Today I was part of a panel interview on ABC Radio Australia which also featured Samantha Thomas from Monash University (on twitter as @samanthastweets and soon to have a blog).

I don't think they quite got what they bargained for as we certainly weren't there to sell weight loss to the pacific. Have a listen and let us know what you think.

I made the recording myself so sorry in advance for my twitter client making all sorts of noises during the recording.

 

As a male member of the Fat Acceptance community and as a blogger on this site, I have been contacted by the media to talk about fat acceptance or being fat in general. I'm more than happy to agree to these requests where I'm sure that it isn't just a chance to put down fat people for being fat. I have no interest in helping the media reinforce the negative perceptions which were created by the media in the first place.

People have commented on how confident I sound and how I have the capacity to communicate my points clearly and in an manner that is easy to understand. It probably comes as a surprise then to learn that I actually have problems speaking on the phone or in person with people I don't know. I'm hopeless at face to face communication with someone I don't know when it is a social situation. If I don't have to do it, I don't seem to do very well at it.

Perhaps then it is my passion for Fat Acceptance and how strongly I believe in it. It's because of my unwavering belief in myself and those around me. Let me tell you this is wrong. Very wrong. Very recently I've been struggling a bit with how I feel about my body. It's very easy in these times to fall back to old habits and believe that all my problems are because I am fat, and therefore weight loss is the solution.

Yesterday I was in the chemist and they have a weight loss program that they run there. I saw the after picture of the lady who had completed the program and she seemed so happy with herself. I want that happiness, so surely by drinking nothing but shakes and losing 75+kg I'm going to be just as happy as her.

Somehow I doubt it.

Happiness comes from within a person. How many unhappy people do you know who aren't fat? Does the height of a person affect their happiness? What about their race? Does the fact that I was born in November mean that I'm more or less happy than Natalie, who is born in December? Think about it for a minute instead of sprouting the rote learned answers that the media/your friends/your parents/society have conditioned you to have.

I'm not a psychologist. In fact, I struggle to spell the word correctly without a spell checker. If I asked you to think about what makes you happy and unhappy, you would find two things (or at least I did). I feel happy or unhappy when a) someone does something/something occurs/something external to me makes me feel happy or unhappy or b) when I think something/feel something/something internal makes me feel happy or unhappy.

Being fat doesn't make me happy or unhappy. People's reactions/thoughts/words about me being fat make me happy or unhappy. How I perceive the fact that I am fat make me happy or unhappy. And really since you have to process the external stuff as well as the internal stuff, it's how you process it that determines how you feel about it.

"Wha? It's all my fault that I'm unhappy? Should I just accept being discriminated against?" No. But you decide what you feel about it.

I can decide to feel sad and retreat inside myself. Alternatively I can calmly explain to the person why I think they are incorrect in whatever they've said (or done). There will be times where I just decide that the person isn't going to get it, so I choose to not waste more time and more on. I can remain happy because I realise within myself that I am fat and that this doesn't mean I need to be unhappy or feel inferior and that is all that really matters.

Sometimes I will not feel happy about being fat. It's true that society is designed around the "normal sized" person, whatever that is. There are things that I want to do that I physically can't because the designer has said "Thou shalt not be fat." Other times, I'll just feel fug in my clothes and blame being fat, instead of raising up against the fashion designers who decide that a tent is perfect for a fat man to wear to work.

But it doesn't make me any less committed to the Fat Acceptance movement. Sometimes you have to fall over, feel like crap and then get up again. It doesn't mean you failed.

It means you're human.

EDIT: WOW GUYS! In less than 24 hours we have reached our goal. Thanks everyone for your donations.

Natalie has been accepted as a presenter at the Fat Studies: A Critical Dialogue conference to be held in Sydney on September 10th and 11th. Unfortunately we have to pay for her to get down there, a fee to attend the conference and also accommodation costs. Right now that's looking highly unlikely. So we've come to ask you for your help.

Natalie will be presenting her talk "You Sound Fat: Fat Embodiment Online" which will discuss being a blogger and being fat online. Natalie is well versed in blogging, posting here as well as on definatalie.com which as recently been selected for archiving by the National Library of Australia. Natalie is also fat, so who better to speak on this subject? That's right, no one.

Any money you can give to help us get Natalie to Sydney would be appreciated. You'll get the gift that keeps on giving - knowing that the voice of the online community is being heard in academic circles.

Natalie will need around A$650 to pay for her flights, accommodation and the conference fees. Any additional money raised about this amount will be put back into the running costs for Axis of Fat and Definatalie.com. So any dollar that you can spare will help no end.

Donate now by clicking the PayPal Donate button below and help lady who I love, and I know many of you love as well, get to the Fat Studies conference and raise her voice for fat bloggers everywhere! We'll post an update in a week or so to let you all know how it is going.

I'm currently laying in bed feeling a little under the weather. I've never really found a comfortable position to lay down and use a laptop, but this is as good as any.

This week there has been a lot of talk regarding Mia Freedman's recent blog posts on gainers and how she believes they are glorifying obesity. I have no intention of linking to the post; you can find it through a Google search but I have no intention of providing any more readers to that blog post.

Those of you who know me well know that I don't take a lot of time out of my day to read the blogs of the fatosphere. I certainly don't read Mama Mia, which seems to be a blog about women's fashion, body image and similar. The first I had heard of the blog post and the ensuing debate was yesterday morning when contacted by a producer for the Steve Vizard radio show on 3MTR in Melbourne.

So despite my ignorance, I read the blog post and it actually seemed pretty innocuous to me. Then again, I've read on a few other sites that it has been edited to tone down the language. The comments are still full of fat hatred and I would think that someone in Mia's position would realise the need to moderate the discussion to remove the blatantly fat phobic comments.

She also didn't do herself any favours by suggesting fat activists had eaten a "big bowl of crazy for breakfast" in one of her comments. Actually, that entire comment seems to show that she doesn't understand fat acceptance.

So what is fat acceptance? This will mean different things to differnet people. To me, fat acceptance is about learning to love and accept yourself for who you are, no matter your weight, shape and size. It is also accepting and respecting people no matter what shape or weight they are. If we were to throw in the idea of accepting people no matter their religion, colour, or ethnic background you could really turn "fat acceptance" into "human acceptance".

The reason for a separate stream called fat acceptance is that there are issues that affect fat people that don't affect those discriminated based on their sexuality or colour or religion. We may share some issues but we don't share them in the same way either.

Some of the issues that I notice being a fat person is:

• The assumption that being fat, and therefore calling someone fat, is offensive.
• Being fat means you are disorganised, unclean and somehow defective.
• A fat person cannot be fit and healthy.
• Fat people must change themselves to fit the norms that are decided by the rest of society.
• Fat people should be blamed for sky rocketing health costs.
• A fat person cannot expect to go into a clothing store and find clothes that will fit and look good on them.
• A fat person should expect that any health issue they suffer is because they are fat. Mental health included.

As I mentioned earlier, a producer for the Steve Vizard show on Melbourne's 3MTR contacted me regarding the Mia Freedman incident. I did a phone interview with Steve and while we did touch on the Mia Freedman issue a bit, most of the discussion was about what fat acceptance really is and what it means to be fat. Have a listen and let me know if you think I got it right or not.

Being a fat activist means that I am fighting these issues and more every day. I don't blog about this every day but it is important to remind ourselves regularly of what issues we face. I've noticed that LGBT groups get together the protest about the right to marry and that other groups have held protests over the years to fight discrimination. It's weird that fat people don't feel the need to get together and fight this stuff 'in the field'.

Perhaps fat people are used to being put in the corner. Perhaps we feel it is our deserved place; after all that is what everyone tells us.

What do you think?

Tonight on Australian TV I've seen at least five ads for The Biggest Loser. Not for their tv show, but for their weight loss website and weight loss products. Enough! Add onto that the Jenny Craig (for men, mind you), Weight Watchers and other crap that they are pushing towards me and I just want to scream.

Do they have any idea who they are talking to? Oh right, they do.

There are millions of people out there in Australia who are insecure about their bodies. This number comes from the fact that most people I know have some insecurities about their body. Even I do. I just don't run to the nearest weight loss product advertised and spend up big on something that won't work.

Others do. Which is why they put this crap on air to start with.

What I would love to see is a program that discussed healthy eating. Not "You have to stop eating to lose weight, fatty." What I'm talking about is information on the foods that are nourishing. What is there out there that I haven't tried before? Show me different ways of making different things with the foods I already cook with.

If the risotto requires copious amounts of butter and oil, that's fine. Butter and oil is nourishing just as much as fruit and vegetables are. I wouldn't eat a block of butter in a day, but that's because I could think of nothing worse to try and do. Not because I've got some devil mask wearing health freak going "oooh obesity epidemic" telling me what to do.

Don't make people feel shame for being who they are. Let them eat as they please. Educate them on healthy, nourishing food and show them all the different things that are out there to eat.

Food is neither good or bad. It is food. It's not about weight loss. It's about eating in a way that makes you feel good on the inside and look good on the outside. That's possible at 60kg and it's possible at 160kg.

Today I'm going to talk about Health at Every Size and what this means to me. I'm going to mention the word diet a few times along the way. Right now so that there is no confusion, I want you to interpret the word 'diet' as meaning "what someone (or something for that matter) eats" not "the restriction of food intake to try to lose weight". All animals have a diet, like squirrels live on a diet of nuts and berries (or so cartoons taught me). Humans live on a varied diet depending on which region of the world they live in and how plentiful different types of food are (or conversely, what little food is available).

What is Health at Every Size? Wikipedia lists these three components:

1. Self-Acceptance: Affirmation and reinforcement of human beauty and worth irrespective of differences in weight, physical size and shape.
2. Physical Activity: Support for increasing social, pleasure-based movement for enjoyment and enhanced quality of life.
3. Normalized Eating: Support for discarding externally-imposed rules and regimens for eating and attaining a more peaceful relationship with food by relearning to eat in response to physiological hunger and fullness cues.

The first one is what the fat acceptance movement is all about. Learning to become comfortable within your body and accepting who you are RIGHT NOW! Not in three weeks time, or in a couple of years or "when I've lost 10 kilos/pounds/<insert unit of measure here>" but just as you are. I think this is something that we should all be looking to achieve. I'm sure there are skinny people who don't accept themselves either!

The second component is physical activity. It should be activity that you enjoy and that you do to enhance your life, not because someone says you have to do it to be a better person. Many people (me included) enjoy walking or running or jogging or cycling. Some dance and jump about, or play team sports. It's about moving to have fun and enhance your life.

The final component involves diet. Eating food in an intuitive way and trying to determine what works for you. If you feel sick after eating a packet of chips, then you probably need to reconsider that. Does fried food give you the shits (literally)? Then perhaps abstain. Do you come out in a rash when you try and eat a salad? Don't bother!

It isn't "thou shalt eat 1200 calories a day, spread over 6 meals exactly 3 hours apart" like I've seen some at work do. It means eat when your body wants you to or needs you to. Eat what you think your body wants you to, and listen to the outcome. Work out what works for you and what doesn't work.

Due to reflux, I don't have chocolate, coffee, tea, tomatoes, too much oil or fat and some other things. I feel sick if I have them. I might lose weight because I'm not eating these things, but perhaps I'll substitute them with other foods that will mean I maintain my weight. The goal is to eat as much nutrient rich food as my body requires, and it takes time to work out your own body cues.

Something that I feel that the Health at Every Size movement is trying to promote (as well as the fat acceptance movement) is that just because I'm fat doesn't mean I should be treated differently. Therefore when I go to a doctor, the doctor should treat me for my symptoms/illness and not just go "lose weight, fatty". It also means that when you go to your doctor and they suggest a treatment option that doesn't work for you (like weight loss surgery) that you tell them this. 

If the treatment your doctor is suggesting is proven to work for the illness in question, you should consider it carefully and probably latch onto it for all it is worth. I'm not a doctor so I'm not providing medical advice. If doctors provide the same treatment options to you as to a thin person, that's all we can ask for.

I think it is important to remember that everyone is different, so some things will work for you and some won't. Crap happens.

What I don't get is this: a doctor tables treatment options for an illness such as weight loss or a change in diet or move physical activity where the same options would be suggested to others that aren't considered fat. I think sometimes as fat people we get triggered as soon as the "weight loss" flag is waved. Perhaps the issue is the "weight loss" tag has a stigma.

I guess my point is that sometimes when you are unwell, your doctor is going to say "you need to change what you are eating' or "you need to get some more physical activity" in order to get better. As long as it isn't "ok, so since you are fat you are sick" but "you are sick and the best treatment options are...", I have no issue with that.

The fat acceptance movement is not the Heath at Every Size movement. Many people who consider themselves part of the fat acceptance movement do not subscribe to the three components I've outlined above. The common ground we share is that first one; accepting yourself as you are.

Anyway, that's probably quite enough for now. I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the issue.

So you might remember that Today Tonight did a story last night on fat fashion within Australia, featuring an interview with moi! Well someone has kindly uploaded the video to youtube, so here I am in all my television glory.

By the way, it's actually not all about me. They also talk to Fashion Hayley as well.

ETA: The youtube video was removed. Once I can get another version I'll add it back in. ETA ETA: Finally found one!

Hi guys,

I thought you all might like to know that I'll be appearing tomorrow night on the Australian current affairs program Today Tonight. If you aren't in Australia, I'm hoping to be able to link/embed a copy of the story once it has gone to air.

Otherwise, tune in at 6:30pm tomorrow night and check it out. I'd love to tell you more about the story, but I'm sworn to secrecy. Lets just say that I wouldn't post it on this blog if it didn't have something to do with the blog theme. ;)

Today has been a really interesting day. If you are reading this post, you probably have seen my post from yesterday where I posted the story of a lady who had gone through weight loss surgery. You've also probably decided to continue reading this blog. Good for you.

I'd like to give you the balls and all story of Nicholas Perkins, at least as it relates to my weight issues, how I came upon Fat Acceptance and HAES, and why I blog on here. Perhaps it will give you an idea of why I come here and post stuff, including yesterdays post which caused so much controversy.

I'm a fat man, which probably isn't surprising as why would a skinny bloke be on here blogging about Fat Acceptance and trying to find clothes that fit. I've been fat ever since I can remember, probably even back to being four. I remember a story Mum used to tell of me falling over in the main street of the town I grew up in one day and skinning my knee. I was crying like any four year old would. My mum couldn't pick me up and carry me to the chemist to get a bandaid. She told me to get up and walk because "I can't carry you - you're too heavy."

Throughout my life I was picked on as the fat kid. All of my friends from when I were young would tease me. It's what little kids do and I can look back on it now with rose coloured glasses in some cases. They all know better now. There are some that hurt me way too much that I would never forgive though.

Being picked on at school because I was too slow to run away was fun. Having rubbish bins dumped on my head and being kicked in the nuts was fun. Being taken to the principal's office and getting sent home from school because I retaliated against such attacks is fun.

My mother tried to help me lose weight. She was doing what she thought was right, but really it ingrained in me a deep sense of guilt. It was all my fault that I was fat, and I had to do something about it. She didn't say it, but it sounded like it. When I move out of home, she bought me a Dr Phil book about taking control of your weight. I'm sure it's still in the bookshelf for the day that I might need it.

I met the woman of my dreams and married her last year. She is fat, just like I am. She struggled with this when I first met her and she still does today, just like I do. She trumped over the evil crap that society puts onto you by having a fat and proud wedding and she looked very f*cking fancy. You'll have seen the pictures on a previous post.

My wedding day for me was awesome but it was mixed with a private shame. I was fat and I was ashamed of making my wife look so bad. Why didn't I try harder to lose some weight? Why didn't I exercise more and do the right things so that I would look my best on my wedding day?

My wife discovered the idea of Health at Every Size and Fat Acceptance in the last year or two. Slowly over time she spoke to me about the things she was finding, and she got the Kate Harding book "Lesson's from the Fat-O-Sphere". The change in her over time was amazing as she grew more confident within herself and more accepting of who she was - fat.

She started to talk to me about these sorts of issues too and when I would get down on myself about my weight, she would tell me to stop it and think of it differently. Think about being healthy no matter how heavy you are. I started reading more into it, including blog posts and videos that she did. Eventually she talked about forming the Axis Of Fat with her friends, and I said I wanted in.

Why? Simple.

I wanted to belong to a group where being fat was ok. I am who I am and I love me just as much as a skinny person is allowed to love themselves. I could come on here and write about how I was feeling coming to terms with being fat and proud and trying to live a life which is healthy and still fat loving. It's hard, and I struggle every day with the deamons of "you aren't perfect; you are fat." To that I say "Bullshit".

I'm not an expert on Fat Acceptance. I'm here to learn. I'm here to say what I want to say and to get feedback in return. There is little point attacking me because it does me no good. Point me in the right direction instead. Give me some good material to read. Convey your arguments in such a tone that I want to read and understand your view.

Feel free to say "I'm offended, because.... You should read this, this and this as it will help you to understand my point of view" and I will. I posted my previous post on weight loss surgery because I took away this simple message.

It doesn't matter whether you lose weight or not. It doesn't matter what you do, who you are, what your background is. You need to learn to love yourself. Doreen has had surgery and is still learning to love herself. It didn't fix that. Going on a diet and losing weight will not make you love yourself. Skinny people don't all love themselves either.

Learn to love yourself and those around you. We are all at different places in our journey. I don't claim to be a font of knowledge or a leader in Fat Acceptance. I claim to be but one man in a sea of fatties trying to have his voice heard, not shouted down.

WARNING: SOME PEOPLE HAVE FOUND THIS TRIGGERING

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The media have recently been looking at weight loss surgery, including lap banding and gastric bypass, as the solution to the "obesity epidemic". Since I've never had weight loss surgery, or met anyone who has, I put a call out on Twitter looking for people to tell me their story, either good, bad or indifferent. One person answered the call.

Doreen from San Diego, California had gastric bypass surgery seven months ago. I asked her some questions regarding her experience with weight loss surgery. I thought her answers so so well written that I should just let you read them as she wrote them. So without further ado...

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What prompted you to consider weight loss surgery? (e.g. doctor's advice, friends and family, something you saw in the media)

To fully explain why I made my decision I need to tell you a little bit about myself.I grew up in a large family. My maternal grandparents had 10 children and by the time I was born most of them had kids so I was one of over 30 grandchildren. Of all of them I was the only fat kid. The rest of my cousins are all willowy and small whereas I somehow inherited the bulk of my Father's genes. His family lives on the other side of the country so they weren't a big influence in my life at the time. The only fat people I knew growing up were one of my aunts and the older ladies at our church.

Through the magic of a young mind & too many Disney movies I basically believed that I was destined to be my family's ugly duckling. One day I would wake up thin & lovely like my siblings and then my real life would begin. As such I lived my life waiting for that magic day. I wore shorts with elastic waists in horrible colors & shirts with puppies, kittens & teddy bears from the Kmart plus section. It didn't matter what I wore because nobody was looking at me anyway.

Cut to high school, my parents have divorced & I finally start to wake up & come into my own. It has to be the result of many converging factors. Years of well-meaning relatives giving me diet books and workout supplies; trying to live on cabbage soup & pepper; my Mom getting a Lane Bryant credit account so that I could get semi-stylish clothes that fit me & my new friend, Candis. Candis came from a family of fat women. She, her Mom & her 2 sisters acted more like roommates than mother & daughters and more importantly the were all fat & all unique. I would love to say that my friends were years ahead of the times and had accepted themselves & loved their bodies but it's not true. They were just women who had tried everything and were still fat. They were resigned to it. It had never occurred to me to be okay with being fat before. It was mind boggling.

I slowly began decide that I was okay. I was smart, pretty and well-spoken. I began to dress well, speak my mind & was even the Co-Editor-in-Chief of my High School yearbook. Still I was by far the fattest person in my social circles. It's like I was thinking, "It's okay to be fat but not this fat." I would still try to exercise & would start a new diet every few weeks but it was always with a resigned sense of impending failure.

I started seriously considering a gastric bypass after I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. I started falling asleep at my computer, at work, even in my car in traffic. It was pretty scary for while. I thought I was Narcoleptic. I redoubled my efforts to exercise and eat well. I bought a treadmill & join Nutrisystem but a year later nothing had changed. I was being to lose hope so I went to seminar about Gastric Bypass. I went by myself and didn't tell anybody. I debated with myself for almost a year before I sent back the paperwork to start the approval process. I was 3 months into my required 6-month, medically-supervised diet when I told my family & friends what I had decided to do.

Ironically it was while researching gastric bypass online that lead me to the Size Acceptance community. At this point I had completed all the steps to get approval from my insurance company & I was just waiting for a surgery date. I briefly considered stopping the whole process but I had come so far & I was afraid that I might not get another chance. I've done a lot of research and I believe I was as well-prepared as possible. I believe I went into the process with a realist expectation and I am happy with the overall results.

I was also afraid that the other people in the Size Acceptance movement would see me as hypocrite so I spent many months just lurking around the websites. I finally got up the nerve to join in the community and found everybody to be wonderful but I haven't come out and told everybody that I've had surgery so this may change some of that for me.


What expectations did you have of the surgery?

I tried very hard not to have unrealistic expectations but I have to admit that the "ugly duckling" ideal has still cropper up a few times. A part of me still expects to find the perfect dress to wear to that conveniently timed gala event where everybody I've ever know will see how fabulous I look.

I feel I should confess that since my surgery I have starting taking an antidepressant. I think that I've always been mildly depressed(obesity & depression are a bit of a chicken or the egg situation in my mind) but I think the fact that I KNEW that having the surgery wouldn't make my life all sunshine & roses and then, the fact that it didn't caused me to spiral into a depression shows just how pervasive these ideas can be.

For the most part I got exactly what I expected. A few weeks of living on mainly chicken broth & creamy soups followed by cottage cheese & eggs. I lost a lot of weight very quickly & was able to start doing more exercise. I am surprised at how much more I enjoy the exercise, especially since hearing a skinny girl talk about how much she loves her aerobics class usually makes me want to claw her eyes out.


Did you feel it would be THE solution to your weight issues or something that would work combined with other changes?

I do feel that this was THE solution for me. I know that the reason I ended up as heavy as I did was because of my eating habits & my sedentary life. Don't get me wrong, as I said above I got my Dad's genes so I was built to be a big girl but wasn't genetics alone. I was binge eater. When I was stressed, sad or even just bored I would eat massive amounts of food sometimes to the point of making myself sick. Once I got a car, my physical activity was usually limited to my part-time retail job & the occasion trip to the beach.

Gastric bypass has been referred to by some as a "fresh start" & I agree. This is was I needed. Given all I had learned about nutrition & exercise over the years I knew I could be successful if I could just get a good start. After all of my "failures" with diets I needed something that I was convinced would work(almost like Dumbo's Magic Feather). The biggest reason I was so convinced that gastric bypass would work for me was because after surgery your body will usually produce a lower amount of the Ghrelin hormone; which is what makes that little voice in your head go, "I'm hungry!" Without the constant thought of food in my head I am freer to live my life.

How long has it been since you had the surgery?

7 months.


How did you feel after the surgery was done?

I felt great. I've always been remarkably healthy, even at 400 lbs my cholesterol & blood pressure were near perfect. I was up and walking around just a few hours after surgery. I took 4 weeks off work to recover(mostly because I could). I felt a little light headed & tired for the first few weeks but once I was able to start eating protein shakes & soft foods I felt really good.

Mentally I was ecstatic. The weight came off easily & didn't feel hungry at all for the first few months. It's actually been fun looking at food in a more abstract manner. My tastes have changed a lot so I've been trying new things and wondering what I enjoyed about certain guilty pleasures.


Did you have many complications following the surgery?

Very few. As I mentioned before I am taking antidepressants to treat my current chemical imbalance. As far as I can tell it is pretty common for women who've had this surgery or who have lot a lot of weight quickly to take antidepressants. Studies suggest that excess estrogen will trigger depression(because being a woman isn't fun enough already?).

I've been lucky when it comes to food. There are very fews things that I can't eat. Even sweet stuff like chocolate doesn't usually give me problems. Only stuff that's really carb-heavy, like rice & potatoes, upsets my stomach regularly but I'm always careful when I try something new because I never know. Just a few weeks ago a scrambled egg gave me stomach ache for half a day.


Do you feel like you achieved what you set out to by having the surgery?

I can't say that I've achieved my goal yet. When my surgeon originally asked me what my goal was I had no idea what to say. I knew I would never be the 135 lbs that is considered the "Ideal Weight" for a woman my size but what did I want to be? Eventually I decided that I wanted to be under 200 lbs. This meant that I would need to lose 200 lbs. Now I'm 7 months out & I've lost 150 lbs. I currently weigh about 250 and to be perfectly honest I think I could live the rest of my life at this size & be happy. I'm still losing weight but the more time I spend with the Size Acceptance community the less I care about the number on the scale and the more I just want to go out & do things.


Would you recommend it to other people who are considering weight loss surgery? Would you recommend it to anyone or only to particular cases?

Given everything I have heard & seen with regard to weight-loss surgery, both online & in real life, I wouldn't make a recommendation to anyone. There are too many risks not to make the decision for yourself. For me, it has done everything I wanted it to do and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Only time will tell if I can maintain my weight loss without further complications but I am optimistic and I have no reason to think that my life won't be everything I want it to be.

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This is just one woman's story on weight loss surgery. If you have your own story, why not drop us a line on twitter or leave a comment and we would be happy to help share your story too.

Whilst Doreen is very happy with her choice, there are many different opinions on this subject. If you want to read another view on weight loss surgery (this time lap banding), you can check out a recent post over on Fat Lot of Good.