Do Bariatric Surgery Patients Deserve Applause For Their Weight Loss?

Many people in my life have opted for weight loss surgery and are always applauded for their weight loss. But I question such praise; have they really taken control of their health into their own hands, or are they just another statistic in a life-altering surgery?

I mean if someone has a facelift, we tell them they look great, sometimes even better… but don’t congratulate them on choosing elective surgery.

Even so, the majority of the weight-loss patients gain it back.

Maybe there has to be some effort on their part. The one thing that bothers me is that when a relative of mine had it done, they had to go on a liquid based diet for two weeks before the surgery. If that’s the case, why not just change your eating habits if you have the will power to do that?

Sure they looked great after the surgery but there are some serious risks.

All of that aside, the real question is, what are they doing that deserves applause? They aren’t really changing their eating habits by choice. Their goal is obviously to lose weight, but at what cost? Why not just lock their jaw? Oh, that’s right… that has been tried before and didn’t work either.

Most celebrities who have had the surgery lie about it. Even the ones like Kirstie Alley or Mike Huckabee are accused of having the surgery and so far there, all lips remained sealed.

And then there are cases like Carnie Wilson, who has basically been a spokesmodel for Bariatric Surgery, shouting from the rooftops over their weight loss surgery.

…and she gained it back and starred on Celebrity Fit Club. We still have hope for Star Jones though, right?

I ask you: Is the surgery worth the risks if you can gain it back like Carnie Wilson or many others?

It is always your choice… but there have to be other options.

Mike Huckabee: Dying From Obesity?

Heaven forbid this is not the case as I personally am a fan of Mike regardless of his political views. Former Governor Huckabee and I met last year for our film when his weight was significantly lower.

He and I met in regards to his book about his journey through weight loss and his success with implementing great new health initiatives in his home state as governor.

What an inspiration this man was.

Last night, the dreaded obesity curse reared it’s head as I watched Mike Huckabee on “The Jay Leno Show”. It looked as though the dream was over for Mike. His weight was significantly returning. I asked myself… had he failed? Did he disappoint all of his fans, let alone himself?

The answer is a resounding NO.

Mike and I suffer from many of the same problems with emotional eating and stress. We both at times felt that we had found the greatest success at dieting and weight loss, but ending up gaining a good portion back as more then 98% of Americans do when dieting.

I  wonder how devastating and embarrassing this is for a public figure of his stature. For a while, when I was gaining my weight back, I refused to return to any restaurants or places where people knew me.

On the other hand, Governor Huckabee  has not gone into hiding with his head down. He is out there on his show on Fox News every week and I respect him so much for doing so.

I truly believe that Mike and I will both find a way to rid our weight in a positive approach. The hard work surely will not have an immediate result, but it will be for our long term well being and happiness that goes along with it.

So Mike, if you are reading this… please know you are not alone and that I respect you more now than I ever have.

You will find your way in this battle of obesity, along with most Americans one day.

You have found thin once and you will again.

Best of luck to Mike and everyone out there who is in this battle as well.

The Journey of Finding Thin

It has been a very long journey completing the film. Personally and professionally, it has been the most challenging undertaking of my career. I have been so fortunate to have a cast ranging from Jillian Michaels to Mike Huckabee, The FDA, Weight Watchers and hundreds of others.

When I started out, we were “a nobody” and it was very hard to get people to come aboard.

Now the big names keep coming and I will be traveling the final ten states out west that we have not hit in our search for truly, finding thin.

The reason I started this quest was to find the magic answer and to be honest, up until this week I wasn’t sure that I had yet.

But now, perhaps I have found the answers to the questions of  the ambiguous title, “Finding Thin”. Of course you will have to wait for the film to come out as the answers will indeed surprise and hopefully help you on your personal journey for long lasting weight loss…and most importantly, a long healthy lifestyle.

For most of the movie, I was putting on weight but now I seem to have that under much better control. I have the support of the best cast and team that I have ever worked with. I would never want to do another film without them. I have made many real and loyal friends, team members, and great interviews that I can really count on.

All the celebrities, trainers and authors that have come aboard to help have created a mind-blowing revelation that I can’t wait to share with you.

One of the biggest things was trying to find the real people from the pretenders. Sometimes true talent and sincerity is very hard to come by but I feel very confident that I have found it.

This movie showed me that there is a support system out there, including all of you online reading this blog right now.

If I can help just one person with this struggle to get healthy, then I have something to be very grateful for.

We didn’t take any outside funding for this movie in order to keep our impartiality and integrity and I am so proud of that accomplishment. There aren’t many films of this magnitude that can say this.

I will guarantee you that this will be one of the biggest films on weight loss and I am so proud to share it with you.

Let’s all keep joining together to fight the fight against this dreaded disease of obesity. I know we can beat it.

So please know that there is hope out there and please share your thoughts or suggestions to us.

The ‘Finding Thin’ team and I are eager to hear and help all of you in any way we can.

Finding Balance with Mike Huckabee?

About two months ago I had the pleasure of meeting former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. As much as I hate to say it, I was only able to finish his book “Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork” a couple of days ago. Out of all the diet books I have read over the years, Huckabee’s book has been the most inspiring to me and is the easiest to relate to. This book has truly been an eye opener for me on this film and on my personal weight loss journey.

Huckabee lost over about a hundred pounds while governor of Arkansas, which inspired his book. Huckabee’s book is different from a lot of the other diet books out there. The book has more of a human touch to it due to Huckabee’s personal weight struggle and the fact that he does not come from a medical background. He focuses on what he calls the twelve stages of things you need to stop and how to accept the main goal.

If Huckabee wanted you to take anything away from the book it is the importance of this all is on being healthy. All this time I put the emphasis on the importance of loosing the pounds fast. Huckabee says by doing that, you will fail. He emphasizes the importance to balance everything in my life to living a healthy lifestyle.

In my past endeavors to loose weight, I would only focus on loosing the pounds. I would obsess with the numbers, how many calories, what the scale said. I surrounded myself with numbers and I couldn’t do anything with out obsessing over them. I wasn’t satisfied until I saw that number on the scale that I set as my goal, and then I would set a new number to hit. I would reach the point of starving myself or just eating diet popcorn, regardless of how hungry I was. After I stopped the diet, after I was finally happy with my weight, I would eat everything I deprived myself of. I remember feeling hunger, it was a hunger that wouldn’t go away and once again I gained the weight back.

Has Mike Huckabee found the true way to concur the battle over weight? Recently, Huckabee joined the ranks of others famous for shedding then regaining the pounds, including Jarrod from Subway and Kirstie Alley. Does this mean there really is no hope for those trying to loose weight? I am determined to succeed at this and will work as hard as I can for the rest of my life to remain thinner and healthier.

-Barry Roskin Blake

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