aliya

Another Iowan here (IC), completely shocked that this person is hanging out in CR. I must have missed that part. How did they lay her on the table for the bariatric surgery with the butt-wings (we are all going to hell for that, just so you know)? The EMTs must have been shocked. I know they see a lot, but I'm pretty sure they haven't seen that before. Lord have mercy.

Random thoughts: The daughter got a meal when Charity was in the hospital. She let the orderly bring her the tray instead of getting up and taking it. She wasn't in a restaurant, for pete's sake. Also, when did they start bringing food to non-patients? Add me to those who were a bit disappointed that the daughter didn't lose any weight along with mom. It must be awful to know your mother is terminally ill, and because of what you've done to yourself, you can't see her before she dies. Gosh darn if this show doesn't how different people are. I have never seen a body shape like that. What a trial that must be. Eating on the couch - almost every one of the people on 'Fat Doctor' and 'Secret Eaters' (a fun show) eats with their food on their lap or a tray. I thought it was only the people in the UK who ate like that. It's really sad to see kids eat their dinner on the couch with their plate on a pillow. Can someone who's had the surgery tell me if a vegetarian diet is appropriate after the surgery? Is there too much fiber for the new plumbing to handle? You can get adequate protein from a veg diet, but I wonder if you'd have to eat too much food for the size of the pouch to do so. I was trying to figure out why they were concerned about the chili. Beans? Meat? Too large a portion? But the daughter seemed concerned as well so maybe there was some change in how they usually made it? I don't know. The families on this show just eat some gross stuff. I know someone must have taken some home ec nutrition somewhere along the line, jeez. She's trying, but she's got a long way to go.

Lemmee see - for years the government has had programs to help the blind get work. People with Down's Syndrome work at my local grocery stores, I have had students and classmates in wheelchairs, returned injured vets with prosthetic devices regularly run, bike, 4 wheel, and go back to work in the military if they want, and this poor excuse for a human can'f get off her ass and walk or take her scooter down to Kelly Services or the county unemployment office and find work? Shame on her. Shame.

I still love the show, but maybe I'm weird. I frequently have HK on in the background while I'm working and love the YT extended vids of him yelling at people. I have seasons 1-10 on DVD which are uncensored. It's almost like watching a different show. I like seeing Rock and Dave and LaTasha win and don't mind watching their seasons. Ja'Nel was very good and it's funny to see the guys lose all the time, but I always get sad, thinking of how proud her mother must have been, and then have Ja'Nel lose the job due to drugs. Some individuals like Raj, Robert (the big guy), Will, are just fun or interesting to watch. But then there are seasons (Elise anyone?) that make me cringe. There's so much hatred going on amongst the contestants it's hard to watch the show. I just saw an episode in which Ja'Nel mentioned that some people hadn't brushed their teeth. And yeah, I'd probably sleep in a sports bra and decent pajama pants and there's no way I'm doing anything without some kind of shoe or flip flop on. I don't see the sudden wake up calls as abusive. These people have seen the show, they know to expect the unexpected. I admit that for the past few seasons, I haven't cared too much for the contestants, but I still like the show. I don't know why they put in the really poor cooks (OK, I guess I do), because these people want to do well as much as anyone else. It must be crushing to realize you are not the chef you thought you were (and may never be). On the other hand, I enjoy watching people have a good time on the prizes. Who wouldn't want to go out on the ocean in a yacht, or play paint ball against Ramsey, or have Wolfgang Puck make you a meal? I must be getting old. I'm happy to see other people be happy and have once in a lifetime experiences.

I was surprised as well, but I guess I shouldn't be. On 'Fat Doctor,' the narrator always says, "After the surgery, X will never be able to eat the same way again,' And yet, most of the people on this show just shovel the food in. I don't know how they manage to lose any weight. I thought the mother was a cold fish; when they were eating at the restaurant, it was as if she didn't even want to look at her daughter. The hair thing got me - I've always heard that people lose a lot of hair with this surgery, but haven't noticed it on others on the show. I couldn't tell if Laura was losing hair or just had some really bad hairstyles. And yeah, when they showed the church, I thought she had died, too. Just to show that I'm not a horrible person, I thought it was pretty cute when Laura was walking in the hallway and the little neice asked her what she was doing. "Walking." Walking in the hallway may not seem like a big thing, but it was better than anything Pauline and Penny did.

I'm so shallow. I kept waiting for the sales person to tell her she now wore a 1X. I wear a L or a 1X depending and just have to shake my head when they show these still large women getting a 1X blouse, No way. So, she was molested and blames her mother, even though she didn't tell her mother about the abuse? I'm not sure I heard everything. Was her mother supposed to know/suspect? OK, not only am I shallow, but I guess I'm cold as well. She kept talking about leaving her family should she die on the table and how much her family meant to her, etc. If all this were true, why didn't she watch her food intake so she wouldn't get so big? This isn't cancer, it's not a car accident - she did this to herself (I don't care what her mental issues are). And as far as being afraid she wouldn't wake up, I would think she'd have that fear everyday, considering her weight and oxygen dependency. She looked like she was trying to work her plan, and she was certainly better than Pauline and Penny, but jeez. I guess I'm just getting tired of these sob stories. It's like watching some episodes of 'Intervention' - the parents divorce when the kid is 7 and at 20 the kid becomes a junkie and blames it on the parents. Sigh. I'm starting to feel less and less sympathetic for these people.

Me too. You got fat because your father didn't pay attention to you? Your grandma died? Your parents divorced? You divorced? Give me a break. As Mrs Slocum used to say, "Weak as water! Weak as water!" These things or some variation happen to everybody. I came downstairs to make dinner one day, just to find my husband dead on the kitchen floor. I know what getting smacked around by life feels like. You have to deal with it. Live your life like a human being, not like Jabba the Hutt on the couch all day. I do feel sorry for some of these people, but I just don't understand how you let the everyday trials of life get you so out of control that you can't wipe your rear end. And yeah, I saw Joe eat while the movers were working. How rude.

I just don't understand how people don't know about calories and nutrition, even a little, 'Oh, I didn't realize it added up like that!' No sh$t, Sherlock. Just today I posted on a FB group that follows a basically vegan for health eating program. I started changing a few years ago and told one of my sisters, who was really big and had been that way most of her life. She said she never read labels and just ate what she wanted. I still don't understand how a person with a college education and the ability to read a woman's magazine, could not know something about nutrition these days. Deciding not to follow a plan is one thing, but not realizing that you might want to concern yourself with calories, fat, etc. is beyond my ken. Anyway, she started going mostly vegetarian and dropped a ton. Once she realize how much crap was in processed food, she started making more of her own, and she hates to cook. She stopped eating at buffets and greasy spoons. Over the years she's kept most of it off - all from reading labels and making decisions about what she eats. I have a son older than Joe. I know they teach nutrition (albeit at a very low level and pushing meats & dairy) in schools these days. How could Joe not understand the difference between a small yogurt and a double whopper? I don't want to be too uncharitable, but it's obvious his mother wasn't going to be any help. That was sad right there. I hoped she'd lose weight along with him, but it didn't look like it. I wish Joe luck; he seemed like a nice guy.

I didn't understand that all. Did he mean the flavors wouldn't go together in the same skillet? Why couldn't you have the beans on the side? I haven't had any of the 'Helper' foods since they first came out. I tried one and realized it was just pasta and spices. Well, shoot, I had pasta and I had spices, why would I feed my family a salty, chemically mix when it takes the same time to brown the meat and make the pasta? Takes even less time now that I use beans or fake veg 'meat' instead of ground meat. : ) Aside from my own dislike of those mixes - should she have been eating that stuff? It can't be the most nutritious thing for someone with limited stomach capacity.

The 'what are the odds' moments are why I love Red. Gosh that was funny. Re Tom's tats - I can't believe I was thinking about this on the bus today. A tat on his neck? Surely he wouldn't want something like that the rest of his life. Was it real? What would he do with it later? Would he need to wear makeup? Could he get it removed? I don't know why, but it was driving me batty. And yeah - were all the guests drugged? How were they going to leave? Why didn't anyone know what the antiques person looked like - Google someone's name, especially someone with a job/specialty like that, and you find a picture. Takes 5 seconds. I was waiting for Lizzie to get nabbed for being a fake, but I guess I'm the only one who uses Google.

This may be something to think about. When mental health people, or teachers or doctors run into such stories, maybe they should also consider that the person may head into obesity and address that along with the other problems. For example, a therapist may say, "I think you are depressed. Let's deal with that. Btw - tell me what you're eating, when you eat, etc." Of course, that assumes that somewhere along the way. you went to see some kind of professional. It looks like a lot of these traumatized people never went to therapy. Speaking of not getting help - I was watching one of the Supersize shows yesterday and they had a diabetic man with a gangrenous foot. The guy said he knew something was wrong, but it took him 6 weeks to get to the doctor. What?? I'm diabetic. There is no way in heck I'd wait 6 weeks if stuff started to go wrong with my feet. That's how people wind up with amputations. Jeez. Even if I didn't have insurance, they can't turn you away from the ER.

I think that Melissa, the first 600 pounder, had the same issue. She lost weight, but was still walking as she had before. She wound up in the hospital because she tore stitches, and then had trouble getting them to heal again. Big mess. Also, isn't abdominal surgery kind of rough? She had a lot of stuff going on over a relatively short span of time. I wondered if she was just having pain and trouble standing straight because of the surgeries? Yo, Penny - do you see this chick over here? Angel? Just like you, she wanted to go to her son's events AND SHE EXERCISED AND WORKED HER FOOD PLAN AND WENT TO HER SON'S EVENTS. Eff you, Penny.

This just shows the difference in people. There was a mostly bedridden woman on Supersize vs Superskinny whose son was her carer, of an age similar to Dillon's (they have a similar system in the UK, where family can be paid carers). His mother had the surgery and in the follow up, she was happy to be up and about, doing some housecleaning and cooking. They showed her son getting ready for a night out and talking about having more of a life. His mother knew that her condition was taking a toll on her son and she was happy to take back her household duties and let her son get on with his life. Pauline doesn't have near the same amount of concern for her son. She likes her status and doesn't care who it hurts, even if it's her son.

I have to smile at that. Every time I complained about a job, my stepfather, a lawyer, would say, "Lincoln freed the slaves. If you don't like it, go get another job." Now that I'm the adult, I have to admit using it a few times myself. Either shut up and deal with it, or go find another job; just stop complaining if you aren't willing to make a change. Yeah, Lincoln freed the slaves. It's strange what you remember about people after they're gone.

True. I didn't mean to imply that it did. I meant that people aren't always diabetic because they eat a lot of ice cream, cake, and soda. If one only reads the popular press, one might be led to think that diabetes was the individual's fault, when that isn't always the case. Personally, I was surprised to learn that most morbidly obese are not diabetic. I read that diabetes might actually be a blessing for some, in that, if they control their disease, they avoid the morbid obesity path they were on. When there's no 'wake up call' from disease, people who are prone to obesity just keep getting obese. It's interesting, really. As far as sticking to your food plan, no matter what is in front of you, that reminded me of someone I knew who was in AA. I've never been much of a drinker and don't drink at all now, but not drinking never stopped me from going to a bar with music because I went for the music or the company of friends. The person swore up and down that it would be impossible to go to a bar and not drink and I couldn't convince him otherwise - but he had the perspective of an alcoholic. For me, I could easily go anywhere alcohol was served and not give it a thought. It must be awful for food addicts because you don't have to go to a bar, but you do have to eat and food is everywhere.

Just a word about carbs and diabetes. You don't get diabetes from eating carbs/sugar. It's a complex disease that also has a genetic component. Diabetes runs in my family just as cancer or heart disease runs in other families. Many obese people do not have diabetes; it's not just a food issue. Many, many people use a high carb vegan diet to control diabetes. See the works of Drs John McDougall, Neal Barnard, Caldwell Esselstyn, his son Rip, and others. Their work includes peer reviewed research in the scientific literature. The issue is carbs and fats. So, what you don't want is manufactured food. Pop tarts, not so good. Baked potato, perfectly fine. Go low fat and you can eat the carbs and control the diabetes. Recently, even the man who created the glycemic index (which some diabetics use for dietary control) suggested that folks go vegan as a better way for control and general health. I am find it interesting to see and read of different people's experiences with bariatric surgery. When they first started these shows, you'd think that it was the answer for everything. I didn't even know that you could gain weight back after the surgery. Now you see the psychological and physical problems that may occur, the difficulties some people have even with foods they are supposed to eat. It's fascinating. I realize that at 600 lbs maybe there's no other choice but the surgery, but boy, I wish some of these folks would try going mostly low fat vegan (I'd allow eggs, but that's me). Shoot, there are out patient hospital programs with food like Jenny Craig that are quite successful. Why don't they try something like that before rewiring themselves - or, at 600 lbs, are you just too far gone to save yourself with a dietary change?

Again with the no shoes. I don't get it. If you can wear socks, you can wear flip flops or slippers. I was impressed that she wanted to do charitable work. I don't think we've seen that before. She had a point - people had helped her, now that she was able, it was good for her to help other people. And, as big as she was (and so short), she still walked a little at first and more after she lost weight. Pauline and Penny take note - get out of yourself and do something for someone else and get your asses up and walk around a little. I realize the therapy session was as much for us as for the couple, but I do hope they had a few more sessions. I didn't understand about the date - she said they'd never really dated. So how did they court and get married? He just came to her house and hung out until they fell in love? I would love to see his therapy sessions. What kind of childhood do you have to have to be happy being a caretaker to a morbidly obese woman?

I couldn't believe that I cried like a baby when they unveiled the plaque. I assumed something was going on when they asked her to come to the ceremony, but wasn't expecting to feel as emotional as I did. My late husband was a combat veteran who served in Vietnam. I kept thinking about the guys who had PTSD, how little was known about it and how little the VA did to help those guys. It's better for recent vets, but it was tough back in the '70's as it was for Mrs Patmore's poor nephew. enough...

Ah. OK. I've never had a tamale and don't eat pork, so nothing sounded familiar to me.

Well, I won't forget that image for awhile. : ) First, the BS about having to get fast food on the road or in TX. Please. As others have said, even gas stations have a few healthy choices these days. And when she told the son she wanted a chicken salad, I thought it was in the fridge - as in 'I'll make up a bunch of chicken salad so I can eat it during the day and make sure my protein is covered.' But no, she gets it from a fast food place. WTH? I suppose that even in Houston : ) they have groceries that have rotisserie chickens and a salad bar? Even if she didn't want to cook, there is decent prepared food available at the grocery store that would keep her on her program. I can't imagine riding around, in the street, in the monster all stretchered out like that. Looks dangerous. And what the heck is a quart of tamales? Isn't that what she said? She's not even trying to lose weight. In the clip from the UK, the doctor sees what he always calls 'full fat' soda (regular soda, not diet) and says she shouldn't be drinking it. She says she doesn't like the flavor of the diet. I admit to being a Pepsi addict. When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I gave up 'full fat' sodas on day 1. I learned to like diet Pepsi and I learned to drink carbonated water. You can learn to do a lot of things when you're motivated. Apparently, even with free surgery, Pauline wasn't motivated to do anything but complain. Word to the whiny voice and tears. That got old real fast. Re the socks in the pool. Maybe she was spending so much money on food, she couldn't afford the little slipper things you can buy for swimming. You can mess up your feet doing exercises in the pool because the bottom isn't 100% smooth. I use them and wouldn't do pool walking, etc. without them.

I've seen Pauline on the UK show 'Supersize vs Superskinny.' They would send the supersizers to the US to meet a morbidly obese person and see how life would be for them if they don't do something about their weight now. A clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1_6kozwQLw I thought she was just another obese person who 1) wanted to help someone avoid their fate and 2) would welcome help if they could get it. Boy, was I wrong. What a piece of work. So, she won't walk, but is OK with getting some kind of pipe in her legs to avoid a blood clot (had no idea they could do that, so that was interesting)? Of course - because with the operation, she could get more sympathy. 'My legs were so bad, I needed an operation.' Your legs were bad because you wouldn't get up, you lazy... She's in the bed for 5 days and other people leave after 2??? What a difference between her and Mayra Rosales, Olivia, and even Amber. I don't think I heard Mayra make one complaint, and she had several surgeries. As far as thinking that Dr Now shouldn't have taken her case, I think that he knows he is the last chance for many of these people since most doctors won't operate at that weight level. I see a kind heart in him. It's not his fault if every now and then he gets a jerk for a patient.

What a change! I'm a FB fan of Dr Davis. Today he posted some pics and about his personal changes going from almost all meat, no exercise, etc. to being vegan and doing an iron man - even though he is 8 yrs older! He does advise patients to go plant based, but still does the bariatric surgery as well. It seems like a much better mindset than to tell everyone they should get a bypass or lap band. I can't wait to see Billy's update - where is that going to be? I don't see it on the TLC Season 3 info. There's very little info about him online; only that he's lost weight. I hope he is doing well. Looking forward t tonight's show.

For some strange reason, I was looking at Ruby on FB the other week and noticed the same thing. I don't see how she still has followers. The scene in the store with the cake just made me shake my head. WTH? As for diets, I can understand that at 600 lbs or so, surgery would be the best choice because it relieves so many physical problems at once. That said, since Susan was able to lose so much pre-surgery, I wish she had given a plant-based diet a try (I'm not saying veganism because there are tons of bad 'vegan' foods out there). You can eat a lot of food, usually no need to count calories, and a great variety. Yes, it would be different from what she normally eats, but a well-planned plant based diet would be hearty and is doable for a life time. I know people get all weirded out about not eating meat and dairy, it's just my suggestion. I've got to think that for some of these people, the idea of being on a restrictive diet for a life time must be frightening.

No comments? She bothered me at first, but she kept trying and she got away from her enabling mother, so I have to give props to that. I've never heard of neuropathy like hers before. I know about the diabetic kind, mostly in your feet tho I learned recently you can get it in other places in the body, but not where people become almost paralyzed. I'm surprised they didn't do surgery on her stomach - hasn't Dr Now done that first on a few people, just so they could have more mobility? For sure all that weight on her upper thighs must have decreased circulation or put pressure on the nerves in the legs. Whew. I can't believe she's 37. My son is 37; she looks older than I do.

I watched the extended version from up close so I could read the comments (why are they so dang small???). Y'all are right about no shoes. How does she stand the hot Texas sidewalk and asphalt? Even the grass when she went on a walk with her brother - it looks nice, but you don't know what's in it. Yuck. Every time I watch one of these shows, I'm surprised at how differently people carry their weight.