I, and several of my friends have had GB surgery and have NEVER looked back. It is the BEST thing imaginable.

The sad thing is; those who can afford to have the surgery (it is not covered by health insurance) are the ones who could afford to go to a gym without blinking.

What about those who 1) have a family with busy children who have their own expensive and time-consuming activities that take up spending $$ and any spare time after work, and 2) no extra funds for the gym, a safe place to walk, or an area in their home for gym equipment (nor the funds to buy it).......

Oh, well. I just don't think it's worth it to risk complications for the amount of $$ it costs for surgery. Personally, I'll take the risk to lose more slowly finding a few minutes each day to sneak away. It cannot be the hours a day it would take to lose serious weight, but at least its something. Food costs are definitely increasing, and that can only help. We are already cutting back on our food budget; no only because of increased costs but due to wanting to watch my weight. The rest of the family doesn't have a pound to lose- I'm the only one!

So--since we are at this point admitting that obese people die much younger, at what point are we going to admit that this shorter life span (which does not include old age and the myriad very expensive illnesses that entails) means that in the course of their lives, obese people cost less in terms of medical care?

If expensive bariatric surgery becomes the norm, and all the obese people who are presently ragged at for being a bane on the health care system suddenly get thinner and healthier and live longer--our society will collapse from the cost of caring for that much greater of a number of the elderly.

We already know that the government MAKES thirty cents on every package of cigarettes. Smokers die much younger than others, and since they kick money into the system for SS and Medicare without ever taking any out, they benefit those who survive. Guess what--the majority of obese people are doing the same thing--working until they die, kicking money into SS and Medicare, and never getting any of it back out.

I would then respectfully request that all the thin people who are going to show up and start ragging on obese people who are an offense to their aesthetic sense to NOT bring up the issue of costs. An obese 30-year-old might cost more than a thin 30-year-old, but the obese person will cost nothing at 70 because s/he will be dead. The thin person will cost $$$$ at 70, 80, and 90 because everyone gets sick eventually--and the elderly are the sickest and most expensive of all.

And, please, don't do the stupid thing that people do to smokers--and start talking about how you can't place a value on people dying young. OMG! They aren't around to care for their grandchildren! What a horrible thing they've done to society by dying too soon!

Please--if you are going to rag at obese people for having higher medical costs during their lifetime, don't then turn around and pretend that the value of a person's life is incalculable. Obese people's presence is either wonderful and beyond value, or you aren't willing to cough up any money at all (despite taking it away from obese people to fund SS and Medicare) for "self-imposed illnesses." Well, despite the fact that they actually wind up costing less in the long run.

Obesity is the black lung of the 21st century. Yes--a person could maintain his/her weight by going to the gym for hours each week, by eating low fat meat and vegetables, and by getting 8 hours of sleep a day. Guess what? A poor person spends his/her day working at boring jobs (2-3 part time), eats the food that s/he can afford (high calorie/low nutrition), and can't get 8 hours a night for a variety of reasons. Seriously--thin people who want to brag about how you keep the weight off--just leave the obese people alone. They will die soon enough and stop offending your sensibilities. Thanks for not posting.

Your post had a lot of very sad truth in it. It's apparent that you are angry and your anger is justified.

@ beanathome - So I am not supposed to value human beings and want them to live long and healthy lives?