[Tami]

So today is a Field Trip for my daughter. I volunteer to drive - I have an SUV, so I can take 8 comfortably. One of the moms that is riding with me just so happens to be very overweight. There are 4 moms Including me and 4 girls. After the tour, we are all directed to do lunch on "our own". Whatever everyone decides. So we go to a pretty decent rest. I order a small cup of chicken taco soup. Two of the moms (very nice size)orders chicken and salad and the large woman orders mayo coleslaw instead of a green salad and a platter of chili cheese fries. Then she starts telling us about her diabetes, her high bp, her sleep apnea. BUT - she said she checked into have the GB surgery (without knowing that I had mine 6 weeks ago). Unfortunately her insurance excludes any type of weight loss surgery. SO - she says she's just out of luck. Then she went to explain how unfair it is - that she still has to eat (true - but I'm thinking she didn't have to eat all that!!) SO anyway - to make a long story short. I sat there and ate my small cup of soup and thanked God that I was able to have this surgery.

[KCrabtree]

I have my days where I'm glad I've done it and other days when I just don't know.....

[SummerBreeze]

we all are lucky we were able to afford to have the surgery done , but I am pretty sure we all have been guilty of eating something like coleslaw and chili cheese fries at one point or another in our lives...its said she was a daibetic and making such bad choices though...i think sometimes you just reach a point of why bother ? Ya Know ? Good luck hun and keep making the right choices !

[MsVickie]

Tami,

Thank you for the Post honey. I understand what you where feeling. However think about this before you even thought about having WLS. I know if it was me I probally would have been the lady sitting there eating the coleslaw with the Chili cheese and doing the same thing. I remember having the convestations at lunch with skinny ladies as I called them....... and saying I love food to much to have that surgery done. Im guilty of doing the same thing. I did reseach the surgery for 5 years before I made the choice and did see a surgeon and then seen another before making the leap into it.

I think Im the odd one somtimes. I dont watch people eat never have dont ever see myself doing it. There was a post about a year ago about watching people eat and how it disturbed this person whom had the surgery and they listed exactly what the couple had eat etc.

I just remember where I come from and how yes that was me. I know it probally was hard for you to set there and not tell them you had the surgery. I do feel for this lady for not having the benefits though her insurance to not cover this life saving surgery. Evidently she has looked into it. Alot of times when people state that out loud in the company of others its a self defense way of explaining why they are eating what they are and they know they shouldnt but are.

Challanges are everywhere and I know that. What you had for lunch sounded yummy and I am glad you did have a choice of somthing good to eat you could handle.

Honey I have a little brother whom is 38 years old. Hes needs to have somthing done and soon. I will never approach him with the need to have somthing done. He already knows this. He has questioned me about it. He watched me go through mine. I had it hard after mine. Mine was hard and went thought alot of complications. some of them my own doing. My little brother is over 400 pounds no insurance company will take him as a policy holder. He works yes but for a company under 50 people and they have the disgression of covering him or not. He has to loose alot of weight before they will offer him coverage and it will cost him through the roof for coverage without even the possiblty of even having a surgery to help him.

So what im saying is I do hope this lady will eventually be able to have this surgery or get help soon. I think she was eating for comfort and just stating what we all did at one time to soothe the pain. Look at my start weight as you can see I soothed alot of pain before I did mine. Thanks for sharing.

[laughingpainter]

I don't know, I haven't had my surgery yet and I can only imagine what people think about when they see me eat. Wow, does she really need that? I can see why see weighs so much.....To me, thinking like this is really very insensitive. Remember where you've come from. this is how people who have no problem with their weight used to feel about you and probably how they still see me. I see people larger than me and I have to remember that I am throwing stones at a glass house if I think that s/he is worse than me.

[Tigrer76]

I get up every morning and thank God that I had the surgery. It is changing my life back to what it was when I was a young chick My energy is returning and I fill like I can be successful on this weight loss journey. What if I loaded a backpack with 65lbs of weight and tried to carry it aroung all day how long would I lastIt is no wonder that I was tired all of the time. Look out world her I come

[TheRainbowsEnd]

I have seen thin people consume more food in one sitting then I used to eat in 5 meals. So I think we need not make generalizations because the woman ate chili cheese fries. Maybe she does not always eat chili cheese fries. Maybe she had a salad with chicken for dinner last night?

This sort of thinking bothers me. We make assumptions that people are fat because they consume copious amounts of food. I did not consume copious amounts of food and I was obese. My skinny friends out ate me ten times over. But no one would ever think they lived on chili cheese fries.

I did not exercise and I would go 20 hours a day without eating and drinking as I was too busy looking after everyone else. And if I ate chili cheese fries once in awhile I would hate to think someone was judging me for eating them.

I am sorry this woman cannot have weight loss surgery because i know it saved my life. It forced me to eat properly and regularly but I would hate to think that my being is judged on my food choice at one meal.

[Perfesser]

For so many of us here WLS was our last chance, a final desperate leap of hope and faith before we abandoned ourselves to the despair and doom of eternal obesity. I had tried a lot of things, but although I may have had a few short-term successes, nothing was sustainable.

When I saw that ad on TV about WLS, my heart recognized it as my only hope. I researched it and my brain agreed. Within a year I was a postie, and my life will never be the same. Before, I would have ordered the chili fries (don't know about the cole slaw, though. Too healthy!!) and I would have wiped the plate and wished the orders weren't so small.

That you felt that way is a good sign (if you keep it in perspective). It shows that the relationship you have with food has been transformed. Never forget where you've come from, but don't judge those who are still stuck there. What would your life be like without the chance that was given you to go under the knife? I know I hate to even think about that prospect!! But I have to remind myself of what it felt like back then, because the memories are fading with time.

We are the fortunate few. We had the means to do this. We are also the motivated few, because not all who could do it dare to do it. We all need to thank whatever powers we have faith in that we have been so blessed.

CT

[gailsiz]

You are so right. 20 20 hindsight, yes? OK - I wonder if that woman really tried to push for this surgery (with her weight-related problems) diabetes, high blood-pressure and sleep apnea etc.... that is what my Doc. pushed and my surgery was all covered by insurance. But hopefully we all are so much more aware of how important food choices are and where we failed in the past and that is why we see it in others. Hey that is progress - but not everyone has that awareness and that is where they fail in their food choices and yes - hard for us to watch sometimes. But on the good side - I do see this WLS so much more publicized on TV in magazines and out to the public that I think it will be much more readily available to the public - yahoooo. This is the best thing I ever did for my health - for sure.