Monday, September 10, 2012

Weight Loss Surgeries: Temporary Fix or Head Start?

Recently I had a quick catch up session with a good friend of mine I’ve known for years. As we sat and chatted over red velvet waffles and fried chicken (don’t judge us!), she proceeded to fill my in on an upcoming event in her life … she’s getting weight loss surgery. Now my fellow Frugivore readers before you jump to conclusions let me tell you this woman is stunning!

Gorgeous skin, healthy hair, amazing fashion sense and men fall all over themselves to talk to her on a regular basis, she is by no means unfortunate looking. The only thing “wrong” with her, in her opinion, is that she could stand to lose 20 pounds and get her stomach flat. These issues are barely noticeable when she’s dressed, Spanx or no Spanx (because you know Spanx is the mistress of illusion) and personally I see nothing wrong with her *shrug.*


However, it’s not my opinion that matters. When she looks in the mirror she sees flashing red lights so she wants to do something about it. When I asked her about going to the gym, which she does every so often, her response was “Well, who really wants to workout?! I mean at least if I workout after the surgery I’ll have less of a load to deal with?” Basically she sees the surgery as a head start in the healthy living race. It will help her get where she wants to be and then all she has to do from there is maintain it. My problem with it is that it sounds good in theory, but unless your mind is right, it ends up being a simple temporary fix.

Healthy living is more than just the food we eat, our workouts, or how our bodies look … it’s a mindset. Those that have successfully managed their weight, eating, etc, have done so because their mind was in the right place to make the right choices. Getting weight loss surgery when you haven’t first trained your mind to stick to a workout schedule or eat the right foods at least 90% of the time will only have you close to or right back where you started.

 I had another friend who had weight loss surgery, lost close to 200 lbs, but still thought she could stuff her face and she ended up literally making herself sick every night. Now, two years later she’s put back on close to 30 lbs, no where near the nearly 200 lbs she lost, but still, because her mind isn’t right she’s on her way back down that slippery slope.

I think the appeal of weight loss surgeries is that you get to see immediate results. Many of us get frustrated hitting the gym everyday and not seeing the results right away, it can be depressing and even discouraging to know you worked so hard and are, seemingly, getting nothing out of it.

But temporary fixes are just that, temporary, unless you are in the state of mind to do what’s needed to maintain the weight loss after the surgery. Weight loss surgeries can be great, when needed, but if you’re just looking for a quick fix or a head start, you’re doomed to fail. Because there are no quick fixes to healthy living and the only head start comes from the confidence you build from within.

What are your thoughts on weight loss surgery?

Article courtesy of www.frugivoremag.com

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