aliya

I was thinking the same thing (about Dad's lead). If you hear the same thing over and over growing up, it's going to be part of you unless you make an effort for it not to be. Plus, I'm not a big fan of Erica. Has she not seen the show? Of course she's gonna have to diet. No one gets to Houston and Dr. Now just says, "Fine, I'm scheduling you for tomorrow." They gotta diet, there are tests, there's drama. I got a little frustrated with the eye rolling, etc. None of them are people I'd want to know.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case, still...

They sounded like the kind of questions Howard Stern used to give his interns. I was more annoyed by her realization that the interviews hadn't been recorded than by the questions themselves. I left the room for a moment while they were hashing that out, so I don't know if that was a red herring or not, but it bugged me. I do qualitative research and use tape (dating myself) recorders all the time. I ALWAYS check the friggin' machinery. Even though I take notes, if I don't have the tape, I ain't got nuthin'. It would be the same way if your job is to tape interviews. Jebus H., how stupid is this girl? And in the 'I can't believe this sh$t' category - passing gas and showing most of a pelvic exam on TV. This is when I know my carefree hippie days are over because this all just seemed so low class. Yes this stuff happens, but most people don't put it out there for the nation to see. She could have refused to have the pelvic filmed and asked to edit out the scene with Todd. These tapes will be around the rest of your life, Whit.

And that's why I choose not to have it. I'm no where near as big as these people. I'm still on a board for mature people who have or are getting the sleeve and the problems that occur, not only right after the surgery, but for some folks, years down the line, are nothing to sneeze at. I'm in generally OK health now and a widow. I didn't want to be constantly sick like some of these folks and I didn't want to put a big burden, because of the choices I made, on my son, in case something went wrong. One of my friends had the regular WLS. When I told her what they had set as a goal weight for me, I mentioned I thought it was doable, as I weighed that when I got pregnant. She stated she had never been a normal weight. I think that might be a reason why so many of the patients opt for the surgery (and perhaps, why they get so big in the first place), many have never been a normal weight. They don't know how to stop or make adjustments when they start gaining weight.

I don't recall 600, but do recall several 800 calorie limits, as well as the 1200 limit. It varies with the patient. Also, we don't see the details of the blood tests. Maybe the calorie limit depends on what else is going on with the patient besides obesity. When I looked into WLS, they wanted a 1200 calorie diet of real food, not any of this protein shake business.

I didn't get into the Sopranos until the last 2-3 seasons. I used to comment to my son that I could hear James Gandolfini breathing and why didn't they cover that up. I wasn't surprised (saddened, but not surprised) when I learned he died - and after eating a big meal, too. He was a good actor and a friend to veterans, but he let himself get so big, something was going to happen.

OK, my little pumpkin will be 40 in a couple of months, so it's been awhile since I've dealt with this stuff, but is it normal for it to take a week to see the doc? Don't they want to put you on pre-natal vitamins and test for gestational diabetes or whatever? I realize that being pregnant is a normally a healthy part of healthy young women, but wouldn't a doc want to see someone like Whit right away? That's if she really were pregnant. Wink wink nudge nudge.

It doesn't help not to go to your followup visits, either. My stepfather was a litigator and did his fair share of medical malpractice cases. A doctor can mess you up, and they deserve to be sued when they do. On the other hand, patients have their own responsibilities. Being 500 lbs is a risk factor for many things, including surgery. The woman was lucky someone even agreed to do surgery on her. Too bad it appears that she didn't do her part afterwards. Kind of reminds me of the Haitian woman who checked herself out of the hospital because she knew better than the medical professionals.

It never occurs to me that somewhere, somebody is taking this woman seriously. If she has faked this and winds up stomping on her fans' emotions in the process and making light of a very serious problem for many woman, I hope there is a national call to take her off of the air. Is it wrong for me to hope Whit gets butt wings? Maybe she'll be able to add flying to her dance routine.

I keep seeing the commercials but must have missed when the show was supposed to air. So she's really pregnant, huh? Wow. And not 'wow' in a nice way, either.

Extended version on now. You've been warned.

It didn't work.

Oh my gosh, will no one rid me of this whining bitch? While I'm typing, "Now I'm on suicide watch!" hahahahaha.

I'm ashamed to admit I told the TV, "Will you please shut up?" Gosh, is she annoying.

Bummer. Guess I will have to stay in Iowa, then. I think this is another aspect of what I complained about with the woman moaning about her family, her family. I love my family - that enabled me to be >600 lbs. I love my kids, but I have ruined my body to the extent I can't work, can barely move, and can't be part of their school or sports life, etc. It's like hoarders who 'love' their kids so much they keep a filthy, hoarded house and the kids sleep on the couch. I want to add something else I've been thinking about. It seems that these people are missing a spiritual or ethical framework in their lives. I can picture a continuum that goes from 'your body is a temple' to more broadly thinking of the needs of others and your 'footprint' on the planet. There might be ideas about not taking more than your share that would stop some from going too far. I'm not a 'your share' kinda person (I don't see the world as zero-sum), but others might see it that way. Certainly, at the family level, if feeding you takes a large part of the family's budget, so that other family members go without, you are exceeding your share. For example, Chad denied his family his full presence and his help with chores due to his weight. I know a lot of these people blame their weight on past trauma, but I also see a lack of spirituality and responsibility (to oneself and one's family) by letting things get as far as they do. I am not saying that being overweight is a moral failing. I am saying that lack of a deeper structure that calls one accountable for what one does in this life may make it easier to gain this amount of weight. My 2 cents.

Props to all the posts here. You all are some very insightful people. I still need to know if you can get drive-in latkes in Oklahoma. I may have to move.

My mother was huge. I saw a picture of her with her sorority sisters and she was the size of two of them. She lost weight over the years, but only in her 80's has she been <200 lbs. I'm sure she was 300+ (I don't have the heart to ask her how big she was or why she let herself stay that way. Maybe I should. We didn't have fast food back then, so I wonder what the deal was.) Anyway, she wasn't as big as Cynthia, but she was pretty darned big, yet managed to teach K-3 for many years. Then she taught in community college. It's doable, but it must have been difficult. I wasn't a Ukiya, but starting at 11 when my mother remarried and worked/was pregnant, I shopped and cooked for 4-7 people as the family grew. I also did my laundry, including ironing school uniforms. My mother was a freak about the washing machine, so the only thing I didn't do was wash clothes. My stepfather never lifted a hand for any housework as he had, '5 maids' (5 daughters) for that. I'm sure if there had been brothers, they wouldn't have done any housework, either. I see you, Ukiya, and you need to sit with a doll, some chocolate almond milk, and the Little House series.

Before I forget... "potato cakes"??? Like a latke? They got drive-ins that serve latkes? Yes! Now back to the story and our lying lady who, like most of the rest of them, can't figure out how to buy some protein and veg and that EVERYONE in the family can eat what she's eating, so she doesn't need special food just for her and who thinks that hitting the drive-in 4 days a week instead of 7 is a diet. btw - is this the worse mouth we've heard on a patient?

A few thoughts - Add me to those who thought Ray's brother looked a bit off when the doctor popped in to say 'hi.' I'm sorry he passed away. How the heck much do you have to hoard to have your house come apart at the seams? I understand floors rotting from under wet stuff or beams bowing from the weight, but actually to push your walls out??? Wow. Was Shannon's thinking a function of her strokes? I've known a couple of people who had strokes, including a close cousin, and never heard of them falling over the deep end like this, but who knows. It was a little scary to think you could be fine one day and talking to cat skulls the next. When the wizard said he was going to "blow smoke," I couldn't help but say aloud, 'Yes, you are." What a mess. I guess they had to do something so Shannon would feel comfortable in the house, but I hope she gets additional therapy to deal with this - not just for her sake (I don't really care), but for her children's. I can't imagine growing up with that atmosphere in the house. I've been sick and was home for a week and a half. I could hardly breathe laying down, so I spent most of the time propped up in front of the computer. I got tired of watching shows on YouTube because they have to do so much to the video or audio to avoid the copyright stuff, it's hard to enjoy the show, so I actually downloaded a bunch of Hoarders, Hotel Impossible, and Animal Hoarders (remember that one?). OMGoodness. I've been watching Hoarders from a distance for years. Seeing that stuff close up was freaky. No wonder people get squicked out by this show. I just thought they were delicate flowers. : ) It makes a difference when the roaches, rats, and poop are 18" away from you (and the meds are making you hallucinate).

Years and years is no lie. As I mentioned elsewhere, I am a FB friend of Paul Mason, previously the fattest man in Great Britain. It has been years since his bypass. He has had skin surgeries, been in and out of the hospital iwth various other weight-related issues; it's been a rough road. Even the patients with relatively good outcomes take years to get there. I've been wondering about that, too. The days of the 15 cent McDonald's burger are long gone (I just dated myself here). For most of these patients, it seems that they are low income. On one hand, you still have to wonder where they get the food money from, on the other hand, when you aren't paying student loans, when there's no car payment, if you don't have some of the expenses of middle class life such as a gym membership, red peppers for $2, multi-grain bread at $3.40, wi-fi, private school for the kids, after school programs, professional licenses, etc. I guess, at almost any income, you can afford $30 a day in fast food. i guess this is a function of the weight and being too shy to physically go into the grocery story, but most big markets have a deli, salad, rotisserie chicken, pizza, Chinese, etc. section. Why don't they ever go into these places where the food is some what healthier and probably cheaper (1 chicken for the whole day probably equals the price of a big chicken sandwich, side, and soda)? Since they often have a runner who does the shopping for them, why don't they ever get this kind of food?

First, I will be the first to admit that I what I am about to say makes me the worst person on the planet. OK, moving on...every time Ashley mentioned her family, I wanted to shake her. 'First time I've been away, what will I do, my family, my family...' Maybe if your family didn't enable you so much, maybe if you weren't 30 yrs old and living with your husband and your parents, you wouldn't be almost 700 pounds. It seems that most (not all, I recognize that) of these people are not just close to their family, but are enmeshed with them. Somebody is a caretaker, somebody gets the 30,000 calories a day, somebody goes to work or drives the car or whatever so the 600 lb person can just sit around and eat. Maybe if they didn't have people catering to their every whim, they wouldn't be in the position they are in. I don't know. I just found it to be too much. That said, Ashley seemed like a nice person, and really took the program seriously. I didn't have anything against her at all, I just wished she'd stop thinking about her family and thinking about making her own way in the world. Second, what was with the rims? The tires were stolen or did they wear down the tires to the rims with her weight? (I know nothing about cars except to put gas in them.)

And very attractive hardbodies they were, too!

That surprised me as well. I thought Crossfit was supposed to be pretty intense - from what they showed, I should try it, and I'm 63.

I can't believe I dozed off (I'm sick and will blame the meds). One minute they're joined at the hip, the next one is walking around by herself and going to the gym. What happened?

I'll be there even tho I am sick as a dog and have had to take off from work! OMGoodness - I have the reruns on (I guess they are gearing up for tonight). I turned around from the computer just in time to see some woman flip her whole leg up in the air so her private parts can be cleaned. Mother of Mercy. I'm not easily shocked, but that was a surprise.