OPRAH, tomorrow show to profile 2 obese women's lives

[Carianne]

Tomorrow, 11/06/02, Wednesday- Oprah's teaser showed that she will be profiling the lives of a couple of obese women. They will be sharing what it's really like to live at a weight so high.

I just know I'll be sitting there saying (probably out loud) "You guys should be LC'ing!". I guess we'll see if they mention any dieting at all.

[Carianne]

Did anyone watch Oprah? I wasn't crazy about that show. They didn't really take a position on anything. It was more just watching these women talk about their suffering. Then, the only gal they had on there that lost weight, when asked how she did it, pointed to the roof (meaning God). Oprah said if you want to know what she did and ate every day to lose the weight it would be on her website. NOOOO!!! We wouldn't want to give any credit to LOWCARBING!!! GOODNESS GRIEF NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
It just stated that everyone needs to figure out what foods cause them problems, for her it was sugar, and cut those things out. She lost well over 200 pounds in a year! YIKES!!!

They kept repeating, I don't know how many times (COUNTLESS) that you have to figure out what your issues are that you are hiding. Nobody gets fat from food, it's the issues. That we want to be fat to hid the issues. Anyway, to me this episode of Oprah was a wash. I think they needed to go further. Sure, getting yourself together mentally is an issue for many. But for me, I was just kind of wandering around (fat) not really knowing where to begin. Not knowing who to trust (like Jenny Craig or WW), and
truthfully, I didn't trust The Atkins plan either until I came here to this website! I certainly didn't know why I was getting fatter and what to eat to make it stop. And above all I had no idea that I had an all out ADDICTION, a chemically produced ADDICTION to carbs, and that kept me in that vicious cycle.

Just my two cents.

[KarenAnne]

Dear Carianne,

I liked your posts and would love to have sat and watched the Oprah show, unfortunately where I live at the moment (the Middle East) it does not air her show. I was interested to see what they said about their mental/emotional issues as for a whle I was convinced that was all that was wrong with me. I do believe that your emotions play a big part in your eating, however, I too wondered why, when I was doing the lowfat, low sugar high carb thing that my weight loss was so slow as well as the inches lost.

I have endlessly become frustrated and found it impossible to stay on the lowfat, lowsugar, highcarb nightmare!! Again, I too came to the Atkins programme just over two weeks ago, thinking.. well we will see if this works or not.. my only reason to keep going with it was that I saw a friend change before my eyes on Atkins. I have been doing it for 19 days now and have lost 16.5 pounds in weight, lots of inches and most importantly, I DO NOT FEEL HUNGRY ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!1 :D :D :D

I really believe I am allergic to sugar and carbs in their processed form, because whenever I eat them, I instantly get hungry!!! Thank goodness for Low Carb programmes that take away the cravings. I hope that I can manage to work through this programme and because the obsession with the food is lifted I am sure that any emotional areas that need dealt with will happen all in good time!

I could KISS Dr. Atkins!!! hahahaha!

Karen (btw I am scottish, not Middle Eastern!)

[Gatchagirl]

Hmm... let's see, what came first, the issues? or the weight gain caused by the carbs making us feel bad and therefore amplifying any anxieties we have?

The only reason I ask, is that I don't feel as though I had any issues causing my weight gain. I don't even like food. If I could have everything I need in a pill, then PERFECT!! No cooking, no cleaning, let's get on with other things. I've never overeaten. I don't think I had a depression problem until after I gained 50 pounds 12 years ago. And that 50 pounds was from trying to eat a "healthy" low fat, high carb diet. Not even to lose weight.

So, to make a long story short, if the weight goes, will the "issues" resolve themselves naturally as we become more enthusiastic about our successes?

Just being an armchair philosopher...

[KarenAnne]

You know, I agree with all you are saying. There are many people out there who have no "issues" in their lives and are just overweight, battling to lose it and getting fed up with trying and getting nowhere. The good thing about Atkins is that for me it seems to be taking away the frustration. I did have a few "issues" but as I am getting a wee bit older and hopefully a wee bit wiser I hope to just accept myself and do what is good for me and not the rest of the world!

Karen :)

[Cinderella]

Does anyone know how she lost all the weight?

Was it lowcarbing.?. I'm VERY intersted and was shocked that they didn't air that part of the show. I thought it was CRUEL to leave that part out as I have a feeling many people watched this certain show to gain some knowledge on how to lose weight.

cin

[asugar]

Cin, I watched both the Oprah Show and the After the Oprah show. During the after show, Samantha (the person who lost all the weight) did explain how she lost it but she was pretty generic. The first thing she said she did was take "inventory" of her issues. Then she went on and said she is a carb addict and gave up everything white. She hardly did any exercise but has recently begun. She eats 3 meals a day and no snacking. She also made it known that she allows nothing to interfere with her WOE. I'm sure she would have said more and I would have liked to have heard more from her, but Oprah wouldn't shut the hell up with the touchy feely issues blather. I know that Oprah strongly believes that is true in 100% of the cases, but my own opinion is that not all overweight people have "issues" other than extra weight. There was a segment on with Carney Wilson, the singer who had the surgery to lose weight. I didn't like the fact that it was mentioned that Samantha did it the hard way infering that it was easy for Carney Wilson. I got the impression that in Samantha's case she had recently lost the weight. I would much rather see a show with people who have lost huge amounts of weight and kept it off for at least 3 years. The celebrity I would most like to hear speak out about how she lost weight and kept it off is Dolly Parton. I've noticed she is pretty vague about how she lost it which leads me to believe that maybe she had the surgery.
asugar :wave:

[Cinderella]

There's an After the Oprah show??????
I can't believe I missed this. I totally agree with you. I was SHOCKED when they "knocked" Carney for her surgery. No one knows her hardships unless they have walked in her shoes...which they didn't. My father is obese. He has bad eating habits formed from when he was a child. He has no issues. He refuses to change his ways even tho he now has diabetes. I try to educate him on what foods do to his body and he just won't give it a second thought becasue he refuses to give up his favorite foods. There is no issue...only stubborness.

I still can't believe there is an "After the show show"!

[Angeline]

People now still try to put everyone in the same basket. Before it was people eat too much fat. Now it's emotional eating. For people here it's "I'm addicted to carbs".

I think that there is the tendency for the easy one-size-fits-all answer, too common in our society.

Yes it's true some people eat to fill a void inside of them. Yes it's true some people have a physical addiction to carbs. And some people are just plain lazy and have problems denying themselves. (That's me)

Oprah has an issue with emotional eating. THere is something wrong about her trying to deal with her own problems by projecting them on others and acting like there can be no other cause.

They need to stop trying to cram us all into the same mold. We don't all look alike, and neither do we all eat for the same reasons.

[cre8tivgrl]

Oooh... I have to agree. I love Oprah but she does seem to get on her soap box and assume everyone should be on her soap box with her.

Myself, I was a highly active sports child, a moderately active sports teenager, and a non-active twenty something. Couple that with a love of chocolate, pizza, chips, fast food and at 21 a social drinker and you've got an overweight adult. Period. Did I eat when I was feeling emotional? Sure...BUT I ate more because I would eat carbs, feel hungry, eat carbs, feel hungry.... never satisfied... rumage the cabinet looking for that satisfied feeling. I couldn't eat protein full of fat. That was bad for me.

I would read or see something on tv about emotional eating and emotional reasons for being overweight and I would dig, looking for something to link my carb cravings to. There wasn't anything there (I've always been pretty good about saying what's on my mind and letting things go). And I think at one point I even thought that I was maybe hiding something from myself. But in the end, I felt alone and defective because I didn't have any traumatic event to link my overeating to. I didn't have the excuse everyone else had.

I hope no one who does have that emotional cause thinks that I am minimizing their issues. I am not at all. I agree that we are all just different and need to find our own ways. I had hoped that Oprah's show would have portrayed that message but it seems it didn't. That's frustrating.

[Carianne]

I would read or see something on tv about emotional eating and emotional reasons for being overweight and I would dig, looking for something to link my carb cravings to. There wasn't anything there (I've always been pretty good about saying what's on my mind and letting things go). And I think at one point I even thought that I was maybe hiding something from myself. But in the end, I felt alone and defective because I didn't have any traumatic event to link my overeating to.

Im right there with you. I have felt the same way, just searching my soul trying to see my "big issue(s)". I think everyone has some hardships in their life. But I actually have embraced mine as to what led me to be the enlightened person (I think) I am today. :D

I would have liked to have heard more from her, but Oprah wouldn't shut the hell up with the touchy feely issues blather

Oprah has an issue with emotional eating. THere is something wrong about her trying to deal with her own problems by projecting them on others

I don't think I could have said it better myself. The first girl they brought on was 26 and over 400 lbs. Oprah kept saying to her "YOU KNOW IT'S THE ISSUES MAKING YOU FAT", "YOU'VE GOT TO KNOW THAT", like that girl was stupid- Oprah really badgered her and I felt so bad for her.

As for Carney, I know she had just as much a struggle as any of us, maybe more. My Aunt has a good friend who had this surgery. She said it was the biggest mistake of her life. 1) After the surgery is over and you wake up...you're still fat! And that long road is still ahead of you. 2) Two bites and your sick from being full. - I imagine that could be two bites of carbs and you're hungry again and if you binge (like maybe 3 bites!) then you'll be sick.

I'm so happy for all of us who found, and enjoy this way of eating. It's just so much nicer, even on the bad days, than having the surgery. And, I never feel sick, bloated or full if I stick to the plan. (If I eat carbs that's another story! :p )

[KarenAnne]

Hi everyone,

I love reading all your views and replies to these posts and have to say every one of the anwers has given me a bit more insight into the cycle of eating I found myself in. Of course I too would go digging for reasons and "issues" to explain why I ate the way I ate, but I actually now think that the main problem was my body's reaction to the sugar and carbs I was taking in.


Thanks a lot everyone, great postings!!! :D :daze:

[wimsey619]

I started gaining weight because my thyroid problem went undiagnosed for years and then I had several surgeries including breast cancer and they gave me prednisone which made me gain weight and tamoxifen which made me gain weight. And it WOULDN'T LEAVE!

I ate low fat. I ate everything they told me to eat and I still gained weight. The only thing I could find that even approached an issue was when I was stressed I would crave chocolate.

I never ever overate which made the whole thing more difficult to understand. I just didn't process well what I was eating.

I think that was probably the problem with at least several of those poor issue-less people that Oprah kept badgering. They didn't process what they were eating. It stored as fat. And what they ate made them crave more carbs until they couldn't stop.

I don't know. I felt bad for them. Bad that they were so heavy and bad that they put themselves out there and I really can't see that they were helped at all or even put on a road that would help them.

Virginia

[Angeline]

Two bites and your sick from being full. - I imagine that could be two bites of carbs and you're hungry again and if you binge (like maybe 3 bites!) then you'll be sick.


Actually this bring up an interesting point. I was listening to a report on TV on some people who had been living with a gastric bypass for many years.

One of the comments from one of the patients really made me sit up. She was explaining that, since she could hardly eat anything anymore, she had to make the right food choices. She had to avoid any type of starches because they filled her up too much, and she wouldn't be able to eat anything else.

I also read elsewhere that sugar must be avoided, after a bypass, as it can cause bleeding of the stomach.

So basically she was low-carbing. I wonder if the success of gastric bypass is in part due to the fact it almost forces people into lowcarbing. Wouldn't that be ironic ??

[freydis]

Atkins was my last hope before surgery. If it hadn't worked for me, and I had little reason beforehand to believe it would, the next step was gastric bypass. I am SO thankful I tried one last "fad" diet before giving up!

[Carianne]

Atkins was my last hope before surgery. If it hadn't worked for me, and I had little reason beforehand to believe it would, the next step was gastric bypass. I am SO thankful I tried one last "fad" diet before giving up

Freydis, I'm so happy for you. It's truly wonderful to find something that makes us lose weight AND makes our bodies function properly and feel terrific! I think that's why some people may be so skeptical about it, it sounds too good to be true. But it's what we were created as humans to eat.

I wonder if the success of gastric bypass is in part due to the fact it almost forces people into lowcarbing. Wouldn't that be ironic ??

Angeline, NO KIDDING! Wouldn't that be??? YIKES!- It would be kind of fun to take someone that was going in for that gastric bypass and take them through the whole thing (like knock them out and make a small incision), and let them really think they had it but not really give them the bypass, and then tell them to eat LC or their stomach will bleed out or something horrible- kind of like placebo effect for an operation, and then see what happens. (Am I thinking too cruel?)hehe. - But I really think you are on to something there!

[Angeline]

Haha Cariane, that is a very wicked thought :devil:

But I doubt it would work for all sorts of reasons. For one, I believe a bypass is really really painful, so I doubt that anyone would be fooled with that for long. Not to mention the whole shaky ethics aspect of it.

I don't believe in fooling people anyway. Like Freydis here, I am sure that if you are about to undergo major surgery and are told there is one last non-surgical alternative before going under the knife, most people would go for it.

The problem is people don't know or are scared out of trying.

There is something wrong about prefering (and recommending) to have your stomach cut open and sewed up rather than cutting down on carbohydrates.

What's wrong with this picture ??

[Carianne]

Angeline, I'm sorry for being too wicked! hehe. I really wasn't serious, it was more a thought than anything.

There is something wrong about prefering (and recommending) to have your stomach cut open and sewed up rather than cutting down on carbohydrates.

You are so right! Some things seem so backward in life. I really had to think long and hard about what would have become of me if I hadn't started LC'ing, and that is what I saw in my future. I didn't know how to stop myself from gaining weight. And losing weight, that was something that in the back of my mind I thought "SOMEDAY". But I would have ended up bigger and bigger every year until I probably would have wanted that surgery too.

It was a fluke that I found out about Atkins- and trusted it enough to try. Desperation also played a part. ( I saw something about it on an INFOMERCIAL of all places! - I'm an infomercial junkie! I love to hear the glorious statements of how things will "change your life". !!! )

(I have a 14 year old sister in law whose name is Angeline too! I never met anyone beside her with that name- until you! So pretty!)

[quietone]

Just like the taste of food and don't like to exercise.

Really, though, I grew up in the country and have always eaten large meals. I don't think anyone had issues with food, except they enjoyed it and needed it to maintain their active life styles.

But, once I grew up, and became inactive, I didn't have the tools I needed (read knowledge/intelligence) to realize "hey, if I am not out feeding animals etc etc., I may need to cut back on my food." I just kept on eating like always! Imagine my surprise! :daze:

Anyway, I do like Oprah and think that she covers a lot of territory. But that being said, I have become more displeased with her lately. Her shows seems to be becoming more fluff.

And, did anyone catch the Donahue show on this subject? It was also very disappointing. And Dr. Ornish really has a cross hair about Atkins! I mean to tell you...that man has a real problem about us low carbers!