Question:
Why are the majority of patients women?

Is this surgery really a godsend to the morbidly obese or is it a surgical response to making fat women more socially acceptable? I am considering having the surgery because I have yo-yo-ed myself up to 498lbs., but I will always feel more like "myself" being a little on the chubby side. I like the feel and physical power of being about 225 pounds. Anybody have any thoughts on the subject?    — merri B. (posted on February 15, 2000)

February 15, 2000
I think the reason that mostly women get WLS is two-fold. First, yes---it is much harder to be an obese woman than to be an obese man. I think we women are much more aware of our weight. Secondly, I think that women in general are more on top of their health issues and visit the doctor more often. Therefore, morbidly obese women know more about all their co-morbities---high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, etc. Which play a major roll in deciding on WLS. WLS is such a major committment, that I don't think many women would choose it just to make society happy. And most surgeons require a phsychiatric consult to rule out such patients. In your situation, should you opt for WLS, I agree with the other writer that your goal weight would be right around the number you said you are most comfortable at. But WLS is a very personal choice, and it is yours and your alone to make. Wishing you luck!
   — Suzanne S.

February 15, 2000
The health food stores have a free magazine called Great Life. They say that more women have died from cardiovascular problems than men every year since 1984 ! That right there is reason alone for women to lose wieght permanantly. Maybe we just can't handle the excess wieght like men can. I don't think we evolved from a long line of big ole lumber-jacks. Another thing that I don't like admitting is the stigma this country puts on us for being fat. That causes pressure on us to lose it. Women should be pretty, thin, happy supermoms. It stinks.
   — [Anonymous]

February 16, 2000
This sugery is not a "godsend" to anyone. For most that have it done it is a major, life-saving surgery. Personally major sugery is not something I would ever consider just to make myself more socially acceptable. The weight loss that I have had from the surgery has eliminated all my co-morbidies including sleep apnea that was bad enough it was destroying my heart.
   — dboat

February 16, 2000
I think that there are a couple of reasons that women tend to be the ones having this surgery. Firstly, I do believe that it is tougher to be a fat woman than to be a fat man. My father and I are built the same way, and although he has a hard time in some ways being fat, he is still respected. A man is supposed to be large and powerful.(I'm talking about the Western perceptions of what should be; unfortunately, we are subject to them to a certian extent, whether we like them or not. We shall try to change society's perceptions, but it sure as h-e-doublehockeysticks isn't going to change anytime soon.) Another reason that I believe men don't necessarily seek this solution is this: Men don't ask for directions. What I mean is, a woman, if in a pickle, will have no problem asking for help; so, we go to the doctor if we find ourselves unable to solve our health-weight problems. Men don't, as a rule, go to doctors unless they get smacked in the face with their symptoms. They do this for the same reason that they refuse to ask directions; men are conditioned to 'tough it out, and solve the problem themselves.' When I told my dad that I was going to do this, he even remarked to me, that he didn't think it was for him, that all he needed was to 'get with the program'. I refrained from mentioning that he'd been trying to get with the program since 1978. The last reason that I think that there are more men than women is that men can get awfully overweight before they realize that they're fat. My husband weighs almost as much as I do, and yet insists he's not fat; people are beginning to ask when his baby's due! Women are hyper-concious of their weight and their health, having been trained from girlhood to watch both. Who among us didn't faithfully go to the gynecologist when appropriate? How many men go to a doctor on a regular basis?
   — Jennifer G.

May 23, 2005
A lot of good points brought up here, but not completely right. I'm 6'3" and 400 plus pounds (too fat to find a scale to weigh me), but nobody calls me "fat", at least not to my face. However, life is much more difficult than it was when I was around 190 lbs. It's harder to find work, as people think fat folks are "lazy". Even with a 155 IQ, I'm somehow treated as less "intelligent" than I was when I was thin. So maybe it's easier for a man, but by no means easy. Any way you wrap it, it still sucks. I also think WLS is more popular with women because the male ego likes to make us men think that we should be strong enough to lose the flab on our own, that we should use will power to overcome the problem, and that resorting to surgery in some way makes us "wimpy". But I guess surgery beats unemployment and/or death, which is why I'm looking into it.
   — Mike L.