Congrats on the weight loss, you look uhhh, terrible.

The BBQ Pit
1

Sis in law is back in town. She had her stomach lasered a year and a half ago. She was about 5 foot six and north of 300 pounds.

For the last 18 months I’ve been hearing about how great she’s doing, how good she looks, how much weight she lost, how much helathier and happier she is. I’ve been hearing that she’s now popular and has boyfriends and such.

Truth is, this pisses me off a little. I maintain my weight and health the old fashioned way. I exercise and eat right. I dislike the idea that someone can go and have their body recreated to suit their whim without having to do the work (I know this isn’t entirely rational, so don’t give me shit about it, ok?) Next thing you know people will go get muscle implants in their legs so they can run a marathon without having to train for 6 months to do it.

It pisses me off (I said that, didn’t I?) I was not looking forward to seeing my new and improved sister-in-law.

Well, I saw her, and all I can say is Dear God, what have you done to yourself?

She has indeed lost a 150 pounds.

Her face is absolutely sunken into her head. Her eyes rest deep in the sockets, and the area around them looks red and bruised.

Her skin is a sickly, greasy, bruisy looking pale yellow greenish.

Her arms have bags of skin hanging under them, and while wearing jeans one can see the pile of skin flowing over the waistband. Her breasts are like an old ladies.

That’s the top half. Scarily shrunken, and starved.

Her thighs and calfs are disproportionately large (I guess left over from carrying all that weight,) and she fills her jeans like an overstuffed sausage (admittedly these are much smaller jeans than the once were.)

Are you getting the picture?

From the waist up it looks like she’s been in a concentration camp, starved. The bottom half is still big.

I think a lot of the weight she lost must have been muscle. She still waddles and gets out of breath from a short walk.

This can’t be healthy.

I’ve never liked her, but now I feel genuinely sorry and concerned for her.

I can’t help but think that this procedure was grossly irresponsible. It looks like it’s killing her, and there’s no way that this is a valid alternative to exercise and nutrition. No way.

2

Ick. Sounds…weird.

I’ve always felt that the “stomach stapling” thing was the last resort for people who have either serious chemical/hormonal/genetic issues or just plain don’t have the willpower to do it the old fashion way.

However, I think that if she had lost the weight the regular way, she’d still be all stretched out and saggy, so to speak. Your skin doesn’t just find it’s way home again - once it’s there, it’s there. She’ll probably have to have some kind of plastic surgery to get rid of the excess.

Is she eating healthy, at least, or is she just eating the way she used to but in smaller doses?

3

I honestly don’t know. I only saw her last night. I saw her eat one of those Caramello bars, if that’s any indication. I wouldn’t make a blanket judgement on one incident, but it’s not a good indication.
BTW. I have seen people that were grossly fat lose the weight through diet and exercise. Yes, they got the loose skin, but they don’t look at all like this. This is really bad, IMO.

4

Frightening!

I seem to recall hearing something about Richard Simmons needing to have his skin… uhhh… tailored, if you will after severe weight loss. I have no idea if it’s true but nevertheless a rather strange concept to entertain.

Do you still hear the screaming of the lambs Clarice???

5

I dunno… skin is kinda stretchy. Women don’t have to get the excess skin hacked off after they’ve given birth. Although I guess there is a limit - 150 lb is a serious amount of skin stretching.

What the heck is lasered? Do they weld part of the stomach together?

6

Our skin is pretty darned elastic. When you lose weight, most often you do it gradually enough so that it has time to “shrink back” to its smaller size. (that’s one of many reasons it’s a good idea to lose weight slowly-unless you’re morbidly obese, which is entirely different) I suppose with people who have significant (100+) poundage to lose, they may have problems even losing weight slowly, but that’s beside my point.

This kind of weight loss (stapling, lasering, gastric bypass, etc.) is usually a significant weight loss in a very short time, and I think that it’s not that uncommon to have “loose skin” afterwards. I have a feeling that some of these patients probably do go for plastic surgery to get rid of the “flaps” if they can afford it or want to.

I think those drastic weight loss measures can be worthwhile when someone’s life is immediately in danger (although how they got that way is not necessarily biological, but of course sometimes is). But for most of us, it’s not the right solution. I’m with you, Scylla, diet and exercise is the way to go. And if we’d follow that to begin with, less of us would end up 300+ pounds needing that type of weight loss assistance.

:: steps down off her soapbox and heads off to her weekly Weight Watchers meeting ::

7

…but it’s an image I’ve always had, at least since the time when I was capable of putting together the concepts of “massive sudden weight loss” and “excess skin from it.” I always thought it would be neat if they could pull all the excess out to their sides and use it to glide through the air, like flying squirrels.

8

It’s ture that most of us can and do lose weight the old-fashioned way, but it is also true that most of us don’t struggle with morbid obesity, whether due to a medical disorder or not. Morbid obesity doesn’t respond to regular diet and excercise, AFAIK.

I have a friend who was in our wedding 7 years ago, when he was shifting about 350 pounds around. He had always just been a “big guy.” Now he’s up around 480 and is going to die. A previously undiagnosed problem has ruined his body, not to mention the strain on his heart. He is 33, I think.

Another friend lost a lot of weight several years ago, and now the skin around her stomach will not tighten back up, so she is considering surgery. She is also in her early 30’s. Skin is supposed to be more elastic when you’re younger, but hers isn’t & she hates the way it looks. Compared to her, my little stretch marks are nothing.

It sounds like the SIL was morbidly obese, you didn’t mention if she had a medical problem.

And the weight gain when you’re pregnant is usually minor- 20-40 pounds or so, which can be easily lost during the year following the birth.

9

Hopefully, this doesn’t qualify as “giving shit”, but until you’ve walked a mile in a morbidly obese person’s shoes…well, you know. Your idea works for you – and some other people – but not for all people.

10

Scylla, you’re a smart guy and I know your heart’s in the right place. So I’m not giving you any crap, I just want to give my point of view.

I weigh 320 lbs. I doubt anyone could keep up with my workload. Some people metabolically are different, and having struggled with this problem for many years, I understand. I once got to 185 using diet ( okay, I ate almost NOTHING!!) and excercise, and I looked and was unhealthy. My metabolisim isn’t such that I can maintain a “normal” weight. It takes nearly three hours of excercise a day for me, every day, to keep myself down to around 220 or so, and quite frankly, I’m way too busy for that. I once accidentally forwarded a month out of my PDA planner to someone, and they asked “how many people have to do all that work?”. Me. Often 20 hr days.

So as much as it may disturb you, do try to be supportive. This is probably the first time your relative has not felt like an outcast. If you’ve never been heavy it’s impossible to understand how much abuse you take. I’m happy for her and hope all eventually goes well. And consider yourself lucky that you don’t have that probem- think of having to chase mennonites weighing 300 lbs!

B.

11

Small gripe on this subject:
I was at a BBQ a couple of years ago, and I ended up listening to a couple of women talking about this diet and that diet (I think atkins was one). I’m hearing how they lost so many pounds so fast, but then gained them back etc. all of it was sounding pretty unhealthy. After about 30 minutes of this I put in my 2 cents by saying “have either one of you tried exercising?” The look they gave me almost froze my beer. My gripe is diet and exercise in moderation is good for you, going to extremes is bad. Just dieting won’t work to well. And if you have serious problems see a nutritionist or a doctor.

12

I don’t know about scylla, but I can’t imagine a morbidly obese person’s shoes would fit me well. Plus, they’d probably not be all that cushioned anymore.

Sorry, I’m a horrible person.

13

Yep. Sho’ nuff.

stoid

14

And, since I can’t get much lower, I’d point out that maybe the morbidly obese should try walking a mile in their own shoes. Or any exercise. I’m a little skinny guy, I don’t need to walk a mile in anyone’s shoes.

But, yeah, I see your point. While it’s tempting to say “just put down the fucking hamburger”, the reality is that it’s not that simple. For some people, surgery is really the best option, or even the only option. I really don’t know if what scylla described is healthy or not, but if it makes the woman feel better about herself, I wouldn’t really want to condemn it.

15

Yes, but from what Scylla described, the woman looks as if she’s at death’s door. THAT is scary.

16

Well, that doesn’t sound healthy no matter what you weigh. For the sake of your health, maybe you should consider slowing down.

17

For the record, not all obese people are lazy. I’m 300, and can do 5+ mile hikes anytime I need.* And not need an ambulance afterwards.

[sub]With good shoes. My current one’s don’t cut it.[/sub]

18

This is not a rant directed at fat people, or what works for them in losing weight or whatever.

There are plenty of reasons why I’ve had problems with my sister-in-law. This isn’t one of them.

I am appalled by her physical appearance. She looked, and acted much healthier when she was severely overweight.

I understand that people are not always overweight because they are gluttonous.

This woman was overweight because she ate junk, and ate a lot of it, and never exercised.

I don’t see what has been done to her as a viable solution. I can only imagine that this is just as damaging if not more so to her health, than when she was severely overweight.

I’ve told her none of this, but complimented her on her success and inquired about her exercise regimen. She has none.

19

I used to work at an old-folks-home. There were two women who lived there, NOT because they were old and retired, but becasue they were too obese to live on their own. So obese that they could only sleep on their side. With a constant O2 supply attached to their noses. The other employees and I had to check on them while they slept to make sure they were still breathing. Because they could become smothered by their own fat and DIE.

Ok, I said. Let’s give these women the benifit of the doubt. They could have a genetic disorder, or slow metabolism, or whatever. Then I watched them eat. They ate at least three times what the other people eat. Inhaled it. No friendly dinnertime conversation. SnortSnarfSmack Keep your fingers out of the way, they may get eaten. Dessert? Um, yeah. Between meal snacks? They were always in my kitchen, I think moving from their rooms to the kitchen was their entire excersize program.

But the kicker? What really made me give up the doubt? When they joined Weight Watchers. We cooked them special low-fat, low-cal and low-whateverelseyouwanted meals. Taking up our precious time to help them lose weight. They then proceeded to eat three times what they should have, eat between meals, not exercise, and suprise NOT lose weight! Ha!

Call me bitter, but I tried harder to help those women than they did to help themselves.

20

**

Having an operation like that is usually a last resort. It is reserved for those who are morbidly obese. Being that much overweight is carries with it all sorts of health problems.

**

That might never go away without surgery. I saw a guy on a medical show who had lost 200 pounds and kept it off for a few years. The skin surrounding his upper body was like a big “garbage bag” as he put it. So he finally had an operation to remove the excess skin.

**

It might be better then being 5’6" and 300+ pounds.

I’m pretty sure that people who have this procedure done are suppoes to see someone about a proper diet. When you have those operations over eating can become very dangerous.

Marc

Marc