S03.E02: A Brush With Death

[Ocean Chick]

The problem with WLS and Whitney is that even with surgery you can still overeat and stretch your stomach back to it's old size, if you don't manage to modify your eating habits.  WLS is just a tool to help, not a complete answer in itself.  And if Whitney is deluding herself now as to what and how much she's eating, she'll do the same thing after surgery and still be morbidly obese and heading towards death.  I would think any decent WLS program would have people in therapy for a while first, before surgery, as well as in  nutritional classes and exercise/physical therapy programs.  Even Dr. Now, who isn't a bastion of a healthy approach to WLS, makes his patients prove first that they can modify their eating and lose weight on their own before he performs the surgery.

Whitney wants her cake and to eat it too.  She wants to be healthy, but she doesn't want to give up all the tasty fattening food she loves to eat and that's killing her.

[ClareWalks]

12 minutes ago, Ocean Chick said:

 

Whitney wants her cake and to eat it too.  

I see what you did there ;)

[Alapaki]

17 minutes ago, Ocean Chick said:

Whitney wants her cake and to eat it too.  She wants to be healthy, but she doesn't want to give up all the tasty fattening food she loves to eat and that's killing her.

She wants her cake . . . and you're cake . . . and that guy's cake . . . 

But srsly, I haven't seen much to suggest that she wants to be healthy per se.  She wants to do what she wants to do, and only deals with her health when the lack thereof gets to the point where it can't be ignored.

There are so many risks to weight-loss-surgery, and so many potential risks to someone of Whitney's size losing a significant amount of weight in a short time period, that really I think she'd be better of making some pretty obvious adjustments to her diet and just being moderately more active than she is now.

Because, what's her real end game here?  She's not going to be thin.  Hell, she isn't even going to get into the non-morbidly-obese weight-range.  I think the best she can hope for is to be as healthy as possible at her weight.  The steps to do that would probably help her shed some weight, but she's always going to look like a "before" photo.

The problem is, the things she needs to do for her own good are probably not "fabulous" enough to keep her on TV, and so she won't do them.

[LocalGovt]

I just had a thought: Whitney is so into this no "body shaming" thing.  BTW, body shaming is defined as making inappropriate comments about someone's body/appearance.

Will she use being the "face" of body shaming as a way to continue eating, and maintain her size? 

In looking up a definition for body shaming, I came across her blog, which showed other large women, and how she was praising them, but it seemed like she was praising them more for their size, and any other accomplishments were an added bonus.

[ClareWalks]

She totally nullified her "no body shame" message in this episode when she was insulting Buddy's appearance in his swimsuit. She is such a disingenuous asshole.

[Guest]

I stopped watching this train wreck but for some reason I tuned into last week's show and was stunned with what I saw.  I won't recap it because everyone who commented did a far better job than I could on the details.  I think I pressed the like button twenty times in agreement with what everyone said.  I do have one thing I want to say that goes a bit against what everyone else says.

Babs annoys me.  Not in a strong way but I thinks she's played the southern belle all her life and enjoys the attention she's getting through this show.  Whitney is a mess, no question about it - but how many times do you think Whitney is compared to Babs?  Or that people comment how beautiful Babs is in front of Whitney?  I am also a little put off by some of the comments Babs makes about Whitney's weight.  They're not helping - neither was the faux funeral you smiled through to try to convince Whitney that she needs to get serious about her weight. 

I stopped watching this show mid season last year.  Whitney is spoiled, childish and entitled and it chaps my fanny that her "clueless" parents are going along for the ride. 

I  am concerned about Whitney.  Maybe it's because of my job but I certainly can't be the only one who sees what can possibly happen concerning her health. 

I thought TLC scraped the bottom of the barrel with those doggone Duggars - boy, was I wrong.

[notyrmomma]

9 hours ago, Ocean Chick said:

The problem with WLS and Whitney is that even with surgery you can still overeat and stretch your stomach back to it's old size, if you don't manage to modify your eating habits.  WLS is just a tool to help, not a complete answer in itself.  And if Whitney is deluding herself now as to what and how much she's eating, she'll do the same thing after surgery and still be morbidly obese and heading towards death.  I would think any decent WLS program would have people in therapy for a while first, before surgery, as well as in  nutritional classes and exercise/physical therapy programs.  Even Dr. Now, who isn't a bastion of a healthy approach to WLS, makes his patients prove first that they can modify their eating and lose weight on their own before he performs the surgery.

Whitney wants her cake and to eat it too.  She wants to be healthy, but she doesn't want to give up all the tasty fattening food she loves to eat and that's killing her.

For a vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), you cannot stretch it back to its original size.  The plus with the VSG over the Bypass is that with the VSG, they amputate the stomach vertically, like in the shape of the banana, and the part that is left doesn't stretch too much, but with the bypass, they make a pouch, which is more of a horizontal cut, which can stretch somewhat (but never back to the original size).  How people gain weight back with the VSG is that they eat small junky meals many times a day--and even that takes sheer determination and a tremendous tolerance for pain.  Dr. Now is full of crap when he says "you'll stretch your stomach back."

The problem is that she needs time at an inpatient facility that specializes in binge eating disorders.  I think she's above and beyond regular counseling at this point (not just talking about her weight, her mental delusions alone make me think she needs to check herself in somewhere quick).  Honestly, the VSG actually cures  binging because you physically cannot eat a large amount of food quickly, but the risk for Whitney, in her mental state, is that she will just move her frustrations to another addiction like drinking or SMOKING.

Speaking of smoking, that's probably why she hasn't gotten the surgery.  Smokers are not good candidates because smoking increases your chances of ulcers.

[DanaMB]

6 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

She totally nullified her "no body shame" message in this episode when she was insulting Buddy's appearance in his swimsuit. She is such a disingenuous asshole.

I wonder if anyone has called her out on this IRL or on her FB page. 

[ClareWalks]

7 hours ago, DanaMB said:

I wonder if anyone has called her out on this IRL or on her FB page. 

I saw only one person briefly mentioned it on the show's FB page, which indeed rips her a new one frequently. Her personal page, forget it. That's got more filters than Instagram I bet.

[operalover]

I would think doing what happened on that ski slope would have been hitting bottom! I mean she was there with her legs spread eagle, in horrible pain, with people unable to help her. I would have been MORTIFIED and swore that no matter what it took I was going to lose weight. If the collapsing after dancing less than an hour and a funeral stage by loved ones weren't enough, the Ski Incident would have been the final straw.

[riverblue22]

16 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

She totally nullified her "no body shame" message in this episode when she was insulting Buddy's appearance in his swimsuit. She is such a disingenuous asshole.

If Whitney was skinny, she would so be the mean girl.

[DNR]

On June 16, 2016 at 7:12 AM, mamey2422 said:

Buddy's weight has come up a couple times on the show and I can't actually remember what Buddy looked like in the first season? Has he gained weight? If yes, it coincides with him living with Whitney and that seems like a very bad co-dependent situation all around. 

I'm not sure if Lenny is really her boyfriend or an actor playing the boyfriend role for the show but when Lenny was untying / taking off her sneakers ; having to assist with the ski boots ; pulling Whitney up off the ground ; trying to prevent her 350lb body from falling - all I could think was Dude , if she piles on more weight you'll be doing this the rest of your life. Lenny will end up like the caretakers on My 6000 lb life : cooking cleaning shopping , wiping the butt of bedridden Whitney etc etc . Get out if she doesn't get a grip on this Lenny!!!!!

Buddy & Whitney are eating buddies - they've both blown up even larger. Yikes 

Edited June 22, 2016 by DNR
Needed more !!!!

[operalover]

I never even thought about being so fat that my calves didn't fit into ski boots. It's just not something you hear about. You do hear about plane seats, for example. Ski boots are made to fit a wide range of people- well the average range of a normal leg and even larger than normal legs. That woman brought out their biggest pair and she felt like her shin bone was going to snap in half! Terrible! Not Fabulous!

[M.F. Luder]

Late to watching this episode.

I'm with Buddy regarding the mock funeral being a bad idea. For someone like Whitney, it would seem so overly dramatic and absurd that it loses all its impact. IMO, it would have been more effective to do the type of intervention that the British show Supersize vs Superskinny does: have her visit an obese person whose quality of life has been affected by their weight. Whitney should visit someone who is in their 40s and see that they have limited mobility, require their family members to help them do basic hygiene tasks, etc. She probably sees herself as young and healthy and in her mind, there is no way she would end up like the people on My 600lb Life because she is vibrant and active. Speaking with someone in their 40s (i.e. not that much older than Whitney) who was just like Whitney in their early 30s would show her how easy it is for weight to slowly creep up over a decade and how quickly your health can take a turn for the worst. This would probably be a more relatable way for Whitney to see why she can no longer allow herself to indulge in pizza binge sessions with her friends.

I couldn't help but think that her relationship with Lenny is fake. He just does not seem like he even likes Whitney and clearly her parents and friends don't consider him an important person in her life. The only reason I think it might be real is that if they were going to bring on someone to be Whitney's fake boyfriend, they would have chosen an actor with a better personality. As it is, there is nothing at all interesting about Lenny or Whitney's relationship with him.

[preciousperfect]

If having your mom needing to shave your legs for you (and heaven knows what other body parts) doesn't wake you up I don't know what will! I wouldn't even ask my husband to do something like that!

[PityFree]

 The only reason Whitney was upset about Buddy and Lenny not being at the funeral is because it meant there were two fewer people there to make her the center of attention. I can't stand her anymore.

[okerry]

On 6/21/2016 at 3:49 PM, ClareWalks said:

She totally nullified her "no body shame" message in this episode when she was insulting Buddy's appearance in his swimsuit. She is such a disingenuous asshole.

I have a feeling that in Whit's world, "no body shame" only applies to women. Cause, yeah, she has no problem making fun of Buddy. If he'd made the same comments about her not fitting into a bathing suit - hoo, boy.

[bref]

I haven't been watching this season, but I see some references to Whitney being a smoker. Was that on the show? Do we know that for sure?

Whitney is a horrible representative for the BoPo movement.

[Ketzel]

She was outed as a smoker by her personal trainer and then did a TH in which she (a) blamed Korea for forcing her to smoke, because everyone there apparently smokes all the time and she couldn't not smoke, and (b) claimed to have quit, then started again, then quit again and hasn't smoked in a long time except now she's with Lennie and he smokes, so she indulges in a few puffs occasionally but only because he's around. So, not her fault. Uh huh.

Yeah, Whitney's a smoker..

[Noirprncess]

I wonder if the TLC producers wrangled people to see Whiney speak?

The ski slope was bound to be disastrous.  She seems pretty delusional to think her current body would react the way her smaller body did.  She can hardly hold her own body so why did she think some skis would do it.

Reserve a seat for me, because I laughed hard every time she whined about lift her up because she was about to do a split on those skis. Hil-lari-ous!

[Noirprncess]

No Whitney, Caitie was trying to tell you that your class was too easy.  She knows you take stuff out because YOU can't do it.

[Alapaki]

And did anyone notice that when Whitney walked into class this week (i.e. the "Losing at Love" episode) Whitney's male friend was already up front leading the class (presumably in warm-ups)?  Why wasn't that "stepping on toes"?

[Tabbygirl521]

N/M

Edited July 1, 2016 by Tabbygirl521

[Dot]

On 6/16/2016 at 10:35 AM, aliya said:

Not only that, but she drops the dog like a hot potato on her way out of the room. Kinda freaked me out a little.  I'm a rabbit mom - that's a good way to kill a rabbit. Maybe dogs are more bouncy. 

Me, too!  Mine (Duffy & Twyla) are both rescue bunnies and I belong to the Sacramento House Rabbit Society. (And I doubt dogs are any more bouncy than bunnies.)

[auntjess]

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 1:52 AM, Dot said:

(And I doubt dogs are any more bouncy than bunnies.)

When I saw this, I had to find this video I'd seen, for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFyeGvZDcS4

Edited March 8, 2017 by auntjess

[Dot]

On 3/8/2017 at 0:00 PM, auntjess said:

When I saw this, I had to find this video I'd seen, for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFyeGvZDcS4

Oh, god, that is SO funny! And cute! It made my day, thank you!

[Starry Eyes]

On 6/21/2016 at 11:20 AM, Alapaki said:

She wants to be healthy,

We know now that she really doesn't want to be healthy...

[Starry Eyes]

On 6/15/2016 at 9:10 PM, LocalGovt said:

The tubing adventure? Just gross

I felt like she looked like a huge marsh mellow with a head.  I'm sorry this sounds mean....