Just curious--Anyone ever watch my 600 lb life?

[Larra]

There are definitely enablers involved for most of these patients, as well as relatives who would prefer for them to remain SSMO for their own reasons, and these are the people who make rude, insensitive, and outright cruel comments that I want to choke. But I hope seeing this side of the picture helps people understand some of the difficulties faced by MO people. Where it does or not, I don't know.

On the other hand, Biggest Loser is one of the most exploitative shows on TV. I refuse to watch.

 

[Tabitha]

I HATE Biggest Loser with a passion. The way Jillian Michaels talks to those people makes me want to reach through the screen and strangle her.
There is a weight loss show I do like though, and that is Extreme Weight Loss, with Chris Powell. He makes them take a year to lose all their extra weight, and he actually cares. He doesn't humiliate them or scream at them. He is compassionate.

 

[Larra]

I think that's what bother me the most, the exploitation and humiliation. I don't care what someone weighs or how they got to that weight, no one deserves that. This is why I refuse to watch that show.

 

[Charris]

I just keep seeing the commercials. I had planned on watching it last season but some how didn't. I was really wondering about the doctor. You hear so much about the different

I watched it once and was so disturbed by it I don't think I can ever watch it again. At the time I watched, I was just a few pounds from 400 myself.

I also stopped watching those shows after they never addressed the "feeders" enabling those people. Once they are bedridden, they must have someone feeding them. Those people need watching and therapy, IMHO. Or just a good swift kick. Something.

On another note, I absolutely HATE The Biggest Loser show. IMO, the biggest loser is the person who thought up this television show, which is a very spectacular way to humiliate obese people yet AGAIN. First time I saw them weighing them I about had a stroke. (Those of you who know my aversion to scales understand and sympathize).

Funny Sheanie that you mention the feeders because I made the same type argument with my daughter. Stating that if they are bed ridden the cooker/feeder could help with the over eating. My daughter said she would continue to feed the people in the inappropriate manner that they feed the people because she wouldn't want them to cry or feel bad. I was like yea I'm sure you would feel a lot better when they die because you continually over feed them.

 

[Larra]

The feeder business is troubling but sometimes more complex than it looks. Some of these enablers have their own agendas, either conscious or unconscious reasons why having the other person SSMO works in their lives. Others try to shop/cook/feed appropriately but the bedridden or otherwise disabled person browbeats them endlessly if they don't get the food they want, and the enabler eventually caves in. Some of these relationships are complex. I definitely agree that some of these people would benefit from therapy themselves, but I guess that's not the emphasis of the show.

 

[Fatherof2]

Dude when I think of bed ridden I think that somebody has to do poop duty... That in itself is enough for me to quit the feeding business!

 

[Sheanie]

Yes, the feeder is the mystery component in the whole situation. Definitely a psych issue, manipulation by the bedridden, guilt for the feeder. I know how good it makes me feel to have everyone at the dinner table say "good supper mom". I'm sure the positive reinforcement by the obese bedridden person plays into it also. The most manipulative person I have ever known in my life (54 years soon) is estranged from me. She was also the funnest person to be around. She is a professional "user" to be sure, and the master manipulator. But fun? Hell yes. The most exciting person you'd ever want to hang with. As long as you're paying.

 

[KathyF]

I am watching the new episode of this show. Interesting that they revised her from a failed lap-band to a gastric sleeve. I had assumed that they were just doing RNY.

 

[Munchkin]

One of the first shows before the series was I think, John's Story. I think he was 16 or so and had the DS. It was only OK but to make it TV marketable they will change anything and everything they please. It's all about sensationalism and ratings, not dissemination of correct information.

 

[Sheanie]

Just read the blurb about the one on tonight. It says she didn't leave her basement for TWO YEARS. That's some heavy-duty feeder responsibility there, not to mention the clean-up, unless there was a bathroom in the basement. Doesn't matter, though, if they aren't mobile we're talking bedpan duty. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "enabling".

 

[KathyF]

They showed her taking a shower, so there must be a toilet. She was mobile enough to get up and get around the basement. She was on oxygen. She had real difficulty going up stairs though.

 

[Larra]

There was clearly a bathroom in that basement, and she was able to get around, albeit with great difficulty. I wonder if in this case they did a sleeve because her surgery was done somewhat urgently and she was in such bad shape that they went with a quicker and simpler operation. Also, she had some other bariatric procedure before the band which failed completely, don't know what that was, and perhaps that complicated her current operation somehow.

 

[aaa]

I've watched it since the beginning a few years ago.

 

[Gary A Hunt]

I really liked theMy 600 Pound Life shows cause it is a reality that you can gain it all back if you dont do it right . So it put the fear in me to be careful ! What I just can't understand how could Donald go from 678 pounds and go down to 209 pounds and gain back 400 + with a tiny pouch and RNY.... to eat a lot of carbs and I thought you would cause dumping to help you not eat carbs even w/ a small pouch and gain that much wieght back . I don't get it

 

[Paula]

It's honestly not as hard as you think, Gary. First thing is that not everyone with an RNY dumps. I didn't with mine, which is why I cringe when I hear that a potential RNYer plans on using dumping as aversion behavior modification. I think it's a piss poor psychological situation to begin with, but what happens after if you don't dump as everyone assumes they will? Trust me, it happens and Id dare say more than you might think.

Second thing is pouches stretch and/or the stoma at the bottom of the pouch can enlarge. The second is what happened to me. An enlarged stoma means that pouch empties just as quick as it is filled. Essentially it becomes useless. And with very little to absolutely zero malabsorption further down the intestinal line (unlike what we have with our DS), everything eaten is absorbed by the body.

As someone who put back on over 100+lbs. of the original 200lbs. lost with my RNY, Donald's story isn't surprising in the least. And Id dare say that judging by all the RNYs that get revised to a DS, others probably aren't surprised by it either.

Just one last thought (hence the edit): no WLS can fix the battle that goes on between our ears. It works on our bodies, not on our minds. And that coupled with a surgery that might not have provided the right tool for a guy like Donald...or a woman like me...makes weight regain a very real possibility.