Patrick Deuel

He is the man that everyone is talking about.  Patrick Deuel, otherwise known as the half-ton man, recently underwent gastric bypass surgery that allowed him to lose 400 pounds so far and has robbed him of his hilarious but very unfortunate nickname.

Gastric bypass surgery is becoming more and more common these days as people look for quick fix solutions to help them lose weight.  Essentially, although this is a crude description, the procedure involves stapling the patients stomach so that it cannot hold a lot of food and thus it prevents the person from gorging themselves to death.

In the case of Mr. Deuel the decision to have the procedure was not a cosmetic one, ’cause seriously, it doesn’t really matter if you are 700 pounds or 1,100 pounds you’re still a big fat gross blob.  In the case of Mr. Deuel the surgery was performed to save his life.  As a result of his massive weight he had developed severe health problems including diabetes and heart problems.

In fact, doctors weren’t even sure if he would survive the surgery at all.  In order to qualify for the procedure Mr. Deuel was required to lose weight on his own and do some light exercise so he would be strong enough to survive the procedure. Eventually, after a diet of 1,200 calories a day and an exercise regime that required him to walk 180 steps, he was deemed fit enough to have the procedure.

According to doctors everything went according to plan and Mr. Deuel will continue his exercising and will undergo another procedure to have more fat removed from his body.

My question is, is this really a success story, isn’t this really a case of somebody who lost absolute control and ate himself into this disgusting state.  I mean really, there are millions of Americans who have legitimate health problems that are no fault of their own who cannot get any help from anyone. 

I think that maybe the media is partly responsible for this as well.  There are a lot of obese folks in America and this grotesque fascination with this grotesque man is really just an excuse for fat people to feel better about themselves by ’feeling sorry’ for someone who is fatter then them.