This week's Embarassing Fat Bodies - wow!

[lorraineA]

Did anyone watch this last night?

A woman had a BMI of 79, a massive hernia and a growth of fat cells the weight if a child!
She was put on "lockdown" for 3 months and put on a VLCD to get her safe for surgery.

Fascinating as well as terrifying to think how anyone can let themselves get like that. Could happen to anyone though I suppose.
Thankfully we have found S&S !

 

[meoww]

started watching last night, going to watch the rest now.
Its funny on these programs the doctors use VLCDs, there was a programme on a few years back looking at the positive side of VLCDs

 

[lorraineA]

The state the woman was in I don't think there wax any other option. Looking forward to tracking her progress through the series!

 

[noodles1609]

Ours is not to judge the reasons why....

That poor lady had gone through the humiliation of going onto national tv in a desperate attempt to get some help and she got a telling off for eating too much. She already knew that, then she was put in "prison" for 3 months and fed shakes. At no point did anyone address her plea for help - how does she stop doing what she's done to get to that stage, how can she stop it happening again.

Last nights show has made my mind up to get myself trained in CBT so I can help people to help themselves in these situations, how "fat" people are treated by the media appalls me!

 

[lorraineA]

Let me just make clear that I was not judging her or anyone else on the programme. As I said it could happen to any of us and I am just glad I have hopefully found a way to solve my weight problem.

She clearly had deep rooted problems as she had already had 3 failed gastric balloon ops. The lockdown may have been extreme but as the consultant said it was her last chance to prevent end stage super morbid obesity from which she would be extremely unlikely to recover.

I sincerely hope the team of experts the programme gave her access to managed to help her and will watch the programme with interest

 

[meoww]

yeah after watching the rest of the programme, it was interesting enough but at the same time didnt help, all it did was stress the problems caused by obesity, then the people in it lost some weight and they were like yeaah I eat fruit now instead of chocolate, like its just that easy..!
there are not many fat people who misunderstand whats good for them or not, we eat the wrong thing even though we know its wrong, thats the problem.
But the thing is, the doctors on that programme are not psychiatrists or psychologists and that is what many people need help from sometimes.

 

[noodles1609]

Any of the folk that go on these programmes could be members here, or could just be looking around for support and happen across MM, I hope if any of them did they wouldn't read anything that would make them feel less welcome than the rest of us, that's all

 

[lorraineA]

Thought it was actually interesting seeing Dr Christian actually gain some understanding of how it feels to be obese - and he was only carrying an extra 3 stones! He ought to try being as big as some of us on here lol

 

[Mo-Jo]

It was awful what she had done to herself wasnt it , hope the lockdown works out for her but realisticly tho after 3 failed attempts at gastric ops its crystal clear she doesnt wanna help herself isnt it.

 

[Lulu1964]

I keep missing this programme, when is it on and what channel please? Maybe I can find it on catch up...

 

[lorraineA]

Monday 9pm Channel 4 but repeated tonight at 11.15pm

 

[Lulu1964]

cool! thanks Lorraine

 

[meoww]

Its on 4od too (online)

 

[weasey]

It was awful what she had done to herself wasnt it , hope the lockdown works out for her but realisticly tho after 3 failed attempts at gastric ops its crystal clear she doesnt wanna help herself isnt it.

I doubt that she doesn't want to help herself. I haven't seen the programme but there aren't many people who are happy being so large that it causes serious health problems. Food is a mood altering drug and people can get addicted to it. I should know - I have definitely been addicted and am still fighting against it now even having reached goal. I suspect that many of us here also suffer from this. Addictions are very hard to fight, even when physcological help is available. They can be beaten though, but judging someone who has tried and tried and is now trying again isn't very helpful. Does it matter if it takes 10 times to solve the problem as long as it gets solved?

There is a real social problem with food addiction. It is looked down on by society and it's acceptable to look at someone who is larger and call them names or say that it's their own fault. This is so pervasive that the people themselves who suffer from food addiction often say the same things about themselves. This is not hellpful for anyone and certainly doesn't help people accept that this is a serious problem which needs to be given attention without judgement. Do we judge the sports enthusiast for the money they cost the NHS when they break their leg playing rugby? They may well be addicted to the endorphine rush after exercising - but we judge their behaviour as 'good' and people's food addiction behaviour as 'bad'. When we judge other people I think we need to stand back and look at ourselves and why we're making that judgement. It says far more about us then it does about them.

 

[meoww]

Its very true, I really think there is not enough emphasis on the psychology behind why people are eating too much/wrong things etc.
Lets not forget how society doesnt help such as supermarkets putting loads of rubbish on offer by the till to make you grab it, more and more people struggle with their weight these days from that too. And the rubbish hidden in food loading up the sugar levels.

 

[Mo-Jo]

I doubt that she doesn't want to help herself. I haven't seen the programme but there aren't many people who are happy being so large that it causes serious health problems. Food is a mood altering drug and people can get addicted to it. I should know - I have definitely been addicted and am still fighting against it now even having reached goal. I suspect that many of us here also suffer from this. Addictions are very hard to fight, even when physcological help is available. They can be beaten though, but judging someone who has tried and tried and is now trying again isn't very helpful. Does it matter if it takes 10 times to solve the problem as long as it gets solved?

There is a real social problem with food addiction. It is looked down on by society and it's acceptable to look at someone who is larger and call them names or say that it's their own fault. This is so pervasive that the people themselves who suffer from food addiction often say the same things about themselves. This is not hellpful for anyone and certainly doesn't help people accept that this is a serious problem which needs to be given attention without judgement. Do we judge the sports enthusiast for the money they cost the NHS when they break their leg playing rugby? They may well be addicted to the endorphine rush after exercising - but we judge their behaviour as 'good' and people's food addiction behaviour as 'bad'. When we judge other people I think we need to stand back and look at ourselves and why we're making that judgement. It says far more about us then it does about them.

there was no name calling weasey , you didnt see the show before getting on your self righteos rant but the woman had had 3 gastric bands and chosen to still eat *6 spoons of rice when other had 3* in her own words so clearly she wasnt willing to help herself.

 

[MissAmyMarie]

there was no name calling weasey , you didnt see the show before getting on your self righteos rant but the woman had had 3 gastric bands and chosen to still eat *6 spoons of rice when other had 3* in her own words so clearly she wasnt willing to help herself.

I agree MoJo. I don't agree that it's not our fault for being obese or overweight. I know, I've been obese. I can't blame anyone else for what I put in my mouth, I wouldn't dream of blaming anyone else. At the end of the day many people have a bad relationship with food and use it as a comforter but that doesn't justify having THREE life changing operations and getting back to the point where you have to be locked away in an attempt to save you from yourself. You can guarantee on here if one person got the chance to have that operation they would make the most of it and wouldn't allow themselves to get into that sort of situation again. Normal sized people may be quick to judge but too many people are also quick to take the moral high ground just because they have been or are overweight or obese.