the "easy way out" for me.

But they wouldn't say anything to you, knottydruid, because people are scared of you....you might turn on them with your biting sarcastic sadistic comic tragic responses....I want to be like you dammit!

Hey Dale,  I understand what you are saying.  I am basicly a very private person. My wife would put "  " around and underline very. I don't think what I do is any one else's business. I have shared more with the guys here than I would ever do with my friends or family. But I feel I have gotten so much from the Mens Forum that I should give something back. Maybe something I have done will help someine else. I told one person at work and didn't tell any of my family till just days before. I took a weeks vacation and after that was up, I called and told them since it was so close to the end of the year I was going to take my last week of vacaton and wanted to see if there would be a problem.  I didn't ask any ones opinion. I told my grown kids what I was doing a few days prior to surgery. I take that back, I did discuss it with my wife and after I had done alot of research told her what I new and she told me she would support my decision.  My wife told a couple of her friends that was about it. Still to this day most people don't know.  When they ask how I have done it, I tell them "clean living." For some reason the give me a funny look. If they only how true that is.  I now make good choices in what I put in my body and I am always aware of how much I eat. pan head

I'm going through the same thing.   Surgery date is set for July 17th.   Everyone gives you that "Look".  It really 'ticks' me off!  I have a new one.  Sitting around the other day with my mother in-law (who lives with us) and my wife my mother in-law asks the question in front of my wife "When you get skinney are going to leave your wife and find someone new".  I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. . .     Mike

Next time someone says you're taking the easy way out tell them you think you're taking the ONLY way out. Educate, educate, educate.

Dude,
Who gives a rat's ass what anyone else thinks or says?
You're doing what's best for you.

As long as the end result is a happier & healthier life, right?
No reason to justify your actions to others.


Be Well,
A.J.