Oprah ate my inner skinny person.

[Alphabetize 57]

Hilarious post. My surgeon actually used her as an example in the intro class I took. Basically, if WW and a personal chef/trainer/etc can't help her keep it off, that says something. It definitely does, but what does she care? She's making tons of money, and we all keep falling for it.

Not anymore.

[Elaine The Great! 23]

Awesome post! Good luck with your consultation and next steps! Oprah is always gonna have the struggle, she is a food addict and her "taking the high road" about WLS is just a crutch.

I will have to gently disagree with the "rant" about fat acceptance. Plus Size women have made huge progress in the fashion industry and just in general. I follow a lot of plus size bloggers and models, and they take a constant beating from people who are so cruel; the health "experts", the fitness fanatics, and just mean people in general.

For a long time, I was one of those BBW in all my glory. I found my confidence, decided to love myself, and made peace with my body. I wear two piece "fatkinis" (can we just do away with that stupid word?) at home, and have a vast collection of swimwear and assorted accessories.

My reason for surgery was because of the increasing pain in my hips and back that are mostly weight related. I'm looking forward to there being less of me physically, but I'm keeping the lessons being obese taught me, regardless of what the numbers on my scales and clothing say.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to buying smaller "fatkinis"!!!

[katieroybal 183]

I've been on the fence with body acceptance. On one hand, damn right! We should all love ourselves and forget anyone who has anything else to say about it. On the other, I feel awful and don't want to accept how I am right now. I think the movement is good for bringing awareness to the shame that society puts on obesity. Public health tried to shame people into quitting smoking until it realized that shame doesn't equal behavior change. So I mostly agree with the body positive movement while keeping an eye open for societal change effects. I'm curious to see how it is playing a role in marketing to plus size men and women.

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[FayBee 285]

I think Mainly what bothered me is that people would always say to me that I carried my weight well, and even the counselor I had to go to was trying to convince me I didn't need the surgery. She kept saying that you should accept your body the way it is and not everyone's body is meant to be thin. Well why do I have to accept it? Isn't not accepting the reason most of us are having surgery or had surgery? Imagine we took that approach to other aspects of our life. Like a career or marriage. Would you just want someone to say hey who cares if you hate your life or your job or your marriage just love it and accept it and be happy. I feel like we are being fooled to give in.and now that the fashion industry finally understands they can bank off of plus size clothing while charging double all of a sudden everyone is extremely "accepting".

[WantToBe 77]

I also think body acceptance is a good thing. There are some people that truly do not have problems being large and they should be allowed tondo so without being ridiculed by our thin loving society. Me personally am not happy being morbidly obese nor do I want to be a diabetic or not be able to care for myself.

I had a lap band for 11 years and lost 100 pounds. I had problems and had it removed I still have 100 more to go and want to use another tool so I'm not doing what I've done all of my life but I'm getting the sleeve.

It is sad to see Oprah fail at weight loss so often and with her $$$$ and contacts it is all very sad.

I'm scared to have surgery but for me this is how I can help myself have a better future.

[LVGhostgirl 84]

LMAO! I felt and still fell this way about Marie Osmond!!!! LOL!!!!! It gets way better after you surpass their weight loss ....

[melyssafaye 181]

I have always been a body positive person and I feel that loving our bodies is super important. I think where the disconnect happens is that many people think "acceptance" means "this is how I am and I can't do anything about it".

In reality, acceptance is that moment when you are able to acknowledge where you are and embrace yourself with compassion.

I was always proud, attractive woman and have been over 200lbs since high school. I maintained at 235 for 20 years-gaining during my two pregnancies and then losing back to what I can only assume was my "set point". In spite of having a Bmi of 40, I wanted to see models who were curvy and I wanted designers to make clothes that would fit me. I wanted to express my style at any size.

Over the past 5 years, however, I began to gain a little more and no matter what I did, I couldn't shift it. After lots of research and soul searching, I had VSG.

Even as I'm losing, I accept myself and my body. Right now, I need all the compassion I can muster for my inner (and still outer) fat girl who is terrified of what this drastic change means for her.

Our relationships with our bodies is so complex and complicated. I wish Oprah the best but I don't understand why she doesn't have WLS. With all her money and all the work she has put into losing weight, you'd think she'd try something that has a better chance of working.

But still people say it's the easy way out while running out to buy whatever dad diet pill is on the market that promises to make you lose weight with no diet or exercise. Go figure!

Edited April 21, 2016 by melyssafaye

[lfw57 17]

I've watched Oprah struggle with her weight since the 80's, and I've come to the conclusion that having money doesn't mean you have better access to information than the rest of us "mere mortals". In my desperate attempt to lose weight I researched nutrition for years but I never even looked into understanding the facts about surgery, because I thought, like most people do that it was taking a drastic and "easy" approach. Then a close friend had the sleeve and my doctor, who I trust suggested I look into it, and I learned the facts. I was surprised that with all my work to educate myself, I was ignorant about this. So I'm guessing Oprah my not be aware or have strong biases, like I did. My surgeon told me they struggle to influence primary care doctors, even with several quality, peer reviewed studies that prove the success of WLS.

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[mrsdoubtfire 33]

Has Oprah ever talked about WLS and/or why she has not done it? I'm just curious. When I first started thinking of WLS she is the first person I Googled because I wanted to see what her reasons for NOT having it are. I couldn't find anything.