Totally OT - I'm watching a show about severely obese people

[luvsJack]

Overeating certainly is the cause of getting to the Super Morbidly obese stage, but it is just SO east to put on pounds these days. Our food has changed more in the last 100 years than it has in the last 10,000 years. If you are making near minimum wage, it is SO difficult to eat healthy AFFORDABLE meal. i can get a Double Cheese burger, a French fry and a refillable soda for 2.99 at Mcdonalds or wendys any time. there is very little you can do to have a full healthy meal for 2.99. I know its no excuse, but it is just so hard to eat healthy if you dont have a lot of cash. Everything is processed, fake, fried, filled with god knows what kind of chemicals. I watched a movie , think it was called Food Inc. and it was great at explaining how much has changed in the last decade. And some people really do have slower metabolisms than other, you match that with little to no exercise and lots of cheap fatty foods and BAM you have an obese person. I wish them all luck, i feel so bad for them, they are literally trapped by their own body and that must be so hard, but these "caretakers" REALLY need to STOP and stop immediately feeding them these foods. Who cares if they have a tantrum, or get mad, its better that then have them dead....

You are so right about a healthy diet being harder to maintain on a strict budget. I am struggling with that now.

As for the caregivers, I do agree that they need to reach the point of just saying, "no you cannot have another burger". But, it must be terribly hard to see someone you love in that condition. And, it must be equally as hard to refuse food to someone that believes themself to be hungry. I mean if a person takes 8 Big Macs to be full, a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with an apple is hardly going to give them that same full, satisfied feeling. How hard would it be to tell you child that they cannot have another serving when they are telling you they are hungry.

 

[sk8jdgca]

This show then followed the 650 pound virgin- this guy lost his weight without gastric bypass. (he did have to have surgery later to remove the folds of skin)
I found the first show interesting in that no hospital would do the surgery, then she kept on searching until she found someone who would. Now that guy is getting lots of business with other large people going to him for bypass. I would like to knowhow she paid for this $30,000 surgery- who paid for all the emergency personal who were needed to carry her out of the house?.
I am Canadian and I know that one of the "scare tactics" that are being used against universal health care is that people have been turned down for care here and then have to go to US an pay for care. If a surgery is either hopeless or too dangerous, it won't be done here. I think in this case, this surgery was too dangerous to do (thus why no one would do it) and the doctor who did it was either looking for fame or more money.

 

[MIGrandma]

I watch these shows too, and I just don't understand how they got to the point they are. I am overweight myself, but I know I couldn't let myself get to the point of being so grossly fat that I couldn't get out of my own bed.

And I agree that the people who are their caretakers are not helping by giving them all the food they want. I remember one show where this extremely obese man had an upstairs bedroom and if his caretaker wouldn't give him food he'd call out for Chinese, and he had a basket tied to a rope and he would put that out his bedroom window, with the $$ to pay, and then pull up the food when it was delivered. His caretaker should have taken the basket and rope away from him and not given him any cash, then he couldn't be doing it!

 

[Kit'smommy]

Overeating certainly is the cause of getting to the Super Morbidly obese stage, but it is just SO east to put on pounds these days. Our food has changed more in the last 100 years than it has in the last 10,000 years. If you are making near minimum wage, it is SO difficult to eat healthy AFFORDABLE meal. i can get a Double Cheese burger, a French fry and a refillable soda for 2.99 at Mcdonalds or wendys any time. there is very little you can do to have a full healthy meal for 2.99. I know its no excuse, but it is just so hard to eat healthy if you dont have a lot of cash. Everything is processed, fake, fried, filled with god knows what kind of chemicals.

Sorry, but I feel that this is an excuse. Drop the junk foods, learn to prepare in season fruits and veggies from scratch or use frozen ones as necessary, and learn to prepare less expensive cuts of meat so they are tasty.

I can get 3-4 meals from one $12 or so roaster chicken for my little family (roast chicken, chicken salads or chicken salad sandwiches, and chicken soup.) I can often buy a good sized sirloin steak on special here for $5 a pound or so. I portion cut 3 reasonble sized portions of steak (5-6 oz) and serve them with baked sweet potatoes and a nice salad. The rest of the steak gets cut up for stir fry with carrots and snow peas (serve with brown rice) or vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Buy whole chicken breasts and make cutlets for chicken parm out of the best of the meat sliced off the outside of the breast. Simmer the rest of the breast until you can easily remove the meat. Shred it and drain well and add taco seasoning and some salsa and serve with flour tortillas and lots of lettuce and tomatoes. Much less expensive than buying a package of cutlets and you get an extra meal.

MacDonalds for my family of 3 definitely costs more than I spend for 1 or 2 carefully planned dinners or lunches.

 

[wenrob]

There's one teen that has been on TLC a few times, and his mother is a whackjob. Their relationship is so unhealthy. She made him that way so she could keep him dependent on her, and even after his surgery, she said things to him like "Billy, do you want pizza? One piece won't hurt."

This is my mother and younger brother. My bro was an iron worker and took a 3 story fall. Out of sheer luck he landed on his feet. The fall blew both his knees and shattered his pelvis and left wrist. At the time he was easily 300+ pounds. The doctors put him on a specialized diet to hopefully get some weight off of him to help his pelvis heal properly. Now I get hospital food is awful (I'm guilty of having DH bring me food in the hospital) but all my brother did was make a face and my mother ordered him a pizza. He ate and pizza and the hospital food. I wanted to scream at her, "Don't you realize you're killing him?!"

this is one of the misconceptions about gastric bypass surgery-that you have it and it fixes everything. that just isn't so. i am 5.5 years postop from gastric bypass surgery and i can say with 100% certainty, it is NOT a magic bullet. a person who thinks that this surgery will fix their penchant for junk food is SO sorely mistaken-it didn't fix mine. you have to WANT to get healthy, just like any other person on a diet, and you DO diet-for the rest of your life. many people think they can still live on junk, but less of it-that's just not how it works. i can see how this woman got to the state she was in-my DH loves me and wanted me to be happy, so before surgery, he fed me whatever i wanted, whenever i wanted-he was killing me with kindness. i am SO incredibly thankful to God and my amazing surgeon for giving me my life back, and i'm sorry this poor woman didn't get the chance, but yes, she and her family do bear the responsibility for the shape she was in, just as i did for myself.

So true. My bro did eventually have gastric bypass but even with counseling the bad habits are still there. He is never without something to eat, still puts away who knows how many super jumbo sodas a day and will immediately go to my fridge or cabinets to look for something to eat when he is here even if we just had lunch.

My sister who is also obese wanted to have the surgery but backed off when they required her to lose 25lbs first, the thought was too overwhelming to her.

Honestly guys, I don't think it's just a matter of deciding to make a change for some but an addiction. My sis told me that she has eaten in the middle of the night since we were kids. Once at her house she was making dinner and every time she stirred something she would take a bite. When I pointed out what she was doing she was stunned, she didn't even realize what she was doing. It's easy for us to say just quit eating so much but when someone is that far gone it's hard for them to dig themselves out, kwim? It's the same as saying to an addict, just quit doing crack! It's just not that easy for some. I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying sometimes people don't realize they have a problem until they're so far gone they feel it's hopeless.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Sorry, but I feel that this is an excuse. Drop the junk foods, learn to prepare in season fruits and vegies from scratch or use frozen ones as necessary, and learn to prepare less expensive cuts of meat so they are tasty.

I can get 3-4 meals from one $12 or so roaster chicken for my little family (roast chicken, chicken salads or chicken salad sandwiches, and chicken tacos or chicken soup.) I can often buy a good sized sirloin steak on special here for $5 a pound or so. I portion cut 3 reasonble sized portions of steak (5-6 oz) and serve them with baked sweet potatoes and a nice salad. The rest of the steak gets cut up for stir fry (serve with brown rice) or vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

MacDonalds for my family or 3 definite costs more than I spend for 1 or 2 carefully planned dinners or lunches.

I have to agree here. If we go to McDonald's it cost almost $30 for one meal. That isn't even supersizing it! Long gone are the $1.99 Happy Meals. They are now $4.00 and better. I can buy an oven stuffer, make dinner for 6, have leftovers for Chicken Salad for lunch the next day and if I really wanted to I could boil the carcass and make chicken broth, add in some veggies and orzo and have chicken soup. All for about $15.00.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

I have to agree here. If we go to McDonald's it cost almost $30 for one meal. That isn't even supersizing it! Long gone are the $1.99 Happy Meals. They are now $4.00 and better. I can buy an oven stuffer, make dinner for 6, have leftovers for Chicken Salad for lunch the next day and if I really wanted to I could boil the carcass and make chicken broth, add in some veggies and orzo and have chicken soup. All for about $15.00.

I also agree. McDonalds is a rare treat for us. I work, my husband works. Still it is too expensive for our family of 5. A head of lettuce is $1.99. A person could have several a day and it would still be less that Mickey D's.

 

[VillageMama]

I have to agree here. If we go to McDonald's it cost almost $30 for one meal. That isn't even supersizing it! Long gone are the $1.99 Happy Meals. They are now $4.00 and better. I can buy an oven stuffer, make dinner for 6, have leftovers for Chicken Salad for lunch the next day and if I really wanted to I could boil the carcass and make chicken broth, add in some veggies and orzo and have chicken soup. All for about $15.00.

I think fast food can be cheaper than healthy foods and I think that it can be more expensive... all depending on what you get.

But I think the main point here is that fixing inexpensive, healthy foods takes far more work. It's so much easier to go through a drive through and get a Big Mac and large fries.

Our society has gotten lazy and developed an entitlement mentality in so many ways (myself, included). We're not willing to take the time and effort to shop for fresh produce, wash it, chop it and assemble it into a tasty salad.

At some point you have to slam on the breaks. There is a weight at which I will not go over. I shouldn't even get to it. Some months I'm closer to it than others. But if I find myself reaching that weight, then I force myself to redo my eating habits and get some exercise.

It's not as indulgent as my do-whatever-I-want phase... but I start to feel better almost immediately.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that what you eat is important not so much where it comes from. I see the criticism of McD's but I didn't see anyone mentioning how they could order a 99 cent burger with a side salad or just a large salad to begin with. (Dressing on the side of course!) It's possible to eat better even at fast food restaurants so the blame doesn't really lie with them.

Many people are gluttons and love fatty foods. I'm like that myself and have to control what I eat at all times. I would truly love a Big Mac with fries and a milk shake. But I'm not going there.

 

[MizTink]

I watch these shows too, and I just don't understand how they got to the point they are. I am overweight myself, but I know I couldn't let myself get to the point of being so grossly fat that I couldn't get out of my own bed.

And I agree that the people who are their caretakers are not helping by giving them all the food they want. I remember one show where this extremely obese man had an upstairs bedroom and if his caretaker wouldn't give him food he'd call out for Chinese, and he had a basket tied to a rope and he would put that out his bedroom window, with the $$ to pay, and then pull up the food when it was delivered. His caretaker should have taken the basket and rope away from him and not given him any cash, then he couldn't be doing it!

reminds me of myself trying to get out of my bed this morning!!!! i moved the bed and my mattress is still on the floor instead of the frame!

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I could have written this post myself. I'm 2 years out and going strong but I do love junk food and it is a continual battle to choose the right foods. I continue to choose because I want to be healthy.

I lost 8 stone, never had surgery but I agree,Ive been this wt now for 4 years and EVERY day is a battle, some days I win some days i loose, but never the less it is very hard either way.

 

[honugirl]

Yesterday must have been "fat" person day on TLC and Discovery Health because I watched all those shows too.

I'm not sure how you get to be that size without noticing. I zoomed up from 140 to 210 in a matter of a couple of months. I realized something was wrong when I kept going to the store and having to buy new clothes every few weeks. It was pretty dang evident! While I didn't know at the time that I actually had a disease causing it (hello Cushing's Disease!), I did know that it wasn't right and I tried to get it off. When the stretch marks, hump, hair loss, fatigue, etc. set in, I knew it was something more than just typical overeating (which I wasn't doing. I know how to eat properly from being an athlete).

I guess my point is that I knew something was wrong right off the bat and didn't let it get any worse than it already is. My condition is stable now with medication in preparation for adrenal surgery. I'm not gaining anymore. I monitor myself very carefully. I balance how much exercise with what I eat (a tricky balance, my body isn't normal so too much exercise can actually increase my weight gain). I guess the X factor here with them is the families. My family does not enable me to gorge myself, even though my hormones want me to. Plus I had to have the sheer willpower not to give in to what my body was telling me, so I guess that's another factor with them. They just need to say no and put the food aside.

 

[luvmyfam444]

My MIL is one of those people - she had gastric bypass about 5 yrs ago - she lost around 80 pounds I guess but that's it - she drinks diet softdrinks like she was stranded in a desert & had nothing to drink. If she's @ a meal with other people (like Christmas with my parents) she won't eat much 'cause she says she's not hungry...but what she does is eat in the car before getting there. For example, we just went on a trip with her & she had quite a bit of Oreo cookies & Nekot crackers that she'd eat in the car & then when we ordered our meal somewhere she's say she wasn't hungrry -

And she tries to give my kids junk nonstop. I have to tell her no they don't need it all the time

 

[momof1princess]

My MIL is one of those people - she had gastric bypass about 5 yrs ago - she lost around 80 pounds I guess but that's it - she drinks diet softdrinks like she was stranded in a desert & had nothing to drink. If she's @ a meal with other people (like Christmas with my parents) she won't eat much 'cause she says she's not hungry...but what she does is eat in the car before getting there. For example, we just went on a trip with her & she had quite a bit of Oreo cookies & Nekot crackers that she'd eat in the car & then when we ordered our meal somewhere she's say she wasn't hungrry -

And she tries to give my kids junk nonstop. I have to tell her no they don't need it all the time

this is so sad. it breaks my heart to read of others who have had gastric bypass surgery yet they continue to eat as they did before surgery. a great surgeon will make sure their patient has psychological and nutritional support in addition to the surgical intervention, and this is how it should be. gastric bypass surgery doesn't fix the mind, it is only a tool one can use to lose weight, along with diet and exercise. a person must still be taught how to eat and amazingly, many people, including myself, never learned how to eat properly.

 

[maslex]

I am overweight myself and have thought of having a weight loss surgery done but I could never go through with it. I have a friend that had the lapband done maybe 2-3 years ago. She's lost about 130 lbs and looks/feels great. But I know she's not all that well. I see her at work everyday eating nothing but M&M's and chocolate milk. She tells me that when she eats "real food" that it's like it gets stuck in her throat and then she has to "get rid of it". She's thrown up most of her food each and every day and now has trouble with extreme acid reflux (from all the throwing up) sorry TMI.

I'm just going to take one step at a time, cut down on the portions (but still eat what I like...just not the whole bag of cookies in a day, KWIM?) and my main thing I need to do is get active. That is my main problem. So my resolution this year is basically to get up and move. I'm not saying that I'm going on a diet 'cause that never works. LOL

 

[NHdisneylover]

But I think the main point here is that fixing inexpensive, healthy foods takes far more work. It's so much easier to go through a drive through and get a Big Mac and large fries.

Our society has gotten lazy and developed an entitlement mentality in so many ways (myself, included). We're not willing to take the time and effort to shop for fresh produce, wash it, chop it and assemble it into a tasty salad.

I think everything you say is true. I also thinnk another factor is that many people in my generation (and younger) simply do not know how to cook. Lots of people my age (mid 30s) grew up eating TV dinners and having working parents who needed to cook "fast" after work and did not have the time to have us in the kitchen "helping." I know several people who truly feel they have "cooked" a meal if they make something out of a box or assemble a boboli style pizza. Many of these people truly do not have any idea how to go about cooking bread or soup from scratch, make a tastey vegetable dish, etc. Of course the right thing to do then is to learn, but for many people with our rushed lives the thought is overwhelming--and so many newer cookbooks and cooking shows also rely on boxed or canned ingredients that they are no real help.

 

[MIGrandma]

I used to work as a waitress in a diner that had a buffet, and a lot of gastric bypass patients had the card from their doctor stating they'd had the surgery so my boss allowed us to give them the buffet at half price because most of them would only eat a small amount of food.

But then there were those who still ate normally, even though they had the surgery and had the card. We were to watch them carefully and if they ate more than one plateful we had to charge them full price. A few didn't say anything about it, but occasionally someone would complain and we'd just have to say they were still eating as much as anyone else. I hated doing that, but if I had surgery and was still eating like I had before I would not even think about asking for a discount on the food.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I used to work as a waitress in a diner that had a buffet, and a lot of gastric bypass patients had the card from their doctor stating they'd had the surgery so my boss allowed us to give them the buffet at half price because most of them would only eat a small amount of food.

But then there were those who still ate normally, even though they had the surgery and had the card. We were to watch them carefully and if they ate more than one plateful we had to charge them full price. A few didn't say anything about it, but occasionally someone would complain and we'd just have to say they were still eating as much as anyone else. I hated doing that, but if I had surgery and was still eating like I had before I would not even think about asking for a discount on the food.

My surgeon doesn't give out cards and to be perfectly honest, I would be too embarassed to use one. I made myself this weight no one else. I'll pay a full adult price (even at Disney ) because I'm an adult. Who cares if I only eat a child's portion. I don't want it to be anyone else's job to monitor my food intake and that goes for my family and the poor waitstaff that would have to monitor it.

 

[redlight]

I used to work as a waitress in a diner that had a buffet, and a lot of gastric bypass patients had the card from their doctor stating they'd had the surgery so my boss allowed us to give them the buffet at half price because most of them would only eat a small amount of food.

But then there were those who still ate normally, even though they had the surgery and had the card. We were to watch them carefully and if they ate more than one plateful we had to charge them full price. A few didn't say anything about it, but occasionally someone would complain and we'd just have to say they were still eating as much as anyone else. I hated doing that, but if I had surgery and was still eating like I had before I would not even think about asking for a discount on the food.

Giving them a discount sounds like a really bad idea. It's giving them a special privilege that they didn't earn or need.

 

[luvsJack]

Its very easy to say that we wouldn't allow ourselves to get to that weight, but it is a totally different thing when you are the one dealing with that kind of addiction. I never thought I would allow myself to get to 225, but here I am. And I know that it would be just as easy to get to 325 or even 425. I am getting back on track now and trying to eat healthy and exercise but that doesn't mean I can say 100% that I wouldn't get to a heavier weight--no one can guarantee themselves that, especially if it is an eating disorder that they are dealing with.

It also very easy to say what we would do if we were the caretaker of one of these people. Totally different being there. The same as its easy to say we would cut off our drug addicted child--much easier said than done. Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing in the world to do.