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

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  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Nope. I figure they've worked hard to get where they are, and know that most folks don't take surgery like that lightly.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    I view it differently in that I don't think that diet and exercise advice from them would be applicable to my situation. I have had three abdominal surgeries. Recovery from that absolutely sucks! I think there are some doctors out there that aren't necessarily as ethical about who can get this surgery. It is still hard work, it is still dedication. I'll worry about how I get to my goal and let others worry about theirs!
  • Onaughmae
    Onaughmae Posts: 873 Member
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    Ummm I had surgery...and I have to diet and exercise just as much as everyone else. Unfortunately no surgery allows you to just sit on your butt and watch the fat magically fall off. Just saying...
  • DamnImASexyBitch
    DamnImASexyBitch Posts: 740 Member
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    Yes and no. Kudos to them to doing whatever it takes to lose their weight, and I am happy for them. However, I have a lot more admiration and respect for people who have lost a similar amount of weight through non surgical means.
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
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    No. After seeing what my mother has gone through and almost losing her, I cannot judge. Weight loss surgery is not an easy way out. We all have different struggles and they are all relative to our situation.
  • aekimz23
    aekimz23 Posts: 112 Member
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    If someone became fit and healthy through a weight loss surgery I would still be equally inspired as if they were to lose the weight just through conscious diet and exercise. Plenty of people who get weight loss surgery still overeat afterward and end up gaining weight again anyway. You have to use the tool you've been given effectively to achieve the success that we see on the outside. I'd definitely be more inspired by someone who became thin and healthy through weight loss surgery than I would be by someone who say "Eff it, I'm never going to lose weight," and uses that as an excuse to eat Mcdonald's twice a day, 'erryday.
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
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    I don't see their success differently if they can maintain the lifestyle that surgery pushes them towards...

    I hate it when I see people who get the surgery but then go back to their old habits and gain the weight back. It makes me think that they thought the surgery would solve all of their problems and they didn't want to put in any effort.
  • 84woolf
    84woolf Posts: 153
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    While I'm not happier for one person more then the other (natural vs. Surgical assistance ) there ia a different level of admiration for those able to dig down and succeed on their own. I don't judge, I think to each his own...but a difference, yes.

    Also those insinuating their bodies weren't cooperating thus COULDN'T lose weight, that irks me. Esp from someone starting at a morbid weight. Its simple science folks. Now admitting they initially didn't have the mental wherewithall it takes to take on a huge change and needed help...there is nothing wrong with that.

    I'm happy for everyone who reaches a healthy weight and is happy...assistance or not.
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    It doesn't. All of those methods are no guarantee. People have those procedures and don't lose much and/or gain it all back once they adjust.

    No matter how they lost, they lost. Good for them. :)
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
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    I see it as different. All three people i know that have had wls are struggling again with their weight. However i am excited for another friend that is on the list, because her knees are so bad that it is painful for her to move. I still celebrate those that overcome towering obsticals and do it on their own, i feel they learn something from it that impowers them to have long term success.
  • perfectingpatti
    perfectingpatti Posts: 1,037 Member
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    If everyone used this as their guiding principle, then there would be very little activity in the forums. Like it or not, discussing topics that affect other people is kind of what goes on here.
    Can this please become a sticky. It's like people forget what "forum" means.

    Yes, maybe even one that states that you open yourself up to ALL opinions when posting in the forum, even ones you may not like or agree with.
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
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    This is making me think: I lose weight really easily and always have. No one should admire me for losing weight, but they have and probably will (I hope to have baby weight to lose). People have asked me for tips, which I have given, but the real one, 'Just be me,' isn't going to work for anyone else. So, success should be put in a context, but surgery v. natural is perhaps not the most important one.
  • MyProgressISYour1Proof
    MyProgressISYour1Proof Posts: 376 Member
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    Well sweetheart, I'm one of the few who has lost 100+ and kept it all off. I did it all by myself with dieting and exercise. It took two long years but surgery is not always needed. I'm dealing with loose skin issues now. I was 346.4 at my heaviest so, it is possible to change and do it your own way. God bless and good luck. :)
  • DefyGravity1977
    DefyGravity1977 Posts: 300 Member
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    Absolutely not. I have a friend that chose to have the surgery and she and I got to talking a couple weeks ago. Even after the surgery she still has the same struggles I do to eat right and to exercise and to not gain it all back. It is a different journey for everyone and each person has to decided what is best for them
  • RonnieLodge
    RonnieLodge Posts: 665 Member
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    I don't believe so, but I do think find the surgery strange - from what I understand, it means a lifetime of eating tiny portions of certain foods with the threat of vomiting. Which is really just dealing with the symptoms of overeating, not the cause.
  • FitFabFlirty92
    FitFabFlirty92 Posts: 384 Member
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    To be honest, I do view them differently. I just don't see how it's necessary to drastically alter your body to get results. So many people, of EVERY size, do this with diet and exercise alone. That's not to say they are better or more admirable, just that their approach makes more sense to me than surgery.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    For my own .02.. I don't judge the person, but I don't consider their loss to be the same as what someone else may have done without the surgery.

    For what it's worth, I've busted my *kitten* for every pound I've lost and it angers me when someone asks what surgery I had. I typically respond with "I had the getoffofmyassectomy."

    Do I weigh the same as someone else that's at 190lbs that may have lost their weight through a major surgery? Absolutely. The scale doesn't know the difference. Do I feel that I've gained more for having done it my way? Absofreakinglutely. It doesn't make them a bad or weak person, just that I did what I did for me.. and they did what they did, for them.
  • Terasome
    Terasome Posts: 3,808 Member
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    I will admit I did feel one friend was cheating when she had a band put in. She didnt understand the whole concept of it and expected miraculous weightloss which never happened for her, she is still a very large girl and is now considering having it tightened. :ohwell: she doesn't eat right at all and then complains.

    Another friend had the band put in and her weightloss and effort was amazing, she is a totally different girl and although I was a little jealous at first, I quickly got over that when she told me what she goes through trying to find things to eat that wont aggravate her. I supported her, just like she supports me, I dont have anywhere near the weight to lose that she had, so Im happy for her.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    IMO, Yes, I think it's a cop out for everyone who wants an easy, quick fix without effort. Well it's not easy, either way! I'll get bashed for it but.. my sister has always been lazy and wanted to lose weight with a magic wand. She wanted to eat junk and never, ever exercised. She wouldn't even walk half a block down her street. She finally did lose weight with gastric bypass, but then, at 53, had 3 strokes and is now disabled and has gained her weight back. Granted she did not follow the rules, still did not exercise, etc. so it's her own fault and now her LIFE is ruined. It is NOT a CURE for obesity. Dealing with mental issues has to be done and I'm sick of our country putting it on a back burner!
    I say do it the right way. We all know what we are supposed to do, but do we do it? No, because we are not eating right for some reason or another. Get pyschological help for the reasons you are overeating, because if you don't get through those issues, you wont ever have success! Then get moving and start eating right. If you are doing those things, there is no reason why you wont lose weight.
    We all have a MENTAL reason for overeating. Mine was too much drama in my life due to family who was abusing my mother who has alzheimers and several other reasons. Find your reasons why, then the rest is easy.
    I'll add that I don't put everyone into the group of people like my sister. If you get the mental help, have surgery, follow the rules, exercise and eat right, I'm still proud of you! It all comes down to being willing to help yourself. Only YOU can make those changes, regardless of how you do it.
  • Skratchie
    Skratchie Posts: 131 Member
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    I know people who have had surgery, and after seeing the "side effects" they've had, I sometimes think they've had it worse than I am ... one of the guys at work had to do it for health reasons, and he has the worst time with digestion, particularly any sort of meat. Almost everyone I know who's had it done (you'd be surprised how many do it), has some sort of issue with food that they can't eat or digest or ... whatever. And there IS a risk of death ... there was a woman in the news not THAT long ago who died as a result of an infection from her gastric bypass surgery.

    It makes me think that surgery, lap band, etc., isn't the easy way out ... it's the scary way out. I'll just count calories, thanks.

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