Being Fat is Hard, Losing weight is Hard...

Choose your Hard!
I am probably going to ruffle some feathers with this post but this is MY blog and I guess it is a form of therapy for me.
I was asked yet again over the weekend if I had weight loss surgery. I didn't and I will scream it from the roof tops. In my mind there are a few reasons to get the procedure and laziness or lack of will should not be one of those reasons. Maybe you have tried and failed a few times and there are medical reasons that you need the weight off..surgery is then an option but I think it needs to be combined with therapy and exercise to be successful. In the past 2 months I have seen at least 3 people I know jump into surgery. No pre-op obligations to meet at all. Really it is just a lack of authority on the insurance company's part and a whole lot of greed on the doctors part. I have seen appointment to surgery progress in as little as 4 weeks with no diet history, no medical problems and a need to only lose 75 pounds. This just lights a fire under my ass.
I will be the first to admit that I went to the orientation and really looked into surgery. Because of financial reasons and fear I backed out and have been on the track to lose the weight myself. I understand that some people cannot do it. I really do because I was a yo-yo dieter for years but don't the doctors have some sort of responsibility to stop these over night surgery fans. I mean it has become the social norm to have your mouth surgically routed to your ass for weight loss. Years ago people would whisper with suspicion behind your back if you have weight loss surgery and now they treat it like a prize. Smiling and congratulating the woman that went to Mexico because she had so little to lose an American doctor wouldn't touch her but she just had to lose that 50 pounds somehow.I have loose skin and I will have to pay for removal or live with it because my insurance company will only pay for it IF I have had WLS. Seriously?
I am sore everyday, I push myself everyday. Sometimes I am so tired I just want to break down in tears. I push myself to my physical limit all of the time. I eat clean and I struggle. I look in the mirror and still see how far I have to go. I should be proud. I should be thrilled to show my old ID at the store. The truth is sometimes I lie and say I don't have it just so I don't have to get into the great weight loss debate with the nosey cashier. It's never easy. It's hard but at the end of the day I am happy with the path I chose.