Do you view someone's success differently if......

firstsip

I see people's advice differently when they've had bariatric surgery, yes, particularly with regards to nutrition. They have a physically altered digestive system and their experience is not necessarily applicable to those who haven't had the surgery. I wish they would put a disclaimer in their nutritional advice so that people would know. It does not mean that their advice isn't worthwhile, because there are plenty of other folks with bariatric surgery looking for advice- I just wish they would clarify before saying things like "My doctor told me 700 calories a day is perfectly safe and I have to take XYZ vitamin supplements" that simply aren't applicable to everyone.

Just to be clear, I know bariatric surgery is not the 'easy way out' everyone thinks it is, but it DOES make the process radically different. I do not think they deserve any less respect than anyone else.

This, 100%. I'd also add that it's easy to sit back and say, "It's the easy way out," but it is a major surgery, and for someone to decide to do that is a serious undertaking.

peckish_pomegranate

Why do you care about other people's business?

ahviendha

I judge it differently. I'm a jerk.

CarlaChalk78

I do Judgemental I know but deep down ...yes.

nturner612

yes thats cheating. while its "hard" in its own way, nothign is harder than working out and watching while you eat without any kind of "supervision."

thats like saying im going to run a marathon, but my ankles really hurt. so give me a ride till im almost at the finish line and i will run from there to the end.

cheating.

JimLeonardRN

I have a very good friend on here who had Gastric Bypass. I'm pretty sure she had to struggle, scream, and claw to lose her 100+ lbs just as much as I did, if not more.

Just because someone had surgery to help speed up the initial process, doesn't mean they don't deserve the same level of respect and praise as someone who lost a similar amount of weight without surgery.

Thank you! I completely agree and being a sleeve patient myself I have first hand knowledge of this Because of the stigma behind the surgery being the "lazy" way out, people that have it a lot of times get the shrug off at their loss. What you don't see is that it is often more difficult. The diet and lifestyle that you have to live after surgery is stricter than anything a normal dieter would follow and if they want to keep it off they have to do it for life. We deal with plateaus just like everyone else, difference is we don't have as much freedom when it comes to "shaking" up our diets as everyone else does.

I know plenty of people that have had the surgery and haven't lost the weight or have gained it back. The surgery is a TOOL (I can't say that enough), it does not do it for you, you have to work just as hard with it as without it.

Please do not think less of their efforts.

Amen Amen Amen! I wish I could have lost the 130+ pounds Ive lost thus far doing just diet and exercise. But after years of trying and failing I chose this route. Some of y'all dont understand the struggle to get in 100+ grams of protein when your stomach is only 4 ounces in size. As well as all the other dietary restrictions.

forgtmenot

I view it differently. Gastric bypass is something I can't relate to, so I don't really give it a second thought.

This^

dsjohndrow

Success is living healthy lifestyle, not losing weight. So, I don't care if you amputate your leg to lose weight. I care about how you, exercise and take care of your body.

SmexAppeal

It shouldn't make you view them differently. My cousin had gastric bypass, but she has done absolutely nothing to take care of herself. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my cousin... but her body needs work. She can't eat much anymore, but still does not have any muscle tone and has tons of saggy skin. People who get surgery still have a lot to do when they get past it. So don't view them differently. Maybe they took a little shortcut, but they still have to finish the race!

zoober

Having had minor abdominal surgery my own self, I don't view bariatric surgery as something to dismiss. Takes a lot of courage to go under the knife, and it takes willpowerm or at least forebearance, to preserve the gains (or the losses, I guess).

peckish_pomegranate

Did it ever occur to anyone posting their opinions here that there are lots of MFP users who've had these medical procedures who probably don't appreciate being judged like this? It's really not anyone's business what someone else does.

DawnieB1977

I don't know much about surgery to be honest, but from reading on here it seems that it's just a kick start and people who have it still have to work hard to lose the weight. It's not like they have the op and 100lbs magically disappear.

I also think it's brave as it seems like a scary procedure - I wouldn't willingly be operated on!

perfectingpatti

One of my best friends had gastric bypass surgery, but she went through many of the same emotional, mental, and physical struggles that it takes for anyone to lose weight and get fit. The surgery helped her on insomuch as she couldn't eat as much as she could before. She still had to learn to deal with issues she had with food. She still had to control her portions. She still had to exercise to tone her body. She still had to fight to keep herself from binging.

She died a few years after her surgery because of complications from the surgery. But she went through a great amount of physical and mental challenges to work on herself before she did.

NavyKnightAh13

As far as the ones that have surgery, I don't really see it being different except they have to be really conscious about what they put in and I know I could never do it.

The only ones I really think are "lazy" are the ones that do the fad diets in order to lose weight and then come on here and yell about how they haven't lost it. But that is just me (I get frustrated with my cousin who is doing body by vi and knows that the weight will come back on because he has already had it happen but refuses to acknowledge it and then wants to try and get everyone on the green earth to buy it).

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I have to admit that I look to see how long it had been since their surgery. The only person I know personally who has had it done had no willpower to begin with and I watched her not commit to adopting a healthier lifestyle even as she discussed her trials and tribulations. When she had it done all our friends held our breath and watched to see what would happen next. She's not made the best of decisions along the way, but it has given her the confidence to exercise and she's adopted a lifestyle that should be conducive to keeping it off. Honestly though I've learned that's how it is along the way, some people know how to take it off and keep it off and some people know how to take it off and put it back on . . . the proof is in the pudding of time not the method of getting there.

TheRoadDog

If someone loses weight and they are happy with the loss and the method, what business is it of mine?

If there were a simple way for me to lose my weight without exercise or diet and I could afford it, I would have already done it. And I wouldn't care at all what anyone else's opinion was.

Alex_is_Hawks

I have a very good friend on here who had Gastric Bypass. I'm pretty sure she had to struggle, scream, and claw to lose her 100+ lbs just as much as I did, if not more.

Just because someone had surgery to help speed up the initial process, doesn't mean they don't deserve the same level of respect and praise as someone who lost a similar amount of weight without surgery.

I you Leaky.

I had a gastric sleeve. i'll be honest about it. My doctor and I tried various ways of losing the weight prior to doing the sleeve, we did all the bloodwork to determine what factors were inhibiting loss, we did everything and it just wasn't working.

I don't know why but I do know that in the time I struggled with my doctor to lose the weight, my partner lost several pounds following the same methods. And often (at his admission) working half as hard as I was.

My doctor and I felt at a loss to explain it, so we decided to go the gastric route.

It's that simple. I wouldn't say that my journey was harder than anyone who has lost the weight normally. I wouldn't say it was easier either. It was just different. I chose a different road.

Apples and oranges really, both fruit, but still different.

I don't need anyone else to tell me if I made the right choice, I know I did for myself and my daughter and my needs.

I don't care if you judge me or see me as less as a result of my admission that I had a gastric sleeve.

I'm not here for you.

I'm here for me.

sarahisme18

All I know is my personal experience, and the one friend I have who did it was completely unwilling to try other methods that would take more time, and even afterwards was unwilling to be educated to change her eating habits. She also spent over a year in the hospital due to complications.

So, it is hard for me to view it as a good option, but I don't know anything except what she went through, so don't know enough to make a judgment across the board.

diodelcibo

Yep I do, I always take into account the level of difficulty with respect to ones success.

IntoTheSky

I think a lot of it for me, is that I had 3 family members have it done, and it was an option that my doctor initially gave me. My thought process was, I am (at the time) only 22 years old, I want to try on my own first, and I did well, but the family members that had it done, had battled their whole lives. It is not the same way I did it, but, it was their way and I am proud of them for doing it, and now, 5 years later, still having it all off and being dilligent with the gym and health.