I would choose my highest weight over some other disability. I was really surprised when I read about this study, too. Thanks for shedding a bit more light on the subject.

Great! I ordered it too.

Though, I don't know there will be much info there -- it's only 3 pages long!

OK - so what's different between us and the study participants? Everyone of us would prefer being obese to having a serious disability. For me, it's NO contest - be blind/deaf/an amputee! - or be fat? Just call me a little fat lady, thank you.

Lynn

I think maybe most of us are "only" :lol: obese, not morbidly obese.

Lynn -- That's a great question.

I wonder if people who decide to have surgery are different. Maybe when you get to that point, and go through with it, it's just more important than anything else.

Another explanation is that, having had the surgery, people feel it's important to justify that decision -- after all, it's a huge decision to make... I know from other research that people often feel the need to reduce any dissonance they might have following such decisions. So, maybe they felt that, if it weren't so important to lose weight, why else would they have gone through all that. (Please note, I'm not questioning the decision of anyone who chooses to have WLS... I'm just saying that when we make life-altering, irreversible decisions, we feel the need to justify them).

Finally, not only were these morbidly obese people who chose to have surgery, but according to the abstract, they lost weight (we don't know how much) AND kept it off... maybe there's something about all three of those factors together...

Of course, I am just speculating here... I see the need for more research already!!! :D

Of course I can't speak for anyone else, but I was morbidly obese and still don't want to lose a limb! :yikes:

Of course, I didn't make the decision to have surgery...

On sorta the same track ... if we need to self-positive talk oursevles into being constantly motivated to do what we must do to lose weight and (keep it off) ... it would be counterproductive to wistfully yearn for the good-old-heavy days????

Actually, I guess that's what Heather said.

Well, I am already dyslexic...does that mean I get to be fit and lean by default? :lol:

I would not wish to have any other disability that I don't already deal with if I could choose to have them in place of being overweight.

When I see people who have lost limbs, who are in wheelchairs or suffer in ways I do not, I feel so grateful that my biggest challenge at this time is too much body fat. It's no walk in the park, but at least I CAN walk in the park, ya know? After all is said and done, I appreciate my body for what it is, stretch marks, saggy skin, lumpy fat deposits and all!

I also would take my weight, but have never been severely or morbidly obese. However, to me, morbid obesity IS a disability, so now we're just playing "go fish" with our disabilities and singing the song, "my disability is worse than yours is..........." I can't imagine anything being worse than blindness, but that's just me.

Wyllenn, your before/after and the way you're wearing a sweatshirt hoodie in the before, just looks so much like a "The Biggest Loser" promo shot to me. That's great work there my friend!!

My wake up call was when I reached that no mans land between misses and plus sizes-- I was never actually big enough to shop at LB or Avenue.

So my experience of fat is really not much like that of someone who was both big enough and desperate enough to need WLS. That's a huge difference.

Coming in a little late to the discussion. Sorry!

I have to feel like this is a bit of a trick-question. After all, if I chose obesity again over diabetes, heart disease, amputation, etc. It seems to me that obesity itself will increase the risk of all of these ailments/outcomes! And yes the question is in dire need of some more solid parameters. Is the hypothetical obesity permanent, or can I try and lose it again?!

I think another very important question to ask about studies these days is: Who paid for them? Seems like there's a lot of shady data floating around these days. Especially when it comes to pharmaceuticals.

*chuckles*
Thanks!

You know, in a way I hate that "before" shot -- not because I look so big in it, but because I look so.... sad. My husband took that picture one day, and it was completely "natural" -- I didn't know he was taking it. I know I smiled when I was that big sometimes! :)

In fact, I don't really like the after pic sometimes, for opposite reasons. I need to learn to take a picture with a less "fake" smile, now that I'm not hiding from the camera all the time.

Or, maybe I need to learn to like pics of myself! :D

Okay another formerly MORBIDLY obese person ummm ..... weighing in here so to speak. Yes, I still would choose being MORBIDLY obese over the diseases. And I was most certainly miserable from it, it was life altering, my quality of life was POOR because of it. I was horribly inactive due to it. I had horrible pain in my knees. It was a horror for me. But, it was still my doing, it was my choice. And there IS a way out. It might not have been easy and I know that it never will get easy. That it WILL be a struggle for me forever and ever, but nevertheless it IS controllable.

But I do wonder if I say that now having lost 146 lbs. But I don't think so. I always knew deep down that I did have the abililty to lose the weight.

It is a great observation though - why do all of us here choose obesity over those other things? Hmmmm...........

It's not obesity we choose, though. It's mac-and-cheese or big macs or "fries with that" or not having to sweat or not having sore muscles or not having to haul ourselves to the gym.

Well, the second part of that applies to me, to a certain degree, yes, but the first part, no.

I realize I am in the minority, but I got to be over fat because of injuries, medications and only eating healthy, natural, organic vegan foods (just too much and without exercising enough). Then there is the genetic factor (everyone in my family, even those I never knew growing up but then met later, were large).