Sad Story

I recently watched a documentary on TLC called "I Eat 33,000 Calories A Day". It was eye-opening and shocking to say the least. It told the story of several morbidly-obese adults and showcased the amount of food they eat. All throughout the show, I couldn't help but wonder if I would have been them one day. I wonder if I would have been bed-ridden and forced to use the bathroom on a pad. I wonder if I would have had huge masses of skin hanging off of it, making it hard to breathe. Seeing stuff like that scares the absolute shit out of me. It shows just one of the million reasons why I chose to have weight loss surgery. I didn't want to become those people.

One man was in such denial about the amount of food he ate. They showed a table full of chicken legs, rice, bagels with ham and cheese, fried bread, sausage links, 2 liters of juice, a gallon of orange juice, cookies, cakes...the food never ended! He ate that all in ONE day. But if you asked him, he'd say he only ate 2 meals a day equaling about 2,000 calories. It was so sad to see that kind of denial. He used a respirator to breathe. His family didn't even think he was able to walk, but were shocked to see him actually get up when the food was put out of his reach.

A woman in England was well on her way to becoming the same way. I believe she was almost 400lbs, but I can't really remember. She described the euphoria-like feeling she gets from eating and I related completely to that. There's something about getting the meal that you crave so much and savoring each and every bite, every flavor. She ordered tons of Chinese food and ate it like it was no one's business. She had a huge stomach overhang and had difficulties getting up.

A man in England was so obese he was confined to a large recliner. He could not get up. Not even to use a bathroom. He was forced to defecate on himself and wait till a nurse came by to change the pad every few hours. He received disability and had a volunteer come each day for a few hours to prepare his meals and do other things around the house. He was told he could have weight loss surgery, but needed to lose 112 lbs first. This is something he'll most likely never do. He makes anyone who enters his home sign a contract saying that they will refuse any food requests he makes of them, no matter how much he begs.

It truly breaks my heart to see people like that. Mainly because I see a little bit of myself in each of them. I know in my heart that I could have ended up like them. I can't imagine doing that to my family. I hope those people get the help they need and I feel so blessed to know that I was able to change.