telling others about your surgery

I realize there is no right or wrong answer here...everyone has different degrees of public transparency, and everyone has different degrees of crazy relationships influencing their answer....I'm just curious how many people opted for full disclosure and how many people chose not to tell most people and why. My mom is horrified that I intend to just be "out there" about it. Now, I don't intend to tell people before my surgery.  That's why I am not using my real picture here. :) I just don't want to deal with other people's opinions right now while I am in process, kwim? But once it's done....I'm not ashamed of it, and I feel like being open about it could help someone else. My mom points out people in our family that will delight in knowing that I didn't really do it "on my own"....to be honest, I don't really care what those people think. I just don't. And I certainly know that anyone I see on a regular basis is probably going to know anyway. "Oh, I've been obese since I was 12 and suddenly managed to find just the right diet, woohoo!" Also, it keeping quiet about it is just not consistent for me...I am not a private sort of person. So, anyway. I was just wondering what others decided and why...maybe there is something I've not considered here. 

I've told everyone. I had a huge amount of weight to lose, and with weight loss surgery being as common as it is, everyone was going to figure it out on their own. I'd rather put it out there than have people talking about it behind my back. 

I chose to not tell anyone outside of immediate family. If someone asks me flat out if I had surgery- I'll answer truthfully, but otherwise I don't offer the information. To me, that's inviting people's opinions on the subject- I don't need or want them. I'm nearly a year out and have only had one person ask me directly. Anyone else just compliments me, or asks what I'm doing to lose. All I ever respond is a vague "thanks, I'm working at it" or tell them I took up running, which is true too. I choose not to respond with "I had WLS" because I think that undermines all the effort that this really requires, and feeds into the "easy way out" mentality. 

You seem to have a great attitude and your thinking really matches my own philosophy about the surgery.

I was open about it pre-surgery with my close friends and family, but wasn't really public with it (like on social media) for about 4 months. I am now totally out there with it and talk about it all the time. I have immersed myself in post surgery life and I'm fully embracing it, so it comes through in everything I do. I'm amazed by my journey and would love it if I inspired someone who has been struggling with morbid obesity.

I do not judge anyone for their decision to keep it quiet or be public. I just know for me and my lifestyle, I need to be out there with it. To be perfectly honest, I have had zero negative comments. If anything, my being open about how I live now has shown people that I have a commitment to living a healthier life. I just have a very effective tool to help me achieve my goals.

Your weight loss success since surgery is awsome! I'm working hard to follow the guidelines strictly to have similar success. Were you able to achieve that without exercise or do you believe it played a big role in it? 

I just recently started working out. All my loss to date was from diet. BUT if I could go back, I would add some moderate exercise. Now that I'm working out I feel so much stronger. 

Weight loss is 90% diet and 10% exercise. But there are so many benefits to exercise that go beyond weight loss. 

Take advantage of this time and maximize your loss. It definitely slows down the farther out you get. 

Thank you for the advice! I plan to walk and run a lot as it begins to warm up here in PA. I am also very active with my family but now can participate a lot more than I used to! I honestly have no desire for the gym. I absolutly hate the atmosphere! Maybe I'll feel better as I lose weight and feel comfortable working out in front of people. I fully plan to stick to my diet, although we are big "foodies" in our house and love to try new things. I am hoping on our vacations we have planed 3 and 6 months out, that I am at least able to try a bite of some things new that may not be entirely protein based.

So far I have only told my mom, my husband and oldest child (she is grown) and a couple of close friends. I won't tell anyone else until after. But I was surprised when I told one of my friends,,,she messaged me that she had a gastric sleeve done over a year ago! lol! I had no idea! I don't see her very often and I knew she had lost weight, but wasn't close enough to notice anything else I guess. 

Other than my hubby....I have told 3 friends, no family members.  I may one day...who knows.  I have lost mass amts of weight so many different times in the past, I don't think anyone is remotely suspicious. 

I didn't want anyone's opinion or 2 cents  because I did the research and my mind was made up.  I also don't want to hear things like, "oh she lost weight because she had surgery".  As we all know the surgery helps, but I didn't want my efforts cheapened by people who have no idea what dedication it takes still to be successful in this process.

I have been open about it. For the most part, this has been a good thing because otherwise living in the cancer capital of America, people would think I was sick or on drugs as the weight comes off. And while they still have no idea about how much my lifestyle has had to change to go along with the surgery... most people are supportive.

The only thing I'm very sick of is people telling me that everyone they know who has had the surgery has gained it all back. Now, I know this is not true as I've met plenty of folks who have kept the weight off after surgery for years; but for some reason many people (none of whom have actually undergone the surgery) believe it is inevitable that a person will gain it back.

I'm also tired of people who are even more overweight than I was become downright rude about it. I realize it is a defense mechanism on their part, but their response is always that they knew someone who died as a result of the surgery. I look at them gasping for breath, being unable to walk, living on pain pills and heart medication and being unwilling to consider something that could save their lives and knowing in my heart they will die if they keep going the way they are going. It makes me sad.