At work, I had a meeting late yesterday with a perfect lovely woman. We were discussing business, and all of a sudden she busted out, “Did you have gastric bypass?” I think my chin must have hit the table in front of me; I was definitely rendered speechless for a few seconds.
When I regained my thought process, I told her, “No, I didn’t – but it’s funny you mention it, I have lost 180 pounds. How did you know?”
To which she replied, “Oh, I can tell through your neck and arms. Your neck is thin. (I have no idea still what this means.)” She herself had gastric bypass in 2001.
The really strange part is, I almost feel offended? It’s a little bit how I used to feel when someone asked how far along I was. It is definitely the first time someone that I didn’t know in my former life could spot the fact that I’ve had massive weight loss.
It's a burden to be beautiful.. Awwwww...
ReplyDeleteI'd have been insulted, too. I can't believe someone would ask that. It's more along the lines of one of those things you have to wait for someone to tell you (like weight loss surgery, homosexuality, religion, pregnancy, etc). You don't ask about those things. You wait for a person to tell you. Until then, you keep your mouth shut...even if you see the woman's water break.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she just didn't want to feel alone in her stomach staplery or something.
Don't worry. You look fantastic and you've worked your ass off (literally!) for each and every ounce you've lost. ;)
Hi Rae! We have our overweight pasts, and that history is not going away. But you do look lovely, and her wild guess, based upon her own life, was wrong.
ReplyDelete:-) Marion
Perhaps because it's so common nowadays, she just assumed you lost weight via surgery instead of the "old fashioned" way? Not to excuse her question, it was just plain rude!
ReplyDeleteUgh, maybe she was trying to pay you a compliment in some strange way. Saying you looked nice today would have been a better way to go about it. Sometimes I wonder how people can even walk around with their foot in their mouth.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is out of line to ask someone such a personal question, it truly seems she meant it in the right way -- she probably knows a lot of people who've lost significant weight through WLS (like if she attends post-op support group or something) and, honestly, you just don't meet too many people who have lost significant weight on their own. That said, I don't think there is any shame in WLS; for some people, it really is the only way. It's when patients don't take their counseling/new lifestyle seriously or surgeons are too casual with whom they approve for the procedure that the rampant failure happens.
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