Celebrity wows audience with tale of weight loss

01/09/2003

Meg Farris / WWL-TV Medical Watch Reporter

WWL-TV Wilson Wednesday night (left) and before her surgery (right)

One woman standing only 4’ 11” said she went from nearly 300 to 96 pounds. Another claimed a loss of 120 pounds.

But, the star attraction was singer Carnie Wilson, a spokesperson for gastric bypass surgery, who came on stage to tell her story. She says she made the decision to have her stomach permanently made smaller to save her life. At 31 she says she was starting to get obesity related diseases.

“When you're in so much physical pain and you're desperate, you don't know what else to do,” she said. “It's a very emotional and shameful disease and you can't explain it unless you've been there and worn the shoes.”

Wilson said she knew the risks going into the surgery. There are potential complications and, in rare cases, even death. But doctors say 300,000 people in the U.S die each year from obesity related illnesses. Wilson did not want to be one of them. She knew that maintaining a new lifestyle was still up to her.

“It's just a tool. It's not a cure. It's not a magic pill. However, if you do follow the rules, it melts off and you feel like you've done something magical and you feel magical but it is hard work every day.”

It’s hard work because after the surgery there are strict eating guidelines that have to be followed. Over time they ease up but still the patient has to change his or her diet habits for life. Wilson says the surgery made her experience something she never experienced before.

“When you've been morbidly obese and you've been heavy all your life and you can't get enough and you want to eat, eat, eat, and then you have this and you're full quickly, it's just incredible.”

Most of the people who came to hear her story want to experience the same thing.

“I'm desperate,” said one audience member. “I've tried everything. I've tried every kind of diet. I’d like to try to extend my life, not shorten it. I think with the road that I am on right now, it will be shortened.”