I knew when I decided to publicly share my weight loss struggles and surgery with the world I would face scrutiny, judgement, and ignorance. Being unaware of the process in the beginning I also had a lot of misunderstandings. It was worth it to me to be open and clear up some of these misconceptions as well keep myself accountable through this process despite these judgements.
Yesterday, I did a speech that I’ve been working on that discusses the importance of celebrating small victories. I never appreciated the little amounts of weight I lost especially when I had a lot to lose. I had to channel Dr. Suess and remember:
The speech went over well and it’s part of a larger passion project that I’m working on. Today, I received an email from one of the women who heard the speech. She said that she felt I was being dishonest because I didn’t mention my surgery when discussing my weight loss. She said,
“It’s insincere and really dishonest not to say anything because people will believe that you worked out, ate right and actually worked for your weight loss.”
First things first. In reality, the speech wasn’t even about my weight loss it was about progress. That aside, I need to make something extremely clear.
This is work.
Losing weight is work.
I don’t care how you do it, it’s going to be hard.
Surgery is a tool that allows your body to take a break while you get your brain together. You don’t just have surgery and go about your life. You can’t just eat whatever you want and not work out.
As with any means of losing weight, you have to earn it. Eating well, taking your vitamins, getting enough water, and moving your body are essential for long term weight loss success.
So many people feel that weight loss surgery is cheating or the easy way out. I bet if you ask any person who has had any type of weight loss surgery 100% will tell you the surgery was the easy part. Learning to live your life after surgery is where the work begins. Trust me when I tell you that losing 250 lbs took a whole lot of prayer, discipline, determination, effort, and will. It’s the hardest work I’ve ever done.
That’s honest and sincere.