I have had one person ask if I was sick... she assumed that was why I lost weight...

Even when I lost 75 lbs in 3 months, no one ever asked me if I had weight loss surgery. No one has yet. I'm not sure why I either don't give off that vibe or they just think it without saying it.

I do get the question of 'so how'd you do it!?' and I say 'eating better and exercising more'

I got a new gyn doc and during our exam, she was asking me about my weight loss because I do have signs of weight loss without clothes, it was kind of amusing and I didn't even feel embarrassed.

LOL, if you had realized, you could have just said, "Yes! It would be great for her to do it my way!"

Yes, yes, and yes!

Absolutely. I believe that as an obese person and as a health care provider.

I mean, I have dealt with people who probably could never lose weight on their own-- they don't have the emotional skills, financial resources, nutritional understanding, or motivation to be able to do it. A person who is super morbidly obese and has lost mobility, for example, is a hard one because they aren't able to exercise.

But, I think one of the biggest obstacles to losing weight the traditional way is the pervasive belief out there, both among patients and people in the health care field, that it's IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight, especially if you are already morbidly obese.

But when you think about it, who knows how accurate all of those depressing figures about diets not working really are.

There are many more obese people now than even ten years ago. There is a better understanding of how to approach weight loss in heavier people. There is a bigger emphasis on obesity being the preventable cause of health problems.

They used to think that quitting smoking was so hard that few people could "kick the habit".... now, people quit all the time. It's still hard, but it's considered doable. Many people know someone who has done it successfully. I still remember the days where it was assumed that few smokers would actually succeed in quitting.

WLS is a big money maker and so there are plenty of advertising dollars behind it. Nobody makes money when people lose weight from diet and exercise, so no wonder the word doesn't get out as easily.

But, for those of you who have reached goal, every person you tell will tell someone else, and there may be a ripple effect that is more powerful than you know.

Healthy people who can exercise and change their eating habits should feel that that is a viable option.

It was only a year ago that my own doctor told me that I could never lose weight without WLS. Obviously doctors don't know everything.

That is strange. I know others here have said their doctors recommended weight loss surgery for them. I was over 300 lbs for 15 years and not once did any doctor tell me I should have surgery.

I was headed towards surgery. Told my doctor that I wanted to try it on my own. She came right out and said to me that it would be downright impossible to lose all the weight that I needed to without it.

When our own doctors are telling us this, no wonder people think they can't do it without it.

Which is why it is vital to NOT leave major decisions up to our doctors. We've got to be responsible for our own medical care. A doctors advice is one thing, but we still know ourselves BEST.

I just remembered something else this genius doctor told me. About 1/2 way through my journey, she told me that it looked as if I'd be one of those that would need plastic surgery.

Another thing that just came to me. My doctor prior to this one never ever mentioned my weight to me at ALL. Not sure if it would have propelled me to do anything had he, but I DO feel it was irresponsible of him not to mention that my weight needed to be dealt with. That I was a walking time bomb. I feel that not mentioning it was NOT looking out for my best interests.

One reason I always like foreign trained doctors because they will always tell you about your weight (at least in my experience). Although most of my doctors said something about my weight and I worked with quite a few of them on my weight. I know a lot of doctors won't but any doctor who spends more than 5 minutes with you should ask you about your weight, of course that is should and doesn't mean they will.

My primary doctor also recommended WLS to me but I can't fault him. He talked about my weight for years. He always encouraged me to lose weight, gave me diet pills when I asked for them. I think that he felt that he had done all that he could for me so he gave up and recommended the surgery. I did not think that it was possible for me to lose weight on my own. Actually, when I first started, I held onto one thing that my doctor had told me. He had said that losing just 10 or 20 pounds would make a difference in my health. So I did not look at my final goal, still don't for that matter. I focused on losing 10 or 20 pounds. When I lost 20 pounds, I thought that I could do that again.

I am seeing my doctor in a couple of weeks and look forward to his reaction. I want him to be able to tell his other morbidly obese patients that you can lose weight with diet and exercise. He has a patient that has done it.

Yep, I've had the question too.

It seems like the weightloss commercials for lapband and gastric bypass are on ALL the time now--our local magazine that gets sent out free to our community is loaded with the ads. It seems like many of the shows on TV regarding weightloss are also ending in success with some sort of surgery.

I sure wish I would see more of a push towards the au natural method. I did consider the lapband at one point but it wasn't my route. Maybe if they had equal "game time" in media it would become more popular.

And no, I don't think LB or GB are a walk in the park--not anything I have read would lead me to believe that.

I have not only had the question asked, but I have also been told it was the only way I would be able to do it, (by my original now ex-Doctor), AND I have actually had people accuse me of having "Secret WLS". I know I've told this story 100 times, but several months ago at a fundraising event, a member of our community approached me and said to me, "Everyone is talking about your secret gastric by-pass surgery." I told tell her that I would be happy to show "everyone" my gut so they could check for scars...I wish I would have said something a little more intelligent but I was thrown for a loop. I didn't realize people talked about me...lol ;)

To be fair, mine didn't recommend it. When I came in asking about it, that was when he told me that it was the only possible approach.

To be honest, I think he was trying to be supportive of me in my efforts to lose weight. He wasn't very well-informed about the procedure itself.

that hurts. I am so proud of you for what you have accomplished and I don't even know you. Kudos to you for standing up for yourself.
I have had 3 different doctors within a few weeks suggest WLS to me. I have such a skewed vision of myself that I really didn't believe that I was big enough to need WLS. That I would even qualify. Only kidding myself :(
But I am going to do this on my own. I have so much emotional issues tied to eating that WLS would not be a long term solution for me. Sure I'd lose the weight, but I just about guarentee I'd gain it all back.

There is this one person, a man no less, who was so insistent that I had the surgery, that he always questions one of my good friends about it. I know this because she tells me. Anyway, she finally convinces him (this is over a period of a couple years) and he believes that I didn't have Weight loss surgery. Now he tells my friend, talk about ignorant, that I MUST have had liposuction. You can't win with some people. They want to talk, let um.

My favourite reply to that question is always "I decided to start with the FORK instead of the KNIFE"

Well it should be great to know that people are noticing though!!