Weight Loss Information

The Public Stoning of Gastric Bypass Patients: When Things Get Ugly


Recently a woman went public in her online diet community with her decision for gastric bypass surgery. She was asking for fellowship and support from fellow dieters. What she received was a public cyber-stoning from hostile opinionated and poorly informed sanctimonious people.

I was a bit taken back by the arrogance of some respondents: that if Lisa simply had the willpower she could lose the weight.

Lisa has 170lbs to lose. In the last two months she has lost 7 pounds and a poster told her that was wonderful progress - she should just keep doing what she's doing and lose the remaining 170 lbs. It would take Lisa, losing 3.5 lbs/month, 48 months to lose her weight. That is without setbacks or life's little disruptions. That's 48 months of maintaining a rigid diet/exercise program while seeing little progress. Few people can accomplish that. Take a look around, there are a lot of obese people struggling just to get by, yearning to be in any body besides their own fat one.

In the same forum another poster had the nerve to write Eat Less: Exercise More. Calories In = Calories Out. Really? Thanks for the help with the math.

Another threw in the cheesy slogan: Grit Determination + No Excuses = Goals Reached and Dreams Becoming Reality.

Guess what folks? Catchy phrases and simple math don't cut it when a person is morbidly obese.

I do not personally know Lisa, nor do I know her state of self-esteem.

I can tell you with heartfelt sincerity that when I had 150 pounds to lose I was in such a spiral of despair and hopelessness that nothing short of surgery worked for me. My acts of self-sabotage and self-destruction derailed every conventional attempt to lose weight. I did not have the self-esteem or courage to muster any grit determination. I was on the train to hell and getting there by way of obesity.

I needed help.

Surgery opened a window for me: for once in my fat life I was succeeding at weight loss. My weight came off and I was empowered by the success of it. I sought fitness as a way of life, not evil torture. I embraced the art of cooking healthy balanced meals. I started taking care of myself. Surgery and the occasional resulting discomforts is a small price to pay for self love and self acceptance, not to mention health and wellness. Without weight loss surgery I can only shut my eyes in horror at the sad life I may have had. Low self-esteem and poor health never equal grit determination.

The most disappointing thing to come of Lisa's call for support was the lack of empathy or understanding from people aboard the same sinking ship - all overweight, all struggling dieters, all hopelessly defeated. Should this not have been the very group to rally Lisa's cause; to give her credit for a making a gut-wrenching decision; for having the courage to reveal her very private choice?

Kaye Bailey is a weight loss surgery success story having maintained her health and goal weight for 5+ years. An award winning journalist, she is the author and webmaster of http://www.livingafterwls.com and http://www.livingafterwls.blogspot.com

LivingAfterWLS is a no-nonsense resource for people Living After Weight Loss Surgery. Our community is growing in numbers even as we are shrinking in pounds. Together we support one another in this lifestyle, that it turns out, is NOT the easy way out.

Fresh & insightful content is added daily, check in often.To subscribe to the LivingAfterWLS monthly newsletter "You Have Arrived" click on http://www.livingafterwls.com and enter your details in the subscription box.


MORE RESOURCES:

Weight-loss couple urge others to take up challenge
This is Plymouth
A COUPLE from Devonport embracing the loveLIFE campaign have lost five of their 15 stone weight loss target. Chris Searle, aged 30, and Charlotte Telling, aged 25, who are both unemployed, signed up to The Herald's loveLIFE campaign to help improve the ...

and more »


Weight Loss: Rick Warren's New Purpose
Huffington Post
By Lilly Fowler LAKE FOREST, Calif. (RNS) Megachurch pastor Rick Warren has become an outsized evangelical superstar: best-selling author of "The Purpose Driven Life" series, pastoral mentor and even political referee. Now Warren is finding a new ...

and more »


NTRR Begins Clinical Trials of Breakthrough Weight-Loss Formula
Business Wire (press release)
(OTCBB: NTRR), an emerging nutraceuticals provider, is excited to announce that clinical trials are now underway on its debut weight-loss supplement, Pure Plus. Volunteers will test the supplement by taking a single dose once a day.

and more »


The 'fit but fat' debate: Weight loss should still be the goal, experts say
Chicago Tribune
WEIGHT LOSS STILL THE GOAL Though these findings appear to support the idea that you can be fit but fat, scientists note that the rate of MNBO is very rare within the obese population, and the risk for mortality is still high among the obese, ...



The Virginian-Pilot

Does "home-cooking" = weight loss?
The Virginian-Pilot
The weight loss industry knows one important (better yet, vital) thing about us: We don't know what we're doing wrong. As long as someone else has the upper hand in what you're doing, you'll only be able to do what you're being told.



"Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition Season 3" Now Casting
Sierra Vista Herald
In a unique, non-competitive show about weight loss “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition” documents the amazing makeover of courageous, “super obese” people who, in an unprecedented 365 days, set out to safely lose half of their body weight, ...

and more »


Los Angeles Bariatric Surgeon Discusses Revision Weight Loss Surgery
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Dr. Michael Feiz, a weight loss surgeon in Los Angeles, says even with such a small margin of error, revision bariatric surgery is one of his most successful procedures in correcting complications that may have occurred and further satisfying any of ...

and more »


Zee News

Calories, not carbs, key to weight loss
Times of India
The study, led by Otago University endocrinologist Jeremy Krebs, looked at whether 419 participants (aged 35-75 years) had different rates of weight loss over two years when they were given two low fat diets; one involving high protein intake and the ...
Fasting Weight Loss Starts Reviewing Weight Loss ProgramsSBWire (press release)
Variety of options available to achieve weight lossThe Guardian Charlottetown
How can I lose weight? We show you how to lose weight fast using this super ...CubsNet.com
Scottish Daily Record -ConsumerSearch Productopia (blog) -Olive Oil Times
all 23 news articles »


Today in Research: Online Dating; Church as Weight-Loss Technique
The Atlantic
By The Atlantic Wire Discovered: Online dating is a crock, sugar is toxic, mapping the Milky Way, and church as a weight loss management technique. Online dating is a crock. Of course it is. A mutual love of The Wire doesn't mean much of anything in ...

and more »


First of it's kind weight loss treatment offered in Jax
WJXT Jacksonville
There's a new spa in town offering two weight loss treatments that have never been available in Jacksonville before. The "Steamy Wonder" steam canopy is part of the brand new "Salt Spa" in Jacksonville Beach. The steam canopy is said to burn as many as ...

and more »

Google News

home | site map
© 2006