No Surgery! No Gimmicks! No Long Term Success? XPost

Well, People magazine, in their infinite wisdom, http://www.people.com/people/static/h/package/thisweeksissue /index.html?xid=twrthisweeksissue has done their annual "let's make all fatties feel like the lazy slobs they are" issue about those special people out there who were able to lose half their body weight through sheer magic and suddenly discovering after a lifetime of dysfunctional eating, that they really do like to diet and exercise.  Who knew?  All they had to do was be sufficiently humiliated enough to discover their true love of healthy food and working out.  Because we all know that all it really took was to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and push ourselves away from the table and to the gym.

What I would really love is for people to do a "Where are they now?" issue about all the people they have featured on their cover over the years.  I wonder how many of them are even close to a normal weight after 3 or 4 years?  Because, from what I understand, the "No Surgery, No Gimmicks" way of weight loss has about a 2% chance of being a long term answer for morbidly obese people.

You can say what you want about people regaining after WLS because that is a real thing but my guess is that if they had featured WLS people on their covers over the years and put them next to the "No Surgery, No Gimmicks" people, the numbers would definitely be in our favor.  Sure, not all of us get to goal and a good portion do regain some weight but I would guess that most people who had WLS would weigh less then they did before surgery after 5 years post op.  It may only be a few pounds but I remember where I was before WLS.  I was gaining at a rapid weight.  I weighed 240 before my first WLS and I weighed 220 8 years later when I had my revision and while I wasn't a success by any means I still weighed less after 8 years then when I started.  I can only guess what my weight would have been in 2010 if I never had surgery, given the progressive nature of my weight gain I can hazard a guess that I would easily have been in the 300's.

So, People, let's see a follow issue of those you have featured over the years and then see you condemn us "lazy" people  who took the easy way out and see who has kept their weight off longer.

You tell'em!  I didn't read the article but I'm sure it's the same crap that other media has published about how the lazy ones took the "easy" way out with WLS. 

Al Roker was interviewed about 6 months ago about his WLS.  He told of the struggles and that it was NOT easy.  I was really glad to see that interview, but I guess many did not. 

I'm 5 years out.  This IS the longest I have EVER kept weight off.  I was the classic "3 years later" one... where I was back up to my original starting weight... then some.

There is ignorance out there.  Unfortunately so many buys into it...

For the ones it works for, more power to them.  However, we all know it doesn't work for everyone.  I have a client who gained all her weight back years ago from WLS but we didn't know then what we know now.  And several friends who never got to goal.  One lost 200lb but still has probably 100 to lose.  But she is better off than she was.  It's hard work even with the assistance of WLS.  Any of us could go back anytime.  It is a constant battle that we chose to win but this time we have a fighting chance.