New Jersey Governor Chris Christie just released the news that he had lap band surgery back in February in another attempt to lose weight, saying it was strictly for health reasons, nothing to do with a potential run for the White House in 2016.

News broke the first week of May that the Republican governor underwent the operation, which places a silicone titanium band around the stomach. The surgery is designed to limit how much the patient eats and in turn make them lose weight.

Christie has faced scrutiny over his weight throughout his political career, with it being the subject of many personal attacks instead of commenting on his actual policy or what he has done. However, the operation faced much controversy because of the fact that he was placed under anesthesia for forty minutes.

His normal critics believed that he should have given power to the lieutenant governor for the time being, even though he was able to leave the hospital that same afternoon. Christie later compared to being under anesthesia to taking a forty minute nap, and saying that he wouldn’t give the lieutenant governor power if he was taking a nap.

The operation also brought up the debate on whether Chris Christie or any public employee should be judged by his weight and whether their health concerns should be known by the public.

The chief argument was that elected officials are of public domain, and the public has the right to know but if the official, in this case Chris Christie, was able to fully recover and still make the best decisions possible, then they should not have to tell the public about their operations. If there were to be an extended recovery that would interfere with their ability to lead, then the public should be made aware of the situation.

Governor Christie should not be insulted for his decisions of both not telling the public and getting the operation. His weight is his business and nobody should attack him for his weight, for it does not directly influence his ability to lead. He set a good example for overweight people showing that one should not give up if they don’t succeed the first time and to keep trying. Christie has now lost more than forty pounds and is continuing to shred them quickly.

Just because he is a public official does not mean that he needs to break the news out right when it happens. He weighed the consequences of both decisions and decided on the way that he saw best, which is exactly what he was elected to do.