aliya

I was thinking about having gastric sleeve. I signed up, went to the meetings, started WW (insurance needed to see a 'real' effort to lose weight, etc.), and joined a FB page for people in my age group getting or who have the gastric sleeve. For a number of reasons, I backed out of it, but one of the major reasons was I continued to see people who couldn't get a handle on their eating. One person just posted gaining 15 pounds since Thanksgiving. I know weight is a struggle, but if you can't adjust your eating with a tool that re-wires your plumbing... After reading for months and seeing so many people struggle, I figured I had less to lose than most of them and could struggle on my own. It's scary how people mess themselves up (myself included). I liked Britanni, but yeah, the husband needed to be on the operating table beside her. Maybe it was just their style, but it seemed that the husband didn't hold Britanni's hand when they were out walking on their dates. They talked a lot about their relationship, but I didn't see much of a physical expression of it.

I almost forgot about the new season and tuned in just in time to catch the end of Melissa's story. She's pregnant w/baby #3? Did they show if she had gained weight? What did she have to say? She looked plumper in the face (all that I saw), but if she's pregnant, it could be baby weight. What a burden Nikki has! Even losing the weight, she still has that huge apron and I bet they won't do skin surgery until she loses more weight. I can never tell what the standards are for the different ways patients are treated. Some have come in and had aprons and lymphodemas dealt with first so that they could be mobile and help the weight loss later. Others struggled to get the surgery done at all. I haven't figured it out.. I hope they show an update on her: the anti-Penny indeed!

I used to practice law and dealt with parents who had adult schizophrenic children. I also have a mentally ill half-sister. Trust me, when the psychiatrist said, "He either has a gun pointed at himself or at the doctor." He didn't lie. It is harder than heck to get someone committed. My half-sister is college educated and articulate. It took her paranoia making her move out of town (so people couldn't spy on her) to give my parents some peace; God knows they couldn't get her committed or on meds, and my stepfather was also lawyer. I think the comments about APS or the city stepping in are more about what should have been done before the show got there. I doubt any of us are expecting the city to show up during the show, unless it's been set up that way ('X has 3 days before he gets arrested' kind of thing). These terrible situations go on for so long, you have to wonder where are the city and social services. Y'all remember Dr Tolin had his own show for awhile? I think about obsessive behaviors, but I'm not sure. Finally, re moving the hoarder out for a few days and cleaning the house, the mental health people always say that if you don't get buy-in from the hoarder, they will 1)have some kind of breakdown and 2)hoard it back up in no time. Hey, I'd like to ship these people off as well, but apparently we have to handle them with kid gloves so they don't freak out - as if their current behaviors weren't problematic already.

I was glad to see the harder tone taken with this hoarder, though her problems were so severe, I'm not sure how much it helped. I got so sick of these people being coddled by organizers and therapists. I get that they may go back to hoarding - then APS and CPS need to step in, the city needs to take the house, etc. Don't wait on these folks hoping they will change. Couldn't the dogs have cut their mouths licking out the cans like that? Eww. These people always say they love their pets, but I'm not buying it. Most people who really want to adopt and have an adoption fall through, will try again. She just fell apart. She couldn't have an Indian kid so that's it? Her life is over? Are there no older American children in need of a mature parent? Well, from the looks of things, it's probably a good thing she didn't get the Indian child. Some little kid might have dodged a bullet there.

Saw the commercial for the new season today! Yay! I guess I should be ashamed to like this show, but I'm not.

I thought for sure when they said they'd both quit their jobs that AM would suggest for 1 to keep a job, but no. Now they both are up a creek. Personally, I would have run as far as possible from the father and sister. To heck with having your own business. Get a franchise if you're that desperate. The parents and sister will run the 'gold mine' even further into the ground and they'll be lucky to sell it to some developer. Maybe that's what they're waiting for.

Because I have no life, I have been watching the episodes on YT and trying to look up recent info on the patients. I found Amber on twitter and she looks even more beautiful. She still has big arms and I can't tell exactly what her legs look like now, but she has lost more weight and looks good. I was so happy to see her and that she's tweeting upbeat thoughts and not that constant 'I'm a failure' rant she was on before.

Not going to comment on the show yet, but can anyone tell me what GR said at the very end when he was talking to the chefs? He said something that Milly agreed with and they did a high five. First time in years of watching that I couldn't understand GR.

I just saw this as a teachable moment. I didn't take any disrespect from anyone.

I'd like to make a comment about Randy and PTSD. I'm the widow of a Vietnam combat vet (he died after VN). For those of you who weren't around then, vets were treated very poorly, including by the media, who took every opportunity to mention that someone who had robbed a bank or whatev was a 'Vietnam veteran,' as if veteran status alone explained why that person did a criminal act or 'went off.' Saying someone who has served in Iraq can't take the stress of a TV show is belittling to the vet. You have no idea if Randy has PTSD or not. Yes, the show is stressful, but there's no reason to assume he's going to take out the other chefs or do himself harm because he's a vet. As to his comments re "You won't like me..." this guy has dealt with a more than these guys. Why should he be buddy buddy with them when he thinks he's been treated wrongly? I would probably feel the same way, only I would not have broadcast it. Randy was not going to win, but I did hope to see a bit more of him. You know Ramsay was touched when Randy said he watched HK tapes overseas.

Christina Wilson named top exec of GR's restaurants. She must be hell on wheels. Good for her - though wasn't this Andi's job - or was she head of the US stuff? http://m.lasvegassun.com/vegasdeluxe/2015/may/05/photos-gordon-ramsay-promotes-christina-wilson-new/.

Oh no! The young lady was in the original version of 'Too Fat for Fifteen,' I believe. There was a whole show, or a few of them, about her. I knew she had gained weight when she went back to the UK, but didn't know they had to extract her from her house. From what I recall, her mother was no help when the daughter came home, and the fast food and snacks quickly made their reappearance. This is so sad, she tried hard and was happy to lose the weight, but, as has often been stated, the problems must be deeper than just a liking for Twinkies.

One of the major issues on Fat Doctor is who is going to pay - the National Health or the patient. That's why everyone wants a letter of approval. Dr Shaw had at least one patient (who later died) who was denied the surgery on National Health, got worse and finally got it paid for. But who knows, he might have lived if he'd gotten it earlier. I think there was also a set of twins or brothers who had terrible health problems but were practically dead before the NH would pay for the surgery for one, while the other suffered. Despite it's faults, I'd rather have our system.

There was a video story on Mayra Rosales on my news feed today. Of course, after I watched it, I clicked off and now can't find it again. But I did search around and it looks like she was doing interviews in February. She looks great. What a difference, not only in her weight (it says she lost 800 lbs), but a difference in the will and spirit compared to some folks we've seen. There are some shots of Dr Now and a brief interview with Olivia, who says she was inspired by Mayra's story. Olivia looks good, too. http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/02/26/pkg-woman-loses-over-800-pounds.ktrk

I'm sorry, I'm still laughing at this. "I hope it's still Dr Now!" hahaha I need to get out more.

Yep. I was kind of hoping they would do a story on the large black woman Melissa visited. I hope she was successful. She had so much to lose and I just know these folks go to Dr Now as a last hope and with dreams of everything being different.

Sharon's story is doubly sad because when she died, the tabloids called her the fattest woman in Britain, when she was no longer that big. They also said her family was bringing her food in the hospital, when apparently that wasn't the case. She got a lot of negative press when she died, and she didn't deserve it.

For a while I was following a very large woman on YT. She went thru Atkins, and a couple of other programs online before going to Mexico for bypass. Everything seemed okay for awhile, but then she had all kinds of medical issues. I'm not saying the Mexican surgeon was bad, I am saying that this is a big deal operation and I'm sure all kinds of problems can rear their ugly heads afterward. She had a lot of ups and downs, some hospital time, etc. I think she is still happy to have lost weight, but also recognizes that it came at a high physical cost. Wow, I just looked for some recent videos of her to see how much weight she'd lost and she's in the hospital again. This must be 2 years now after her surgery. She doesn't look thin or average weight; she still looks quite plump, but she was almost 500 lbs before, so there is a difference. I'm sorry to see things have gotten rough for her again. It's not an easy ride, is it, folks?

Fat Doctor glosses over stuff as well. I wrote a comment about therapy and that some people hadn't really addressed their issues and I noticed that they started showing therapy sessions as well as some cases that didn't turn out well. But before that, it was look at the person eat, watch them talk to Shaw Summers (who is as cute as he wants to be. I even dragged my son to the computer to make him look at Shaw's suits as something he should emulate). watch the operation (in operating rooms with windows), look at the person a few weeks or months later. Shows have formulas for a reason. Considering Dr Now has had a couple of people with gall bladder issues, I wonder if he now routinely takes them out. On the other hand, why remove a body part just in case it might become a problem? I'm of two minds on that one. Any one a fan of 'Supersize vs Superskinny'? Some of the portions of the supersizers just freak me out. Three full plates of Chinese food? Then snacks? Or 8 big sausages and then look into the camera and say you can't seem to lose weight. Sheesh. It's a good show.

I'm trying to remember over the different people - did any of them have responsible jobs before they became morbidly obese? I think one guy was an accountant, maybe that's the only one. I don't know how you go from a heavy set person with a profession to a bed-bound selfish creep. Why would you want to lose your life, your income, your friends, etc. to feeding your face until you are 600 lbs? So, I'm wondering if this is more a problem of the lower classes or less educated or habitually unemployed? I dunno. When you look at some of the other bariatric surgery shows, many of the patients are 200-400 lbs. They are still in the world. They have jobs and insurance and apparently they found that point that we all ask about - they stopped before they slid to 600 lbs. Maybe I'm talking to the air here, I just wonder how people can just hang around and eat. I gotta work so I can pay my mortgage. I don't know how a responsible person stops working and starts making fried food in the bed.

Jeez louise. That sounds disgusting.

Do doctors even do that anymore? I mean who drives around in their white coat? Actually, I looked for the stethoscope while he was driving and didn't see it, but there it was when he was at the apartment. He must have put it on at the door. Love me some Dr Now. My son came in when they showed a repeat of Chay's show. I'm like 'Wait wait 'til you see how he cooks bacon!' Son almost had a heart attack just looking at all that oil. I've never seen bacon cooked like that. Looking at Chay's plate again, did he have hush puppies on it? I'm not really familiar with them, but once I noticed some other kind of fried food on his plate, I wonder if Chay made the bacon first then use the oil to make the hush puppies. Now that would make sense. Kinda.

Wow - loved seeing Dr Now get angry! Marla, Marla, Marla...just refusing to get out of bed.. there are no words. Although 'ungrateful, selfish bitch' comes to mind.

That was the only reason I figured he was a guy - i knew TLC hadn't gone that far over the edge!

Well, I liked this guy. A little whiney at first, but not bad at all. Well-spoken and really needing to shed his old self for a new one. I hope it works out for him. But.. what's with the bacon and 2 gallons of oil? Isn't bacon oily enough by itself? You just put it in a pan and the fat oozes out. I can't imagine what their meals look like. And yet it never dawns on them that 'some is wrong with this picture.' Re his food choices, I bet Dr Now does give a diet plan - he'd be foolish to send a 5-600 lb person, with food issues, off to lose weight with not guidance. However, people see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. Chay wasn't any different than millions of Americans who think whole wheat bread is better than white. I'm not going to go off on a carb thing, I'm just saying that people have difficulties getting past the consumer journalism that passes for health information. Oil is bad? OK, olive oil is healthy? I'll just drown everything in olive oil. You get the picture. We get paid to take an online health assessment at work. I always get points off because I don't do dairy (lactose issues) or meat. 'Add some yogurt to your diet!' No, no thanks, aside from the digestive issues there's whole political issues with factory farming and Big Dairy. I prefer not to participate. But if you are one step outside the dumbed down info for the masses, something is wrong with you. So, I can understand where people are trying and still not getting the results they want, due to their lack of information. Then add that to the belief system of 'I used to eat 5 Big Macs, now I only have 1 and a large fry' and you see what happens. It's rough going. I don't think most of these people get the long term support and education that they need. I thought this episode was a good one.