It's always better to be pleasantly surprised...

...than horribly disappointed.  That's always been my motto, anyway.  This is something I've found myself saying a few times in the past few days.  A couple different people I know were undersold the recovery time on surgeries that they had.  It stands to reason that a doctor worth his fancy degree and overpriced fees would be smarter about setting expectations with patients.  I mean, if you're getting arthroscopic surgery on your shoulder or getting your tonsils out, you expect your doctor to be honest, right?  No deal.  Apparently, the people I've talked to have told me that they were told they'd be back to work in a matter of days.  Here we are weeks later, and my pals are still out of commission. 

The same thing happened to me today.  I had my 1 week appointment at the bariatric doctor's office today. Mind you, I was told that I could expect to lose an average of 10 pounds in the first week since I'm essentially an anorexic with a prescription.  Now, I don't claim to be the most disciplined human being on the planet (especially when it comes to food) but I was so damn regimented this week.  I did EVERYTHING these people told me to do.  I followed their directions to the letter.  My scale at home had me thinking I'd lost at least 9 pounds.  That's acceptable.  Then I go into the office and they tell me I've lost 6.4 pounds in my first week.  If I hadn't been oversold what I'd lose, I'd probably be ecstatic about this.  However, compared to 10, that's just anti-climactic. 

When I told the nutritionist that I was disappointed, she was horrified.  "You lost 6.4 lbs in 1 week, how could you possibly be disappointed?  I mean, what did you expect?!", she said.  I explained to her that the first person I spoke to told me people lose an average of 10 lbs a week.  She looked incredulous and said that it was extremely rare for a female to lose that much weight in 1 week.  Sometimes it happens with extremely overweight men, but not women.

Okay, so let me get this straight...either this lady who I first spoke to was a bafoon, or she thought that I was a dude.  Actually, in both circumstances, she's a bafoon.  Maybe it's my bitchy hungry inner child that feels outraged...but I'm peeved.  6.4 lbs in a week should warrant a celebration (unfortunately devoid of cupcakes...) but instead I felt like a failure. 

Anyway, I wish more people would subscribe to my school of thought.  It's always better to be pleasantly surprised than horribly disappointed...