Ive been noticing the gains of famous WLS folks

I have seen Carnie Wilson, Al Roker and the guy from American Idol and they all seem to have put on a good amount of weight. The guy from Idol never did look to me like he lost much.   I am so afraid of putting my weight back on...Ive been struggling with 3 pounds which feel like 3000 and when i see these folks who have more help availabel to them than I could ever dream I am just amazed. How could they let themselves gain it back? Carnie was my inspiration....I feel bad for her...she looks huge on that country show....her gaining has only made my fears worse... Just needed to throw this out there, Diana RNY 9/17/03 360/198/forever struggling for 180

I do the same thing. I see people that have regained and it scares me to death. But really, there's tons of people who have maintained for years. We've just got to do what it takes to keep the weight off. Try not to worry. :)

I too am terrified of gaining as my history is that I would lose some and gain back more.  There is NO WAY i want to go back to where I was let alone gain even more.  It scares me so much. I also think that these people must have far more help available to them, but I guess they struggle with the same things we do - maybe more?  I know that I have to keep coming to OH for my support and to be with people who do sucessfully maintain, and others understand the daily struggle that losing those pounds is. I used to think that once I had lost weight that would be it for life - I wouldn't have any food issues again - haha, how foolish was that.  I will always have issues with food, and will always have to watch my weight every day.

That's the problem with celebrities...they are wildly famous and people use their success or failures as "proof" that it doesn't work, when it does. It's certainly discouraging, but  look at Sharon Osborne with lapband surgery!  Granted, she's also had a $$$$ of plastics...but she kept the weight off and that's supposedly the hardest WLS to maintain....RoseAnne Barr too...And Carnie, she just had a baby recently...It's hard to get back on the ball for many woman after a baby. There just aren't enough really fat famous people who had the surgery (or admit it) I read somewhere that Kirsty Alley might have had WLS very recently...I wonder if she'll fess up if she really did??? :)  A good healthy fear is a good thing in my opinion...but to be paralyzed by it will probably cause more trouble than not. We're all so different. I'm beginning to think that our bodies will tend to gain a little back regardless. Just getting older makes a lot of us gain...even non WLS people gain some. Use your fear to help and not harm...(I know, easier said than done) I still tell myself that though.  You've done very well. What a difference before and after! Hugs Anita  

>>"when i see these folks who have more help available to them than I could ever dream I am just amazed. How could they let themselves gain it back?"<< What is the "more help available" that they have that we don't have that makes any difference in keeping weight off?  Having a chef and a personal trainer won't help much when food is screaming at you and you don't feel like exercising.  They gotta do the same mundane hard stuff we mere mortals do to fight regain.  Since we're all mortal, with a history of failed diets to boot, some of us are going to struggle with regain.

Hi Diana!!!!!!!!!! Of course gaining again is my biggest fear too! It does make me feel bad when I see people in the public eye that are gaining~it's discouraging and embarrasing enough for the average person let alone someone on tv! No matter what their resources, they still have to be willing to put the hard work in just like us to maintain~that's the reality! I  know some days I succeed and some days I fail~I just hope I have more successful days than failures for the rest of my life!!!! Anyway, its great to see ya!!!!! I miss it when you're not around!!!!!!

You know sometimes I think the probabilities of celebrities maintaining weight loss is much different than the average person. I say this because almost none of the BIG celebrities have stayed the same size over the years, yet almost none of them have kept weight off. Oprah is one of the richest people in the world and has never maintained a normal bmr for 5 years or more (maybe not even 2 I dont follow her much). She has lost a few hundred pounds in her 3 decades of celebrity, and then gaining almost as much back.  Looking at the small picture, I know many people who have maintained weight loss for 2, 5, 10 and even 40 years! I certainly know of more celebrities than "real" people. So the descrepincy in knowing no celebrity weight loss success stories (or none that come to mind) and knowing many real life weight loss success stories leads me to believe there is something different going on. Personally I find zero correlations between my life, good or bad, and celebrities so their success/failures dont make me think much about myself. Snugs PK

PK, As always, you make me feel better. Re-gain is my biggest fear as well. Just 14 months post WLS, i fluctuate btw 117-125 lbs and feel very lucky to have lost all my excess weight so fast and so painlessly--almost seems too good to be true. now (well, for a few months now) my appetite is back full force and i average at least 2000cals a day. haven't re-gained any weight (in fact, lost a couple more lbs over the last month of so) but sometimes i feel it's all almost too good to be true and would give anything for my weight loss to be permanent. i don't think i could psychologically handle re-gain