Re:'s struck chord/ Chris (long)

[Guest guest]

Hi ya Chri, who wrote in part:

>>Any thoughts appreciated.

-- one who stopped dieting and starting loving herself years ago as a FAT

person

-- and one who has discovered there may be a life beyond intellectualism,

of jumping and playing

-- and one who may be having surgery soon<<

Oh yeah, baby-- I gave up dieting about 20 years ago-- right after the

first Atkin's craze-- lost maybe 40 pounds, then could not hack not

eating salads anymore-- you know the rest of that story. Bought BBW

magazine, decided that large and lovely was fine, and just got on with

life. But I was young and not in pain, then! And there were still things

I would avoid doing-- wouldn't put a horse thru a ride, avoided flying

except when absolutely necessary. I just refused to obsess about every

stinking diet that came down the pike promising to take all the weight

off-- what they really meant was " will take 10 pounds off a normie in

time for a big event " . These diets are in the category of " one size fits

all " clothing-- they really don't mean " includes the Massively Obese " .

When Optifast came down the pike, with Ophah's endorsement, I thought,

" well, if I can get off the extra 175 with this, maybe I stand a chance

of keeping it off with exercise! " -- long story-- nope. So I went back

to the -- " eat healthy foods and who cares " life. And watched in horror

as one thing after another started to go wrong-- knees give out, diabetes

happens, blood pressure creeps up and finally, this year, cholesterol

over 200 for the first time ever. Over the last five years (44 to 49) I

have had my lifestyle steadily eroded by the effects of being MO, not

just overweight.

I have known about WLS since the 80's and found the whole industry

horrifying-- I worked in a medical malpractice firm and got to read

medical records of folks who blew their staples. OH MY GAWD! these folks

went in to these procedures blind about their own food issues,( what made

them over eat, or need to be fat), their doctors colluded with their

ignorance, and they ended up with terrible health problems from trying to

overeat just a little and blowing out their staples. NO WAY JOSE< not

me! I had a clue about my food issues (thanks, optifast), and figured I

could out smart myself-- binge on carrots, or air-popped popcorn, not

pizza. And Never was I going to delude myself that I could solve a

psychological problem with a medical procedure. (fade to black, music

bridge)

Weelll-- maybe it is a psychological problem, but I can't solve it with

therapy-- lord knows I have tried! This MO thing is a multifaceted

problem. There is a genetic component, there is a psychological

component (don't fool yourself if you just said, " not me! " ) and there is

a physiological element that makes fat fight to preserve itself-- maybe

there is a virus-- I'm open on this one, and I hope they keep doing

research-- and there is a problem with our modern American diet of fast

food, high carbs and high fat that is basically unhealthy. ( But, there

are still MO vegans, you know!)

All I know now is that I am doomed to a wheel chair soon, and I don't

want to go there. I don't want the complications that are inevitable with

diabetes-- I'm going with both feet still on the ends of my legs, thanks.

I feel like I have painted myself into a corner and the only way out is

radical, serious surgery. Let's see-- hang out in this corner, or risk

all the complications and possible side effects of the new and improved

WLS called the DS.? That is a deceptively simple choice, a very hard one

to make, but one I had to make. Maybe in 10 years I will be kicking

myself for being an idiot-- but I cannot continue to live like I do now

for the next ten years if there is any reasonable alternative. I think

the DS is the most reasonable way out of this corner given what we know

now about being MO.

I get my date with destiny (in the person of Dr Anthone) On October 24,

2001. April 22, 2002, I will be 50 and I plan on dancing.

Nan E.

5'2 " , 368

20 pounds off in panni on June 13, 2001

DS date with Dr. Anthone in CA 10/24/01

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