208.2; The Secret to Losing Weight

I belong to a message board community and in the last year there has been a general healthiness of many on the board.  Eating better, exercising, running, walking...  All good things. 

A couple of weeks ago there was a post about how one person had lost weight and when she tried to tell people about it, they didn't respond or completed backed out of the conversation.  It turns out that she had a lap band placed over a year ago.  When people learn this, they immediately stop asking questions or engaging her in conversation about losing weight.

I tried to explain that those of us who have had lap band specifically are int he same boat as someone who hasn't and is trying to lose weight.  We must exercise and watch portions and watch the content of meals.  So just because we have a gastric band, don't discount what we have learned about losing weight.

In response, people said that once they learned she had surgery they stopped because they weren't interested in surgery.  Again, we are just like you, trying to find the combination of what works with exercise and eating.  One person responded that she thought the lap bad lady had lost a lot of weight quickly and wanted to know her secret.  She assumes that the lap band is the secret.  She assumes that we 'cheat' by using the band and she is not interested in that.

The deal is this...THERE IS NO SECRET. 

Yes, the lap band helps us remember to portion control, but we can still over eat and eat around that band.  We are just like you!!!  We are trying to find the combination of exercise and eating that works for our body specifically.  There is no magic secret to losing weight.  NONE.  There is hard work.  There is limiting foods that you once ate, still like and must stop eating or eat less of.  There is getting up at 5 am to hit the gym for 4 miles before work.  There is going to a party and not grazing all the time.

At the time I gave up on the conversation because it frustrates me that people think I am cheating.  THIS STUFF IS FREAKING HARD WORK FOR ME TOO!  Last night I watched Extreme Makeover: Weight loss Edition and at the end Chris told a story about Nyla.  She had signed up for the show thinking that he had some magic, easy secret to losing weight.  She found out that it's only done through determination and hard work.  It occurred to me that these people that I meet and talk to who think that I am cheating, yet as for my secret, are looking for their own way to cheat their weight loss. 

THERE IS NO SECRET.  THERE IS NO CHEAT. 

I work just has freaking hard as the next person to control what I eat, when I eat it and to desire to exercise.