Roxane Gay and VSG

I somehow missed this a month ago. I didn't think I could love Roxane Gay anymore than I already did, but I love that she chose to share her WLS experience.

https://medium.com/s/unrulybodies/the-body-that-understands- what-fullness-is-f2e40c40cd75

I read that and I can't help but think she's headed for trouble. She clearly hasn't dealt with the issues that drove her to use food as comfort in the first place and diving headlong into surgery and admittedly doing things like searching for the full feeling are just the sort of red flags we see here all the time.

I hope I'm wrong, but I see trouble and minimal success ahead for her.

Jen

Yes - she seems to have a lot of self hatred to work through still and a lot of anger at "needing" WLS. I'm glad that she is seeing a therapist. And I'm glad she's being open about what her experiences and feelings are.

I hope that she gets to a place where she can be successful long term. I hope that this self-examination she's doing will be beneficial in the long run.

Me too. It's a tough thing to realize the damage you've done to yourself physically and mentally and it's sad that she feels that going the surgical route is somehow lesser and that something is wrong with her for having to do it that way. But, at some point you need to forgive yourself and get on with the business of getting yourself right, whatever way you choose.

Jen

I respect her courage to be open about her struggles. But I see a LOT of red flags in this writing-- many of which we see somewhat frequently among new posters here on OH. And at this point, her self-examination isn't getting anywhere.

Maybe with a different therapist, or more work, she'll get where she needs to be (physically and emotionally). But this still reads as if she's expecting a "magic fix" and it's kind of hard to sympathize.

It saddens me that someone over 40 still ha so many issues with her self image. And she is very successful in her writing, plus overall - out there. If you are a woman over 40, very successful, and ND you can't tell a jerk to "shut the f$$$ up" or come with some funny response to the comments - it shows a lot of issues she is dealing with.

When I was in my 40's - I had come backs for any insults - some funny, some ..not do nice. I wanted to lose weight because I knew it affected my life, and not because "norms" made me do it.

She needs a lot of therapy.

Yeah, this article makes her seem like an absolute train-wreck.

No kidding. She's what...5, almost 6 months out? According to her, she's eating 1200-1500 calories per day. That is....rather alarming.

I wonder if she's been to OH...should be interesting if she has been /is a member here.

WOW. What a wonderful exploration of the feelings and experience of going through weight loss surgery, trying to fit into a world not made for us. Thank you for sharing this!

Yes, I really appreciate her honesty in this piece. When I read Hunger, her words resonated so deeply with me. I was pretty surprised to see that she opted for WLS based on what she'd written in Hunger and I'd imagine that admitting it to the world was a huge step for her to take. I hope that the WLS gives her the space she needs to get herself sorted out and in a healthier place.

Time will tell but I'll definitely be cheering for her success.