I am happy that you lost your 100 pounds and are feeling better about yourself. However, please don’t pretend that getting gastric bypass surgery is a testament to willpower and courage. Please don’t go on Dateline and show Jane Pauley how you can still eat anything you want to, just less. Your not eating less because you are disciplined but because your stomach is the size of a fucking egg. And filling that egg with chocolate sauce covered creme cakes on national TV is not a good example to set for your viewing public. Health is not determined by fat alone you little turd. I’d find it easier to believe that you really gave diet and exercise a chance had you refrained from eating the fried butter sticks during your cooking segments. You are not brave, or a hero, or a shining example of the power of the human will. You had surgery.
I’ve no idea who this Roker character is, but, on the basis of the OP, I (who am currently attempting to shed considerable surplus poundage by the boring old “diet and exercise” method) cordially invite him to break his diet and bite me.
I wonder if he would be so proud if he had had liposuction.
“Look at me! For only $4000, I had one hundred pounds sucked right out of my fat ass! I feel great! And I can eat anything I want, because I can afford to have it done again, if need be!”
He’s the weatherman on NBC’s “Today” morning news/entertainment show. For years he was severely overweight. He finally admitted that he couldn’t get his love of food under control well enough to lose weight. He took a vacation from the show and without telling anyone involved with it, underwent this “stomach-stapling” procedure. Since then he’s lost a very significant amount of weight.
I sympathize with his struggle, and with making a fairly significant decision in his attempt to try to keep his health. That’s not a simple surgery to undergo. (I believe it’s the one OpalCat just had, as well.) I also feel bad when I hear him recount stories about people telling him basically “Don’t lose too much weight, that’s who you are” - like he’s this “fat guy” deep down even.
The problem I have with it is the network’s flogging of this as some major news item. Yes, it’s a somewhat unusual surgery, and the public could stand some education about it. But I don’t think we need the interviews asking him about his ‘food addiction’, recapping the whole process, and so on.
I’m also squeamish about him still being out talking about eating really unhealthy foods, like he was when he was in Chicago, visiting the local NBC affiliate station. Sure, treating yourself to something nice is fine now and then, but the message that’s getting out to the public overall seems to be (and not really through his fault I think) “If you’re too fat, you can just get surgery - then you can be thin and eat bad food still. Isn’t he inspirational for triumphing over his weight?”
I know this couldn’t have been an easy decision for him. I’m glad that he’s lost a lot of weight that he said was creating health problems for him, but I hope he’s eating well - and I hope no one sees this as some “cure-all” for being overweight.
A Google search for “al roker exercise” turned up nothing. A Google search for “carnie wilson exercise” turned up lots, mostly because she’s got a low-impact exercise video out, and she mentions the benefits of exercising in every interview.
When I was a member of Weight Watchers, I knew more than one severely obese member who had previously undergone gastric bypass surgery and then regained nearly all the weight they’d lost.
In fact, one of my good friends had the surgery at 350 pounds, lost 150, and then ballooned back up to nearly 450 pounds.
They came to Weight Watchers when they realized that surgery alone was not going to cut it. Most of them said that they felt they’d been misinformed by their doctors about how much effort they’d have to put in after the operation. I don’t know whether that’s true, or if it’s a case of hearing only what you want to. In any case, drastic weight gain after weight reduction surgeries isn’t uncommon.
Well, that depends on the type of surgery they had. If it was the old school stomach stapling (UNlike Carnie and Al’s surgery), then, I would believe that. Also, if it was a Vertical Banded Gastroplasy, this surgery is notorious for a ruptured staple line and patients gaining it ALL back.
But gaining ALL of the weight back after the Roux En Y (which Carnie and All had) would take YEARS and extremely poor eating habits, and perhaps a rupture of the pouch. There is a possiblilty of weight gain with that surgery, but not ALL of it, except under extreme circumstances.
Al Roker needs to be more responsible with what he tells the public about this surgery. Some people can NEVER eat a sweet again and some can eat almost anything (in limited quantities). Carnie Wilson has it right and is more responsible about her surgery. I can just see thousands of people running to the doctor to get this surgery because “Al Roker can eat everything and not exercise!” It’s not magic and it’s a lot of work. It’s also not the “easy” way out.
I found out today that a dear friend died last night from post-surgical complications after having this procedure. For people to misrepresent this mutilation and put it in the same category as a tummy tuck is dangerous and very, very wrong. Any abdominal surgery is inherently risky due to the potential for deadly bacteria in the intestinal tract to be released into the body, as well as the disruption of the proper operation of the digestive system. This is the metabolic equivalent of putting a penny in a fusebox. Any profit-hunting, surgery-pimping son of a bitch who passes this off as a safe, easy way out is a fraud and a disgrace to their profession.
and The_Raven, That is horrible that your friend died. I hear about these stories every once in a while and it really scares me. I’ve seen a surgeon about it and I’ve been thinking about it for almost a year now. I’m in a support group for people who have had or are thinking of having the surgery and there was one woman who came to Albany to have her complications corrected. She had it done in some backwoods hospital and was in a coma after her surgery. Her doctor NEVER suggested her to quit smoking, take vitamins, exercise, start eating better, see a psychiatrist and a nutritionist, have numerous tests done (EKG, endoscopy, blookwork), etc.–all things that my doctor demands of his patients. She couldn’t believe the difference in the level of care and after-care that Albany Med. requires. I still have my doubts about surgery, but my mother had it done three weeks ago and, while she struggles with developing good habits, she came out of it feeling like she did the right thing. I’m glad she made it, because I was worried about complications and even death. I’m really, truly sorry about your friend. The media need to take care about what they say about this surgery. It seems like it’s the celebrity flavor of the month, like having Botox injections or something and not for the serious, last resort that it really is.
