Dr. Phil yesterday on skin removal

Awww thanks tee! This time I took the money I should have spent on the suit and spent more than that on stuff for my two daughters. Now that I actually like to buy clothes there is a bit of a tug on who gets the new stuff, but being a hopelessly devoted mom they still win out most of the time. I will call you the next time I need someone to help me figure out if it's pretty bad or just in my head. I could kick myself because once again I spent a good chunk of $$ on a warm up suit in an XL when I am really an easy L if not a M! I did the same thing with a new nightgown. The neck opening is at the edge of my shoulders practically falling off. It seems to be a familiar thing still seeing ourselves as bigger than we are. Also am so used to wanting things to be "big enough" the last ten years, that I can't except wearing anything fitted. See I do need your advice! Patty

I could see that the woman had skin issues and there ARE lots of us out there that do. It is too bad more couldn't be helped, but between the cost and the lack of insurance funding, it's just not possible. What I HATED about the program though, was how Dr. Phil talked to that young girl that weighed about 500 lbs.!!! He wants her to diet and exercise her way down to 130 lbs. and her family has to help her! The aunt had WLS herself, so she ought to know that if it was "so easy" diet alone, she would have done it already. I admit there's a lifestyle thing going on in that family that needs to change, but how on earth is that girl going to lose from 500+ lbs. to 130???? And then KEEP IT OFF????? The chances of that are, what, about 2% maybe??? Don't like Dr. Phil. Nope, just don't!! And I think HE could stand to lose a few lbs. himself! Jan

She was 380 lbs -- not 500. And I agree that his plan for her was ludicrous. She's where I started and I identified with her so much it made me hurt. WLS and a lifestyle change is the only thing that's going to help her. Deb

You know, when I was typing it didn't seem right, and I think I must've gotten the weight confused with the Oprah rerun!! Anyway, the end result is the same. It will be a VERY daunting journey that the young lady will have to make if Dr. Phil thinks she can lose that much on her own without some surgical help!! Thanks for setting me straight! Jan

2% is way too high an estimate for her odds for success. I would guess closer to a snowball's chance in Maui. Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

Patty, I haven't read any of the other replys but just had to respond to the Dr Phil part. I like Dr Phil, really I do but not when he gets on his weightloss tangent. His show made me so angry I woke up mad at him & lost about 2 hours sleep. I missed the first person he talked with. The second weighed 400 lbs & he showed her how much food she ate in a week by bringing it all out on a table, around 30,000 calories, by the way. For the most part I think it was very humilating but between him, her friends & the computer generated image of what she would look like at 130 lbs, she decided to try again. This is the beginning of what made me so angry. He is telling her if she loses 270lbs she will look all slim & yes, with a nice flat tummy and she believed it. Now go to the last lady. A very pretty young woman who never smiled during the whole interview. She had lost 160 lbs & had lots of lose skin. Oh, I know how she felt as that's the amount I lost & was just as flabby. She wouldn't have anything to do with her husband because she looked so awful & wanted to gain part of the weight back because she would be "filled out." Dr Phil, not once, suggested counseling for her problem but immediately paraded out a couple surgeons who promised to help her. To their credit, one told her that she would have to trade scars for the extra skin & she blankly looked at him & agreed. In my opinion, she only went on there because she knew he would pay for the surgery. I'm happy for her but I thinkher probelms will not be fixed with just surgery. She has some very serious body problems that need counselling. She is going to be shoked by the scars & I wonder if she will continue to "hide" from her husband for that. As angry as that made me, it was the inconsistancy that really got me. He tells one woman to lose 270 lbs & she'll look beautiful & slim, not mentioning that she will be stuffing many pounds of skin in her pants and don't get me started on flabby thighs. And then he turns around & gives plastic surgery to another woman who lost weight & her body didn't turn out the way she wanted it to. I mean, who is crazy enough to think you'll look like a model after losing 160 pounds, even if they only weigh 120 or so? Oh, now I'm mad all over again! Don't get me wrong. I am happy for the gal, but if it was all that important for her, why then didn't they attempt to have PS on their own? She acted like they had never even considered it. I like freebies as much as the next guy. Maybe I'm just jealous because I spent $13,000 and had nowhere near what she will be getting for free just because she felt bad. AHHHHHHHH. Dixie

You are so right Dixie! I hated that he asked the girl if she was ready to make a change? She said yes. Then he said "I don't believe you. You say you want to lose weight, but you are eating at night in secret, going to fast food, etc. Those aren't the behaviors of someone who wants to change". It showed a complete lack of understanding, and attached such a morality judgement. The "why don't you just push away from the table" view. Seeing a table with all I used to eat in a day wouldn't have been showing me something I wasn't already miserably aware of in my own head, it would have just himiliated me. And showing a computer generated picture of her thin and asking "wouldn't you like to look like this?". Not what you need to be asked when you weight over 300 pounds. Like I said, he is just recyling the same old attitudes and acting like it's a new way of doing it. Ophrah is so against WLS, especially in her magazine. I figure Dr. Phil is one of her best friends and seems to share the opinion. Then following up with someone who did lose the weight, but with such screwed head. Like you say...AHHHHHHHHH! Patty