The Things People Say...

I recently joined a weight loss surgery forum and I've been shocked at the reactions that pre-op and post-op members have encountered.

Quite a few people have opted not to say anything and keep the whole thing a secret, even going as far as to ask their GP to lie on their sick forms and say they are recovering from hernia surgery, so their work colleagues don't find out.

Good friends have been lost, family members are no longer spoken to and all because they don't agree with weight loss surgery.

Why?

It would seem that ignorance breeds contempt as most sarcastic/nasty comments are based on little or no knowledge of what weight loss surgery actually entails.

It's not as if [we] are taking the easy way out or rushed into this without doing our research, seeing a psychiatrist and facing the fact that weight loss surgery is a TOOL not a complete solution to losing weight.

So far, I've been lucky as most of the comments I've had, have been silly and a little ignorant, rather than down right nasty or offensive:

Oh, so you won't be able to drink alcohol after the op. I guess you won't be able to go out anymore then.

No! Don't have weight loss surgery! You won't be the same person anymore, you won't have the same personality!

Why can't you just lose weight normally (I've been trying all my adult life and I'm 45 now!) Yeah, but I'm sure if you went on a diet, you'd be able to lose weight...

You're gonna have LOADS of lose skin after this operation (Well yes, probably, but I'd have the same amount of lose skin if I was able to diet naturally) No you wouldn't, only an operation will give you lots of baggy skin, if you lost the weight naturally the skin would 'ping' back.

It's just made me more determined that ever to succeed and I'm very thankful that [most] of my friends and family are supportive of my decision.