Had a gentleman join our water aerobics group that weighed at 685 lbs. He also lives across the street from me in my condo. He has a beautiful wife, two precious boys. Sad to watch him come to the pool, get in. Once he's in the water, he's fine, but heart breaks to see how he suffers trying to be mobile getting in and out of the pool. At least he's trying, but he left our group and went to another water group more comfortable for him.

I guess I don't understand why the enablers would continue to feed someone 5000 calories a day to a person who is or almost is, stuck in their bed. They need a brush on a stick for hygiene for places no one can see. Just the bed sores alone would inspire me into giving them several GOOD meals a day and High tailing it out of there IF they decided to get out of bed for a chase.
I agree its an addiction, a broken love record in their head, stubbornness, selfishness, or depression. Something that needs to be addressed, not ignored or made excuses for. And that's what the show is for, to help. I can almost always tell when it's going to work or not. Something about how they look lovingly at their food as they eat. Like it's the love of their life. The way they hold the plate close or tower over it. The way they chew non-stop and have another bite ready so they don't have to slow down. It IS a love affair with food. Until they see food in a new light, its likely they will regain, even after surgery. I'm not wanting to put them down but learn something from this debilitating habit. I wish we could hear more of what happens at the doctors office and the nutritionist's.

I haven't seen this show, so I can't comment on it. But I will agree with Chi that it is more than just an addiction to food. Almost every morbidly obese woman I have seen in the hospital setting has mental health concerns, many many times due to sexual abuse as a child. I'm not saying everyone, but many. When I worked at a facility that did ECT (shock treatments) I quit reading the extended history in the charts because it was just too sad. Pedophilia angers me so greatly because the outcome for most survivors is not good, whether it be food or drugs or alcohol or promiscuity that they use to hide their pain.

I agree, I don't get where all the money comes from? I suppose it's SSI? Yes it's the same addiction as drugs. We recently buried my young niece that could not break the pain killer addiction...heart breaking. She just took pills all day long, it started out with a bad back. She just could not stop taking the drugs, I think the more she took, the more she needs to kill the pain? No one in our family can understand the brilliant woman's addiction. Eventually, her body could no longer function and just gave out. But my niece seemed to be addicted to everything...food was also an issue for her. Some people have a very addictive personality. If you aren't addicted, you just cannot relate to the way their minds think.

I have also noticed that once they get this bypass surgery and are trying to eat smaller and healthier meals that their families are still eating junk food in front of them, what are they thinking. How do these family members expect this person to eat healthy when they are still dangling this food in front of them.

The family members are often addicted themselves. Everyone knows they should eat right, but actually doing it is a different story, as shown by our obesity epidemic.

You also have to take into account editing. Producers are looking for some drama to make the show more appealing, sad to say. There might be some behind the scenes prodding going on.

I seem to remember that people who are underweight as newborns are more apt to become obese in childhood. I'm only guessing, but... Loving parents focus on weight gain in the baby. There's intense focus on food and approval for weight gain during early mother-child bonding. There's no intentional abuse, but this may create a lasting imprint on the baby (and family).

Isn't the classic Mama constantly cooking and feeding people, asking, "Did you eat?" (Heaven forbid you should refuse!)

"I agree its an addiction, a broken love record in their head, stubbornness, selfishness, or depression. Something that needs to be addressed, not ignored or made excuses for. And that's what the show is for, to help."

The one glaring problem I've noticed with the show is that a pre-surgical psychiatric evaluation as well as a plan for on-going therapy for the patient and his/her family is not part of the process. The doctor talks a lot about the patient's physical/medical readiness or issues, but nothing about the emotional management of the surgery and its aftermath. It's like he expects that the patient will have no problems following the revised eating plan and losing the weight after the procedure, failing to take into account that the procedure is not at all fail-safe depending on therapeutic issues.

They actually do have a psychiatrist that works with these people. They haven't been showing it on the program but the Doctor has one on his team and she was always on the old show...

If that's the case -- where every patient is evaluated and has regular follow-ups -- they really do need to show it on every show.

My guess is they get section 8...Medicaid disability and food stamps....and use they're disability on car payments and food

The show is on tonight, Wednesdays. Dish channel 183. I like watching it. It got me thinking to lose weigh too. I have no idea how they can afford it or the food. Maybe someone seeks them out and offers to pay to be on the show.

They are getting bigger....started out about 600 lbs, saw a guy who was about 1000 lbs, I am amazed some of these people can walk at all, or even stand up. It must take tremendous effort to diet and exercise from such a high starting weight.

I can't understand where the money is coming from to buy all this food, it must cost a fortune to feed a body that size and it seems that the rest of the family have weight issues too. They never mention that anyone is working in the family and yet they drive these expensive cars, trucks and SUV's. I wonder how the show compensates them.

The people on this show are such sad individuals. Often I have to fight tears watching their struggles. People both inside and outside their families can be extremely cruel. The one lady whose husband didn't want her to lose weight because he's attracted to huge women I think was something she fabricated in her mind, or to cover for his attitude. Personally, I just think he's a *****. 5 letter word, starts with a p and ends with a k. Yep, that's what I think!

I have yet to understand how men or women are attracted to the overly obese. Its a lot of work and money to keep that weight up and keep them clean too. Do they think no one else would want them?

Yes, its very sad on how they are treated, but you always think they did it to themselves.

I may not be 600 lbs, but I understand how you can slide into this. I've got family who are huge. Most are emotional eaters. Once you get past 300 or so pounds, you become much more sedentary, and then the pounds really pile on. It doesn't take a lot to keep the weight on if you are not walking more than a few yards a day.

Self esteem is horrible, and you beat yourself up, let alone have to shoulder cruel remarks from family and strangers alike. I am a large woman - I have just been cleared to begin dieting and walking again after 1 1/2 years of horrible leg pain due to an injury. I also have severe food allergies and can't eat most diet things normal people can. Yes, I packed on the pounds, and I am an emotional eater. but I have lost 13 lbs in 6 weeks and I am thrilled. I intend to keep on...

HOWEVER, just last night my husband asked me to buy a birthday treat for his mother. Since we are both dieting, he didn't want to buy a whole cake and refuse to share it with her once he gave it to her - and she certainly couldn't finish it. This is not a temptation for me, because I am allergic to the ingredients in it.

I went to the local grocery store famous for jumbo cupcakes that are elaborately decorated. I picked out one special for her. When I got it to the cash register, the cashier dropped the container and asked the bagger to get another. While the cashier checked out my other items and I waited for the replacement, a snide guy behind me in line said loudly, "REALLY??? Do you think you NEED that???" I was flabbergasted, and horribly embarrassed - turning several shades of red. I began to tear up and the cashier tried to make it better by telling him to be patient...all I could do was mutter to her that it wasn't for me and I hadn't had a cupcake in over 10 years!!! I certainly can't eat store bought cake! Frankly, I wanted to go home am bury my sorrows with food, but I held out -- shaking like an alcoholic trying to stave off drinking a beer in front of him. I can't avoid food for the rest of my life. His cruelty was uncalled for and could have made me quit.

Have compassion, but don't enable if it is family.

P.S. gastric bypass is very dangerous and your life afterwards is altered forever.

P.S.S. People can and do love you no matter what your shape.

I can't understand how people feel they have the right to make such cruel statements. I wonder what he would have done if you had turned to him and burst into tears. Do you think he would be embarrassed? What a jerk!

loonlakelaborcamp - I am so very sorry that you had to endure cruelty such as that. Like murraysmom, I don't understand how anyone can act in such an appalling manner! You had a great 6 weeks. I know you'll be successful for the next 6 as well! I wish you all the best!

I think part of it is no nutritional education. A lot of these people eat a lot but also you hear the comments I was eating healthy. They don't understand portion size, calorie content and what may look like a small portion to them of some what healthy food can be riddled with tons of calories.

People with eating disorders are poorly misunderstood. People can go either way overeat/under eat. I have first hand experience with anorexia. People think it is just a matter of eating. Well just eat some food, have a cheeseburger, have a milkshake you will be fine. Where as with an over weight person just don't eat as much seems like a reasonable response to people, get some exercise whatever. It just isn't that easy

People with Anorexia/Bulimia have too much control. They usually have no control over what is going on in their lives but can control food and how much they eat, don't eat, how much weight they can lose. It becomes an obsession to lose weight because it is one of the only things that makes you happy, to see the scale go down. Getting treatment for it is actually not as easy as getting treatment for being obese. They also usually have a great understanding of calorie content of each and every food out there.

People who over eat have the opposite problem, they have no control. They get that good emotional feeling from eating, it comforts them where an anorexic/bulimic gets stressed over anything that goes in their mouth. People who over eat don't generally know how many calories, fat or whatnot is in what they are eating, they only know that when they eat they feel good for a few minutes and then the guilt kicks in and makes them want to eat more to combat the crappy feeling they got from eating in the first place it is a vicious cycle. I know a few people who are extremely over weight. The ones you see on that show are also emotionally crippled a lot of times. I think they shut down and think they can't walk do whatever because in a way they get the attention they have been seeking. If they aren't getting the love an emotional support, they feel loved by people feeding them and caring for them and they fear if they get better that will stop. (This is strictly my opinion) They also get so overweight that it becomes painful to move. I have friends who are overweight who complain about walking, going upstairs whatever and I tell them if you get up and do it you will build muscle and you wont hurt so much doing those things but they just wont listen because honestly they just see me like they do everyone else who is berating them for their weight when really I am trying to help them but they sink their heels in the ground more when you make a suggestion.

As far as how they can afford to eat that way. Sadly high calorie, carb and fat laden ed food is usually much cheaper than healthy fruits and veggies and lean meats. You eat more because it burns off so fast and your hungry again. As far as the fast food a lot of fast food has those dollar menus to make it much cheaper to buy more unhealthy food.

I would never judge a person on their size, addiction or anything because I don't know what is going on their lives. I have never been in their position. I can only judge myself. If people had more understanding of people going through these things I think it might be easier for people to get help. Every time some one makes a negative comment to them it just reinforces their emotional state and makes them want to eat, do drugs, smoke whatever. I also live by the rule People in glass houses should not judge lest you want to be judged too. Because honestly no one is perfect and I am sure other people see things about you they might not see in a positive light.

About 2 weeks ago there was a documentary on PBS that featured a group of women that were all close to or over 400 pounds. It chronicled their journey through weight loss surgery and the effect on their lives. Brought by Indepenant Lense, it was called "All of Me".

This group of ladies were all part of a club called BBW or Big Beautiful Women. They had meeting and conventions were the men were included. These men love the very large women and often found them on soft porn sights. Is it a fetish? Probably no more than men who like red heads, big busts or long legs.

When the women had surgery, lap band or gastric, some husbands were not happy about it. One lost his first wife after weight loss to another man. The women's lives and eating pattern changed also. Some had trouble keeping food down, some missed the old foods they ate before, and some did well with the new lifestyle. Some just gave up.

As for the cost and payment of the food, it appeared that they had good jobs or husbands with good jobs. None appeared to be on disability or welfare. All had saved up for the cost of the surgery as insurance did not cover it

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/all-of-me/.

"And a THIN drug addict or alcoholic is treated with far more compassion, empathy, and even respect than an obese person."

I don't think so. I've been sober for 42 years & trust me, I got no compassion or empathy back then & there was no reason I should have. And while there is food addiction, it is not exactly like drug or alcohol addiction. It is totally impossible for a druggie or alcoholic to take even a tiny bit of drugs or alcohol but it is possible to control food. IMO, it's more psychological for a food addict whereas, there's a BIG physical component that the chemicals trigger in a drug or alcohol addict. No way, can I have a glass of wine. No way can an addict have a little heroin. Food addicts have to change what they eat but they still eat. I can't change from drinking beer to Scotch & then I can control it. That's the difference.

There are food addict groups based on AA's program & it helps a lot of people. I haven't seen the show being discussed but I hope the folks on it check out these kinds of groups for ongoing support.

In some ways it seems easier to completely avoid something - like drugs or alcohol - than to daily have to eat but not overeat.

It took me a day to tell my husband of the incident - just so I could dispassionately tell him -- he was livid! He was surprised I didn't talk back to the jerk, but then he realized the comment was such a sucker punch that I was momentarily devastated. Now I am just ticked....

Totally avoiding an item is really not as hard a trying to moderate its use. I can not eat corn and all its forms. If I eat it, I have severe allergic reactions. I can easily avoid it if it is placed in front of me. However, given a non-corn alternative, it beckons, calls, lures me. It is a constant daily battle.

My friends in AA agree that I may have a harder time avoiding overeating than they do avoiding alcohol. They even have told me how many addicts will exchange one addiction for another. They joke about how much coffee, how many sweet rolls, and how many cigarettes are consumed at/near their AA meetings. All are "addicting", but at least are not alcohol.

Just finished week 7 - have lost 14 lbs even. By the time this year is over, I hope I will have developed a whole new lifestyle eating/coping pattern.

Loonlake, while I agree that food can be addicting it's not usually meat and healthy fat sources that "call people's names" rather it is processed carbohydrates. Have you thought of a low carb diet? Where the only carbs you eat are certain lower carb veggies? Dr. Atkins was way before his time, and still vilified by unbelievers today, but the science doesn't lie.

I like the show too. I like to watch my 600 pound life while laying on the couch, and I watch cooking shows when I'm on the treadmill or elliptical. (Is that backwards?) I have struggled with weight the past few years. I switched from working 12 hour factory jobs where I was on my feet and moving constantly to a 12 hour night shift desk job and the weight came on so fast. I have been chipping away at it. I never had to watch what I ate before. But I'm learning. I like low carbing because I'm not hungry and it works. As for the people on the show I tend to go back and forth between pity and anger. I feel for these people, I do. But I don't know if I buy into the food addiction thing. I love food and think about it all the time, but once I get past a certain point, usually when I notice it's harder to do things without losing my breath easily or when my clothes get too tight, I reign it in. But, who I am to say if these people are addicted or not? I guess in a way, it's hard to see how they could NOT BE addicted to it to get to that point. I mean, would you choose food over the ability to clean yourself? Would you trade in your dignity for doughnuts? Not me. I watched the newest one last week, and the woman seemed happy to use the restroom on puppy pads. THAT would be the ultimate breaking point for me. They all say that its humiliating to have to do that, or have someone bath them or change their bedding,but yet they dont change. I find this especially creepy when adult children and their parent seem perfectly comfortable when the adult kid is sitting around naked because it's more comfortable than clothes, and mommy has to clean their private bits. I get incensed when it's a mother who is obese and her children have to cater to her every whim, cleaning her bits ands giving up their childhood to care for them. I admit that I do get annoyed at them easily. The ones who refuse to TRY to stand or follow the diet. You just went through life threatening,painful surgery and you're still eating bad things?!?!?! You won't even try to move??? One I remember in particular was a woman named penny. She,to me, shouldn't have even had a show. She refused to do as the doctor said, and then insisted that she didn't gain weight,she was "misweighed" the first time. I wonder if she's still living. I hope so and I hope she's woken up to reality. I feel more for their caretakers though.(both pity and anger) They must feel horribly torn between giving comfort with food while knowing that they are helping to kill their loved ones. Especially mothers. They all say they can't say no when their kid is hungry. (Never mind their kid is grown) I feel torn sometimes when SO asks me to pick him up some cigars. I hate that he smokes,I know it's going to kill him. But he's a grown man. The big difference of course is that if I dont get them, he just goes and gets them himself. I get annoyed though, when the caretakers sabotage the people trying to lose weight. A lot of them want to be needed, and feel threatened by the prospect of not having someone dependent on them anymore. It's a sad situation all the way around. As for money, I would imagine that the show foots the bill for surgery, and some insurance companies are starting to cover skin removal surgery, as extra skin can be a health problem. The folds often develop sores from the chafing and can become infected. It can also affect mobility. I imagine most of them are either on disability or living off their relatives. I remember one patient though, who had a full time job working from home for a call center or something,which was admirable. It was nice not to hear how they can't work because of their weight boo hoo. O dear,that sounded harsh. Do drug adducts qualify for disability? Or alcoholics? I really don't know but I know of at least 5 people personally who are on disability for weight or weight related conditions. It seems dreadfully easy to qualify for, although I've never tried so I don't know. I do try not to judge. I have noticed more and more that people say "you don't know if the have a medical condition that makes them gain weight" or something along this lines. They're right, I dont. But I know that the vast majority just dont. I don't feel offended if someone comments about me being overweight. It's my own doing, I won't blame a slow metabolism, genetics,stress, or anything else. I'm tired of the excuses. That being said I am glad to see the people on the show are trying to get help, even if they don't take it in the end.

"Totally avoiding an item is really not as hard a trying to moderate its use." You don't get DT's from cutting out Twinkies.

Ginger - I would never compare sugar or carb withdrawals to the DTs. However my recovering friends do compare the sugar and carb cravings to the cravings for alcohol after you have been detoxed. Hey, people get cravings for cigarettes years after the last one.

You can compare them but they are not the same.

Withdrawal symptoms from drugs and heavy alcohol use are painful, but that is not the hardest part of living drug free for a former addict. Our point is that in the daily world, a drug/alcohol addict's decisions are binary while someone with an eating disorder faces complex decisions every day.

I just watched the "Penny" episode on youtube. I don't know why they did surgery on her in the first place, it was obvious to me she would fail, especially with that family dynamic. What a screwed up and delusional woman. She does not have long for this world, that's for sure.

Well, I guess all my friends in AA and I have a differing opinion & we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Coming out of lurkdom to correct something: "And while there is food addiction, it is not exactly like drug or alcohol addiction." Actually, Ginger, it is. Science has established, and brain scans prove, that the same areas of the brain that are activated in alcoholics/drug addicts, can be activated by food or even the thought of certain foods. The same neurotransmitters released by alcohol, cocaine, etc. are released through consumption of sugary, carby, processed foods, and like with conventional substance abusers, tolerance creates the need for 'more' and 'more' to obtain the same effect. As others above have stated, it is far easier to avoid than to have to be faced with one's addiction, multiple times a day.

Food addiction is completely different from alcohol/drug addiction. With alcohol/drug addiction, you can simply (so to speak) NEVER touch either again. But with food, you HAVE to eat. There is a HUGE difference there.

I don't normally watch the show, but saw the Penny episode last summer while I was on vacation. My viewpoint may be considered harsh by some. I felt so sorry for her child. Technically, he probably isn't considered a neglected or abused child, but he is. His life is entirely messed up because of his parents failings. It's a horrible thing to say, but this kid probably won't have a good life. I felt so bad for him. That kid poor kid needs a life outside of his family.

I have not watched the program, but worked with 2 people that had the surgery done. Neither one changed their eating habits at all plus never exercised. They both thought that they would become magically thin. Yes they did lose weight but because they did not change one is as big as she was before the surgery & one is bigger than ever. Very sad.

The doctor tells them that although their stomach is smaller they must not snack all day or they will gain weight...they can't eat a lot at once but they can keep eating a little all the time and gain instead of lose, so it's not easy.

Actually, Gramarows, how is it that food addicts CAN eat but alcoholics and drug addicts CANNOT touch their booze or drug again? Therein lies the difference. If they were exactly the same, I should be able to have an occasional glass of wine but I cannot. I am not downplaying the difficulties of grossly obese people. It's a terrible thing but it sounds like some are acting like dieters and alcoholics need will power. Will power has absolutely nothing to do with stopping drinking. Nothing at all.

Then what does? I mean, if you don't have will power what do you have. A higher power? Like AA touts? I'm really curious, since I don't have substance abuse issues. I know that drugs are sometimes used in the initial phases of rehab, but what about when one is home and alone? Isn't it will power that keeps you from the choice of taking a drink?

I don't know why we have to argue about which addiction is more difficult. They are both horrible. There are new studies that show that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, and sugar is what all processed foods contain an abundance of. And these are the foods people are addicted to. Like I said before, it's not grass fed beef and broccoli that food addicts crave.

Also, it seems these people have to be incredibly manipulative,like many addicts are. Because in many cases they are not only housebound they are bedbound,and cannot physically go get food themselves. So they rely on family or friends to fetch it and bring it to them. On the show, when they don't get what they want they either whine and cry or scream and put guilt trips on their caregivers or throw tantrums until they get what they want. The doc calls the people who bring the food enablers and this is very true, but I can't blame them. Who wants to put up with a grown brat throwing tantrums. It's easier just to give them the food. Many drug addicts cannot provide for themselves, and manipulate their loved ones to obtain the money to get their fix. My coworker has a son who does this to her all the time. It's pathetic.

At the risk of sounding insensitive though, these people are not all food addicts. Food addiction may be a real thing. But so is liking to eat but hating to move. Laziness. It's an excuse. There comes a point when they look at themselves and their health, and decide whether to carry on as they have or make a change. For most people,it's when their clothes feel tight or when they get a diagnosis of diabetes or a heart attack. For these people,many of them have been past all that already.They have gone past not being able to provide for themselves. They have gone past not being able to walk,or even stand. They have gone past not being able to tend to their own hygiene. Some of them can't even wear clothes,or choose not to because the biggest they can find is still not comfortable. It makes me wonder what,after all that, makes them decide that enough is finally enough.

If it IS an addiction,and I don't know that it is or isn't,never having to deal with one myself,it must be much more difficult to deal with than a drug or alcohol addiction. As a few others have pointed out,drugs and alcohol are not required for life,as food is. I don't drive home past 25 liquor stores, but I pass at least that many restaurants and food trucks everyday. There is no healthy amount of heroin or crack required to sustain life. A minimum amount of calories is required to do so. You don't have to go past whole aisles full of cheap, more addictive crack at the crack store to get to the healthy,sometimes less potent, pricier crack.

Recovering alcoholics say that they can't even have one drink,or all is lost. But food addicts are required to eat. They have to learn moderation,as opposed to cutting it out completly,which seems more difficult to me.

chisue you're so right...I had measles and flu at the same time as a very small child (3-4?) was so sick they "tented" me at my grandmother's house...we must have been there in vacation, as she lived in Kansas...but my mother got crazy and while we never did fast foods growing up, she was an excellent cook (my dad often called her portions "Kansas" eyes) one dear friend tried to warn her what she was doing later on at 5-6....but still fight eating habits to this day and that's been nearly 65 years...

and I watch the show...

I am aware of addiction and all that.

But if any of these "addicts" (not all of the are addicts, some are just lazy and fat) are living on tax payers money I take issue with it.

It's not my fault you're and addict, why should I have to pay for it. I've made some poor decisions in my life, everyone does from time to time. The difference is we didn't go looking for a handout.

Also, when these people are given welfare or food stamps it enables their addiction, like a vicious cycle.

wow.... old old thread! Ruthie started it. RIP Ruthie.

One of them spent a whole month in the hospital and GAINED weight on the hospital diet because people were slipping her food. She had ONE job to do--lose weight. I'm working three jobs and going to school--if I spent a month in the hospital and had people watching my diet I'd look like a supermodel at the end of the month.

why dredge up this 'dreck"

Whatever happened to the 600 pounder? It's a psychological disorder just as drug addiction is. The problem is you can stop drugs, you can't stop eating and their brains are wired to eat and usually not kale. I was raised on good wholesome food, desserts, but no junk food or soda. Never had a soft drink till I was ten, and my parents never ever set food in a fast food place and neither do I or my grown kids. It has a lot to do with how you're raised. I didn't raise my kids to be vegetarians and I served meat back in the day as was served to me. Then I became a vegetarian and so did my kids who are both uber athletes in their almost middle age. One a cyclist who is ranked 3rd on the east coast and the other a 16 marathoner doing her 17th at Boston in April. Grandson eats very healthy but not so much granddaughter who was raised in two different households. My son's whose refrigerator has nothing but fruits and veggies and her mother who eats junk food and desserts. She takes more after her mother which makes my son cringe when he opens her refrigerator.

A woman I used to work with had the weight loss surgery. She said insurance paid for it because it was medically necessary for survival. Having gone to lunch with her on many, many occasions, I can see that the surgery was useless as she eats everything possible including big deserts. And then she eats some more. And then more. I quit going with her because it made me very uncomfortable to watch this type of gorging.

I had friend that I suspected is nearing the 600 lb mark. Her behavior does and doesn't resemble this. At home she is a tyrant. Her husband MUST do the cooking and waiting on her. Right down to putting her slippers on for her. If he does not comply there is foul mouthed screaming. He is at the peace-at-any-cost stage. He has to work full time, clean, cook, shop, do laundry and yard work. She is "ill" Arthritis and diabetes. I consider him abused. However, her behavior at lunch in restaurant is very controlled. She has the same portion size as the rest of us and skips dessert. She claims her "pills" put the weight on her and that she eats the same amount as skinny people. We have all politely disagreed over the years. She has refused weight loss surgery as she "wouldn't do that to her body".

You can't help someone who will not even acknowledge to themselves that there is a problem. In the few conversations I have had with her about her weight, I have continued to maintain that excess eating causes excess weight. Her denial is overwhelming.

sleeperblues,

I had to look it up after you said that about Penny. Here's her update:

Penny Saeger

Perhaps one of the most controversial people featured on the show,
Penny became infamous for being the only person on the show to not
successfully lose weight after surgery. Her doctor, Dr. Nowzaradan,
accused her of being "delusional" for refusing to follow her strict
diet or curb her portion control. When the show visited her again for
the "Where Are They Now" special, Penny admitted that "not much has
changed," but that she lost 35 pounds.

Although there's a rumor spreading on the Internet that she died, judging by her Facebook,
which has a recent update from January 2017, Penny is still living in
Maryland and raising her son. Her current weight is still a mystery.

I know 2 people that have had the surgery and just gained the weight right back. One was a friend who was actually considering getting another surgery. Apparently they will allow one more after the original surgery. If you don't fix the initial issue with the over eating it's just going to continue or as others mentioned new addictions will take place. So sad. :(