Bariatric Surgery is Not “Cheating” to Lose Weight – Brian’s Blog

A lot of people have noticed that I've lost a lot of weight. A person losing 130 pounds in less than a year is hard not to notice, but when I tell people how I did it, the response I get from some people is really noticeable.

At times people that know me will approach me and tell me that they've noticed how much weight I've dropped. Sometimes they are lavish in their praise of all the hard work it must have taken to get the pounds off. That's when I usually say "Well, I've had surgery."

For some reason that's when their faces drop, and the response is "Oh."

Here's how I read that.

They think that somehow I "cheated" to take off the weight. It wasn't all radical dieting and hours of grueling exercise. I must have used a "magic bullet" to lose that 130 pounds.

I didn't earn it.

Let's take a look at how I didn't "earn" losing this weight.

• Wrestling with the decision to use bariatric surgery to combat my morbid obesity, Morbid meaning it could have shortened my life.
• Hours spent researching procedures and finding a doctor.
• Hours spent working with my primary physician and the surgeon in ordering hours of expensive psychological and medical tests to be cleared for surgery, then getting all of the tests completed.
• The surgery itself. Funny thing about surgery. They warn you right up front that you could die.
• The completely restrictive diet that I'm on. All high protein. No fun stuff, no desserts, no sugar, no bread. No carbonated drinks, no alcohol. A total lifestyle change, complete with regular trips to the gym..
• The cost. I'm not going to get into figures, but it cost a lot. All out of pocket. My insurance covered nothing.
• The 140-mile round trip I take each month to see my bariatric doctor. Factor in the time and price of gas.

That's a lot to put up with.

Now tell me that I "cheated" to lose weight.