The Skinned Knee on Weight Loss Surgery
You look in the mirror, if forced to, and the person you see, is not the person you would like to be. You have tried diet after diet, and nothing seems to help you lose the weight. A few pounds may fall off, but for the most part, after the diet becomes boring; the pressure builds, and the weight comes back on. It is another skinned- knee in your book of diet failures. Being overweight has become a burden, physically, emotionally and mentally. Realizing you need to do something, your next option is to seek surgical, medical advice. When all diets have failed, weight-loss surgery is a viable solution. Living in Florida; the land of sun and fun, it would be fantastic to be a thinner and a more active person, which you profess to do, after the surgery. Ah, to be skinny again and a smile races across your face, and your eyes charmed with excitement! All my problems will be over! You feel the procedure will bring back your self-esteem, and this new lease on life, will keep you slim, forever and ever, amen. You will watch the weight miraculously melt off, giving you a victorious end! You will be an infomercial!
Too many times, we use our bodies to measure our own self-worth. If you are young, beautiful, and slim, usually your self-esteem seems to be on the “diva” side. Sometimes it is a front, but most often, these gals are strutting around on the streets, malls, and beaches, especially in Florida, where the weather permits, scantly clad bodies. This is all fine and good, until the day of reckoning. With age, using this mentality, you will become worthless, if you have based your life solely on your looks. Weight is not the measure of beauty or self-worth. It is a prediction of health.
For those who are morbidly overweight, you avoid mirrors and perhaps shopping is not on your “to do” list. These are gruesome reminders that you have become someone else and that person is a failure. Actually, you are still the same person, but in a toxic body. I say “toxic” because it reminds you of the negativity of why you hate yourself. And, it is toxic because it has brought on all types of ailments, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and the weight magnifies the disease or sicknesses you may already have. You blame yourself and others for your size. Some will use the excuse, taking the ownership away from them; and will place it on the medication the doctor prescribes. The pills put on the extra one-hundred pounds of flesh on my body. I didn’t do it. If you mention weight-loss surgery, immediately they are irritated, because you have shifted the burden of the problem right back on them, not the medication. Hence, you have unintentionally called them a liar.
Before you step on the scale of surgery, seek professional psychiatric counseling. Together, with counseling, you can develop the real reason for the extra pounds. Is it a problem you are covering up or disappointments in your life? If the real problem or cause is not resolved, all the surgery in the world is not going to help. Those issues will come back and in five years, the weight will be right back on your frame. Your extra weight is not the root of the problem; it is the tree of your problem. You can see the tree. Chop the tree, and yes, the tree goes away, but the root will make it grow right back. Kill the root, which are the uncovered issues at hand, the ones buried in the sand and the new tree will keep a normal weight, not model, skinny, but healthy for you. Good luck on finding out if weight-loss surgery is right for you!
