TVScope: I can't be the only one who made rash promises to lose the extra pounds gained over the festive season. But it's such hard work!
Dying to Be Thin: The Real Story, BBC 1, Wednesday, January 4th
Surely there must be an easier way to shed the flab without resorting to self-deprivation? Well, for anyone out there thinking that a little stomach bypass surgery might be the answer to the problem, think again. Having viewed Dying to be Thin: The Real Story, my advice is don't go there.
This hour-long BBC 1 programme presented by Fiona Bruce was a real eye-opener. Weight-loss surgery is one of the fastest growing medical procedures in the UK. With almost 8,000 people undergoing gastric banding, stapling or bypass last year, it's often forgotten that it comes with high risks and sometimes fatal complications.
We're all too familiar with the grim statistics associated with the obesity epidemic. But how many are aware that between one in 50 and one in 250 patients who undergo weight-loss surgery die within 30 days of their operation? Although often labelled as "life changing", the procedure can alter patients' lives for the worst.
Take Dolores Johnson, a 39-year-old mother of two from Wales who tipped the scales at 24 stone. Her associated medical problems made her an ideal candidate for weight-loss surgery. But although deemed a success she is now house bound due to uncontrollable diarrhoea, visiting the bathroom up to 17 times a day. She has lost some weight, but the downside far outweighs the advantages.
America is the home of weight-loss surgery. Known as bariatric surgery, the 1990s saw a surge in the numbers undergoing the procedure. With an array of celebrities and household names promoting the surgery, it was seen as the ultimate solution to weight control.
Carnie Wilson, singer and daughter of one of the Beach Boys, literally became the poster child of bariatric surgery. Formerly a spokeswoman for "fat rights", she underwent a gastric bypass which was beamed live over the internet with more than 2.5 million people logging on to have a look. She is credited by the American Bariatric Surgeons Society as playing a major role in promoting the role of stomach bypass surgery. With her new image she featured as a centrefold for Playboy magazine.
But for many patients this type of result is a fantasy. As Chris Busse, a resident of a trailer park living on social welfare, explains, what you see is not always what you get. Her 21-stone frame put pressure not only on her joints but on her marriage. She decided to have her stomach stapled and successfully lost weight.
However, during a car crash three years later the staples ruptured and she was given a gastric bypass which allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. Since then she has suffered from severe weight loss, nerve damage, uncontrollable diarrhoea and has lost most of her teeth and all her hair. She has serious nutritional deficiencies and is desperately seeking a reversal of the procedure.
Complications of weight-loss surgery have seen an increase in the number of US law firms specialising in this type of litigation. This litigious climate has prompted doctors to rethink the information they give patients about the procedure. As Dr Terry Simonson now tells his patients: "My first job is to scare the hell out of you. Although the worst risk is death - to be alive for a very long time and miserable is bad too."
A common complaint of patients undergoing weight-loss surgery is the lack of follow-up. It's a lifelong commitment by both the patient and the medical profession, without which patients can literally die.
Dying to be thin? After seeing this programme, I think I'll just give up the biscuits!
Marion Kerr is a practising occupational therapist and freelance health writer.