the easy way out
There is a huge sector of the economy that depends upon us all failing. Jenny Craig, Weigh****chers, the health clubs, the diet food industry, the makers of insulin and test strips.... they all make more money if we fail. They make more money if we fail repeatedly. Their business model depends upon us feeling horrible about ourselves at higher weights, doing our best to lose the weight, and then, returning to our previous weight to start the process all over again.
A few years ago, I tried a liquid diet. It was the easiest diet I ever tried. Until I got hungry. Oh man.... did I get hungry! 40 pounds lost.... 60 gained.
It wasn't until I read about ghrelin's role in weight loss that I fully understood the biological reasons why I couldn't keep the weight off. It was such a blindingly obvious thing.
There's no easy way or hard way for me. There is only one way.
The people who talk about us taking the easy way out want us to fail, because they have bought into the idea that fat people are weak and morally flawed. They have been brainwashed into judging us, because the weightloss industry needs us to go away. Because we are the successful ones who will use our gym memberships (reducing their overall capacity and profit), but won't be buying weight loss products or diabetes drugs or buying new wardrobes every year.
Follow the money.
A few years ago, I tried a liquid diet. It was the easiest diet I ever tried. Until I got hungry. Oh man.... did I get hungry! 40 pounds lost.... 60 gained.
It wasn't until I read about ghrelin's role in weight loss that I fully understood the biological reasons why I couldn't keep the weight off. It was such a blindingly obvious thing.
There's no easy way or hard way for me. There is only one way.
The people who talk about us taking the easy way out want us to fail, because they have bought into the idea that fat people are weak and morally flawed. They have been brainwashed into judging us, because the weightloss industry needs us to go away. Because we are the successful ones who will use our gym memberships (reducing their overall capacity and profit), but won't be buying weight loss products or diabetes drugs or buying new wardrobes every year.
Follow the money.
I wasn't always fat. Just 6 short years ago, I was actually a pretty fit, healthy person regularly running 5Ks and hitting the gym daily. (My profile pic is from those days. I see enough of my fat self daily, don't want to see it more than I have to. :grin:) But for me, once I had kids and got married, the slope was a super slippery one and it ended up being quite a bit like falling in a well. Super easy to slip and fall in, nearly impossible to climb out.
So after 6 years of yo-yo'ing and failing and feeling miserable, I've decided this is the way to go, and I haven't looked back. Three more weeks. :)
I still have the same group of friends, though--and many, many of them are athletes. Marathon runners. Personal trainers. Yoga princesses and martial artists. They're pretty bad ass. So to them, the sweat is what makes something "worth it". They (not them specifically, they've been great. But people LIKE them) call surgery "the easy way" half because they don't know what it entails and half because, to them, obesity seems like a curable condition. In their minds, a person SHOULD be able to work it off, get with the program, change their lifestyle, and DO IT. So by using surgery, they consider it slapping a bandaid on the symptom, but not really changing the root of the issue.
A few people above used the examples of "Is having gall bladder surgery the easy way out? How about using Excedrin for headaches?" The reason those arguments wouldn't be valid for these kinds of people is because they'd figure that gallstones and headaches aren't conditions I got myself into and could get myself back out of if I just tried hard enough.
This is all in their perspective, mind you--not mine. We'd talked about bariatric surgery far before it ever became a thought for me, and I kind of got a unique insight into the way they think.
It's kind of a sad perspective, really. Because their logic would then also have to apply to addictions and other self-made problems. It just bugs me that there's so much stigma about being fat, but when someone chooses to do something about it and get surgery, they get ostracized for doing it the "wrong way". It's ridiculous.
So after 6 years of yo-yo'ing and failing and feeling miserable, I've decided this is the way to go, and I haven't looked back. Three more weeks. :)
I still have the same group of friends, though--and many, many of them are athletes. Marathon runners. Personal trainers. Yoga princesses and martial artists. They're pretty bad ass. So to them, the sweat is what makes something "worth it". They (not them specifically, they've been great. But people LIKE them) call surgery "the easy way" half because they don't know what it entails and half because, to them, obesity seems like a curable condition. In their minds, a person SHOULD be able to work it off, get with the program, change their lifestyle, and DO IT. So by using surgery, they consider it slapping a bandaid on the symptom, but not really changing the root of the issue.
A few people above used the examples of "Is having gall bladder surgery the easy way out? How about using Excedrin for headaches?" The reason those arguments wouldn't be valid for these kinds of people is because they'd figure that gallstones and headaches aren't conditions I got myself into and could get myself back out of if I just tried hard enough.
This is all in their perspective, mind you--not mine. We'd talked about bariatric surgery far before it ever became a thought for me, and I kind of got a unique insight into the way they think.
It's kind of a sad perspective, really. Because their logic would then also have to apply to addictions and other self-made problems. It just bugs me that there's so much stigma about being fat, but when someone chooses to do something about it and get surgery, they get ostracized for doing it the "wrong way". It's ridiculous.
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Check out my video blog! www.youtube.com/user/HappilyShrinking/videos
Highest weight: 269. Surgery weight: 233. Goal weight: 144, and then we'll see..
Check out my video blog! www.youtube.com/user/HappilyShrinking/videos
Highest weight: 269. Surgery weight: 233. Goal weight: 144, and then we'll see..
I went through this type of criticism when I chose to treat my sons ADHD, I said the same thing then that I stand by now for myself. If he needed glasses, hearing aids, braces I would be shamed if I didn't provide them for him. So I provide medication and I am now the bad guy...
When I was 410lbs people looked at me and I could hear the comments why don't you do something about yourself/your weight? So I do, I make the best choice for me, and people still stand in judgment.
I can't win the battle against ignorant people, so I just stand by my choices as an individual.
When I was 410lbs people looked at me and I could hear the comments why don't you do something about yourself/your weight? So I do, I make the best choice for me, and people still stand in judgment.
I can't win the battle against ignorant people, so I just stand by my choices as an individual.
Here's another approach some might want to try: Surgery is not the EASIEST way to lose weight. It is the ONLY way to lose weight.
Seriously! It is true that some of us do fall of the wagon and gain back some, or even most, of the lost weight. But even they are usually still below their start weight. And most of us are *significantly* below or start weight, even if we never really reach our goal.
Other weight loss plans DO have people who succeed, and that's why I think they should be tried first, before extreme surgery. But have you noticed how their ads always warn, "Results not typical"?
But for us: RESULTS *ARE* TYPICAL!!!!
Seriously! It is true that some of us do fall of the wagon and gain back some, or even most, of the lost weight. But even they are usually still below their start weight. And most of us are *significantly* below or start weight, even if we never really reach our goal.
Other weight loss plans DO have people who succeed, and that's why I think they should be tried first, before extreme surgery. But have you noticed how their ads always warn, "Results not typical"?
But for us: RESULTS *ARE* TYPICAL!!!!
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