I had lost nearly fifty pounds before anyone mentioned my weight loss. Then, all of the sudden, everybody noticed! As soon as they noticed the questions began. The most often asked: How much weight have you lost? People who I barely knew asked me this question as if it were their right to know. I was never sure of the motive for the question? Did they want to celebrate my weight loss? Did they want to gasp knowing just how fat I was?

How much weight have I lost? I have shared the answer with very few people its nobodys business. I know many weight loss patients who are proud of this number and I admire them. I wish I had more confidence in myself. But truthfully, Im embarrassed by how fat I was and how much weight I had to lose.

These days when Im asked this question, with a curious tilt of my head I ask back, Why do you want to know that? Never has anyone answered my question with a valid response. This data, the number on a scale, means nothing to anyone but me. I dont care to give someone an opportunity to marvel at just how huge I must have been that I could lose that much weight.

Most of the time when I ask in return, Why do you want to know? the busybody retreats. In general, we know when weve crossed the line sometimes it just takes a gentle reminder. If, however, they persist, I say I prefer not to share that information. Only on one occasion has a nosy person continued to pester me, at which time I said I wouldnt answer a rude question.

I admire the courageous patients who openly and proudly answer this question. Patients who are comfortable sharing this number must by all means include others in their weight loss celebration. We are all different and whether our approach private or public we have only have to answer to ourselves.

Copyright 2005 Kaye Bailey - All Rights Reserved.

Kaye Bailey

An award winning journalist and former newspaper editor Kaye Bailey brings expertise in writing and personal experience with gastric bypass surgery to EzineArticles.com. Ms. Bailey developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a teenager she found writing her feelings about obesity helped her cope in a world that is often cruel to overweight children and adults alike.

Ms. Bailey says she found out she was fat in kindergarten when another child told her she was fat. ?I didn?t even know what fat was but I could tell it was bad and I didn?t want to be fat. Until that day I had been unaware I was different. But there I was, a five-year-old girl sitting cross-legged on the floor learning a new word that would define me.?

At age 33 she underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery. For the first time in her life after multiple failed diet attempts she lost weight. She said the decision to have surgery took courage, nerve, and a little bit of plain old faith. But she learned surgery was the easy part. Dealing with newfound emotions, struggling with food choices and fighting to keep from regaining weight were unexpected bumps in the road following massive weight loss with surgery.

Having spent most of her life overweight Ms. Bailey is strongly empathetic toward the obese, particularly overweight children. This compassion compelled her to found the website LivingAfterWLS.com, a fast-growing resource of information, understanding and support for the weight loss surgery community. While weight loss surgery is publicly perceived as an easy fix to obesity Ms. Bailey maintains the struggles after surgery challenge the vigor of even the most dedicated individual. As WLS becomes more readily available patients are finding there is a lack of long-term aftercare and support from bariatric centers.

The LivingAfterWLS.com site is complimented with daily blog. The blog, livingafterwls.blogspot.com offers readers the chance to comment or leave feedback about fresh content added daily. This site contains success stories and recipes as well as general information and WLS inspired topics. Complementing the site is a monthly newsletter titled ?You Have Arrived? available exclusively to people who subscribe through the website or the blog. The path forward includes community forums, nutrition and fitness tracking tools.

Ms. Bailey makes her home on a ranch in the Rocky Mountains with her husband of eight years who has been her consort in life after WLS.