My father regularly drops articles about this kind of surgery on me. I tell him, "I read about this a lot. We both know people who've had this done. They basically have to eat low carb, and take supplements, the rest of their lives, PLUS have almost endless terrible complications. So wouldn't it be better to eat low carb and take supplements and skip the surgery?"

I mean if you still basically have to obsess about your eating plan, and obsessing about your eating plan would get the weight off eventually without the surgery, then what is the point?

Then we talk about food. I say, "Do you notice me eating 10x what I'm supposed to? Do you think that I am 300lbs overweight--and that my entire maternal family, with rare exceptions, are all about 100++lbs overweight--because we eat 8 plates of bonbons per meal?" No, he doesn't. "Then why would stapling my stomach so that I can't eat very much solve this problem?!"

To him, I am fat, and this is a "solve it with a knife" solution, which we've all been bred since birth to think is the appropriate approach to any medical problem.

For some people this may be wonderful. I've known two people who have had it done. They were happier, briefly. Now they are miserable, with so many health problems it is not even funny. No thanks.

PJ