Portrayal of traditional vs. "surgical" weight loss
Nik, thank you for starting this thread. I have some strong feelings about this, and I was thinking of putting it in the thread about the People article, but it just didn't feel right, especially because I haven't seen the magazine, and can't find the article online.
Let's begin with whether or not WLS is "cheating". I object to this comparison, because in my mind, "cheating" implies that someone else is getting treated unfairly, and I just don't see that happening here.
But is WLS a "crutch"? I think it most certainly is. But there's nothing wrong with that. If a person has a broken leg, do we tell him, "Well, you're going to have to learn how to hop around on your good leg now, no matter how difficult it is." No, we do not tell him that. We give him crutches!
I give a lot of credit to someone who has a bad leg, and refuses to rely on crutches, and pushes himself to hop around, or in some other manner manages to get around without any artificial aids. But it is just too damn difficult for the average person, and should not be expected of them.
So too for dieting. I do give a lot of credit to those who have clamped down on their self-control and somehow managed to get it off and keep it off. More power to them! And that SHOULD be everyone's first option, because, let's be honest, surgery is dangerous, and it does have drawbacks.
But for the great majority who are unable to get it off and/or unable to keep it off, there's nothing wrong with this crutch. The truth is that our weight loss happens the same way as traditionally: by eating less.
The difference is that we have a few extra tools in our arsenal: We have a pouch which fills up real fast, we have dumping which trains us to avoid the baddies, and so on.
Those who diet without these tools, I suppose I can see why they consider us to be cheating. (Sort of like sports figures who muscle up with steroids instead of exercise alone.) They are jealous of the success we can have, and even if they are aware of our difficulties, that doesn't dampen their jealousy, because we DO have a higher success rate, and I can't blame them for that jealousy. But I do disagree about the "cheating", because that implies that we are in competition with each other. BUT WE AREN'T! Athletes are always trying to be Number One, and that's what makes the steroids a cheat. But I'm not in competition with Weigh****chers and with SlimFast. We can all be winners!
Let's begin with whether or not WLS is "cheating". I object to this comparison, because in my mind, "cheating" implies that someone else is getting treated unfairly, and I just don't see that happening here.
But is WLS a "crutch"? I think it most certainly is. But there's nothing wrong with that. If a person has a broken leg, do we tell him, "Well, you're going to have to learn how to hop around on your good leg now, no matter how difficult it is." No, we do not tell him that. We give him crutches!
I give a lot of credit to someone who has a bad leg, and refuses to rely on crutches, and pushes himself to hop around, or in some other manner manages to get around without any artificial aids. But it is just too damn difficult for the average person, and should not be expected of them.
So too for dieting. I do give a lot of credit to those who have clamped down on their self-control and somehow managed to get it off and keep it off. More power to them! And that SHOULD be everyone's first option, because, let's be honest, surgery is dangerous, and it does have drawbacks.
But for the great majority who are unable to get it off and/or unable to keep it off, there's nothing wrong with this crutch. The truth is that our weight loss happens the same way as traditionally: by eating less.
The difference is that we have a few extra tools in our arsenal: We have a pouch which fills up real fast, we have dumping which trains us to avoid the baddies, and so on.
Those who diet without these tools, I suppose I can see why they consider us to be cheating. (Sort of like sports figures who muscle up with steroids instead of exercise alone.) They are jealous of the success we can have, and even if they are aware of our difficulties, that doesn't dampen their jealousy, because we DO have a higher success rate, and I can't blame them for that jealousy. But I do disagree about the "cheating", because that implies that we are in competition with each other. BUT WE AREN'T! Athletes are always trying to be Number One, and that's what makes the steroids a cheat. But I'm not in competition with Weigh****chers and with SlimFast. We can all be winners!
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