My best friend went to her doctor yesterday and he was floored by her weight loss. She started at 265 and has lost 80 pounds. Her doctor asked if she'd had surgery! That would have offended me but she thought it was funny.
He told her she was the only patient he'd ever had that had successfully lost even close to that amount without surgery. He said "You don't understand. People don't lose like that."
Aren't you all glad we have THIS place full of people who can say "YES WE DO!!"
I had a gynecologist visit that was somewhat similar. She saw my loose skin and was checking it out, asking me about it while I was getting an exam. Of course normally, I'd be horrified but I was actually quite comfortable talking to her about it.
My OBGYN asked me what kind of surgery I had too when she realized I'd lost 125 lbs. She was floored when she found out I did it with good ol' diet and exercise. I guess it happens few and far between.
It's probably because they've told their patients over and over again that they need to lose weight and the majority never lose a pound. I can't wait until I get small and people ask me what I did and I can tell them I ate right and exercised. =)
I'd be leary of going to a doctor who doesn't believe people can lose weight without surgery Where did he get his medical license!
I am pretty sure this is the official line of the AMA.
I have kind of a situation relating to WLS coming up. My BIL is visiting with his girlfriend. I know she's had WLS, and I know his girlfriends tend to be kinda crazy/not geniuses. I am worried that if my own weight loss comes up--and it will, he hasn't seen me in 135 lbs--and I say "no, I didn't have surgery", it'll be seen as "bragging" or insulting her somehow or something. It just seems like it will be awkward. If it were my friend, we'd have worked out how each other feel . . .but a crazy BIL's new girlfriend is a weird sort of houseguest.
I don't think that doctor's think it is impossible, it is just that they have never seen it. All the doctor's I've seen and talked to about it have said that I am the only one they know who has lost over 100 lbs and kept it off.
My doctor was shocked when I'd lost 30 pounds and kept it off! Apparently they figure if you 'let' (har har.) yourself get morbidly obese that there's no hope or desire of you ever changing the habits that got you there. Like if it is that bad, it ain't getting better on its' own. Fortunately I am happy to keep surprising them, it feels good to hear I am an exceptional loser, in this case
On this train of thought, before I came to this site, I thought that NOONE lost a significant amount of weight without surgery or something. I never imagined that there would be a whole bunch of people who needed to lose as much as me.
On this train of thought, before I came to this site, I thought that NOONE lost a significant amount of weight without surgery or something. I never imagined that there would be a whole bunch of people who needed to lose as much as me.
Well that's true. I don't know a significant number of people who need to lose 100 plus pounds. I know some, but not many. And I don't know anyone who has lost a significant amount, or at least I don't know that I know anyone. LOL! There could be people who have lost a lot before I met them. But I have known people who lost significantly only to regain within a year. That is always so, so sad.
My thin, supercilious, judgmental, mountain-climbing doctor has more than one patient who has, through diet & exercise, lost a large amount of weight.
Our efforts won him some kind of award from our health care plan.
He approves of me now, where he clearly didn't before.
I put up with this because his disapproval was highly motivational -- I am, at heart, a girl intent on pleasing her Daddy by being the smartest, hardest-working one in the whole school -- and because his office scale & constant blood tests have really helped me through maintenance.
I was just thinking about this today! It is pretty rare for people to lose significant amounts of weight on their own. When people ask how much I've lost, they're shocked by the amount. Around here, I'm not even that impressive. It makes me forget that this is a big deal, and that what we are doing is pretty exceptional. Everyone that I know in the real world that have lost weight have always done it using fad diets or diet pills, have lost a maximum of 25 pounds, and have always regained.
Truth be told, I think if I could have afforded surgery, I would have. But because I couldn't, I just did it the old fashioned way.
You know what I find really sad though, in regards to Eliana's comment (I think YOU are so adorable by the way) is when I read through my comments on the Goal Page from people who have posted and I'll sometimes click on them to see their progress updates, and it states that they haven't been on this site in months. It makes me wonder, if, when, why they gave up.
People don't lose this kind of weight
. Made me feel pretty dang good 
LOL! There could be people who have lost a lot before I met them. But I have known people who lost significantly only to regain within a year. That is always so, so sad.
