Chris Christie had lap-band surgery in February to deal with his obesity.
Good For Him
by @heymistermix.com| 138 Comments
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Good For Him
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[…] Chris Christie had secret stomach surgery. Lamentably for our society, this is a sign that he might be running for president. And he is […]
Hal
So he is running for President then.
The Other Bob
I think the media’s obsession with his size is rude, unnecessary and obsessive. I have skinny genes, he has fat genes. Big deal.
Now let’s return to ripping on him for being a jerk.
Poopyman
From what I recall he looked like at the WH Correspondents Dinner he didn’t look that different.
PeakVT
Unfortunately, as of now there’s no surgical fix for Christie’s asshole problem.
Sean
A guy I know well professionally had the surgery several years ago. Exact same body type – short and round, and a similar intense personality. He lost half his body weight, but it does take time to shed it. He periodically has had the band loosened or tightened to deal with ongoing issues. More than once we have been on a business trip together and he has had to pull over the car and puke his tiny guts out.
Apparently motion sickness is a major side effect for him. Maybe that doesn’t bode well for a presidential candidate who has to be on the move constantly?
Either way, Christie still is an asshole who makes a lot of awful policy decisions. I don’t wish him ill but he can go play in traffic or DIAF for all I care.
handsmile
@PeakVT:
I’d maintain the Village media happily serves as Christie’s proctologist.
Zifnab
FTFY.
Keith
I had a co-worker who had one done but had it removed due to complications. He’s not out of the woods yet, but it’s good to see someone in his shape take the initiative to do something about it.
Todd
I’m ok with him running. He may be an asshole and he may have a soft spot for some shit policy, but he’s not a social conservative crusader and does seem to have an actual interest in successful governing.
If we’re going to bring ourselves back from the abyss, his is a necessary type of GOP candidacy.
BGK
I saw this as the “Today” program started this morning. I was compelled to watch. Puttyhead Lauer and medical correspondent Nancy Snyderman were competing to see who could fellate the governor most enthusiastically. I guess how they have to ditch the fat-shaming and tell us what a loveable @sshole he is.
Snyderman, when asked how much weight Christie could expect to lose said, “100 pounds, enough to get him to fighting weight.” Um, I’d estimate I’m about 5-6 inches taller than him, and given what I weighed at my heaviest, I think he’d still be obese if he lost 100 pounds.
Sterling
Forget the media complaints. It never hurts to look like your voters.
Redshirt
Charlie Weiss ate his way out of this surgery. Impressive dedication to Swiss Rolls.
Ash Can
I hope it works out for him, but this just makes him look all the more schmuckish for losing his shit over that doctor who suggested a few months ago that carrying that much weight around was probably not the best thing for his long-term health.
Brandon
Isn’t this the sort of ‘no pain, no gain’ ‘quick fix’ that conservatives are supposed to be against because it doesn’t build character or moral values or summit? So apparently when other people make mistakes they are supposed to suffer for their moral failings, but not when MotU or conservatives do. Got it. Surprised it took me so long to comprehend though.
rikyrah
but but but…
I, and others were told that his weight should have no bearing on his run for elective office.
The Other Bob
Christy could be the best hope for the R’s. He can come across as a jerk, which might attract the tea party and make up for him acting bipartisan once in a awhile and not lowering himself to anti Muslim BS.
Cassidy
@Brandon:
And what mistake would that be?
I still don’t think he’s going to run. He’s got a sweet gig and the money that will flow in after his governor days as he plays the “reasonable, not batshit-crazy Republican” will be huge. Also, he knows that his key to victory is persuading moderate Dems and undecideds to vote for him so there is no reason to lurch to the right on socail issues. OTOH, they will primary him out when he doesn’t declare fealty to baby jeebus and slut shaming.
Brandon
@Todd: Isn’t this exactly what so-called ‘informed’ people were saying about W in 1999?
Ash Can
And in other news, another sign that the Illinois GOP is getting pulled into the tar pit of John Birchism that the rest of the GOP nationwide has disappeared into: The head of the IL state GOP has resigned over his support for gay marriage.
Just Some Fuckhead
Holy wow. While I’ve always thought Chris Christie is a remarkable Republican that people on the center left can support, I was a little concerned about the weight. Now my fears are put to rest and I can’t wait to see Chris Christie actually run.
Brandon
@Cassidy: Conservatives generally view things like obesity as a moral failing to control your temptations. Therefore, according to conservative principle, his weight loss regime should consist primarily of hard work and suffering, or else how is he going to learn his lesson to stop engorging himself?
Hunter Gathers
Lap band surgery is the weight loss solution for lazy assholes. And Chris Christie is quite the lazy asshole. Good for him for choosing the path of least resistance. Why exert yourself when you can just manipulate a major organ?
How utterly fucking American.
RSA
@Brandon:
My thought, too. Christie may lose further points among conservatives who will wonder why he didn’t have the will power to eat less and exercise more. (Come to think of it, that’s their simple fix for the economy and all social ills as well.)
Violet
Glad he’s doing something for his health, but lap band surgery isn’t problem free. I remember watching a reality show about bariatric surgery (I watched because I knew someone who was involved with it). There was an episode where the doctors’ daughter/sister (the doctors were a father/son team) had some problem with her lap band surgery. She lived in another state and they had her rush home so they could fix the band. They made some comment about even though she lived in a large city, the doctors there didn’t know how to fix her problem. She was in a lot of pain and was scared. And apparently if they hadn’t fixed it, she would have had bigger problems.
Shinobi
Someday history will look back on this period of “obesity panic” and be shocked that reasonably healthy people with no mobility or other problems were willing to go so far as to fuck with their internal organs in order to fit a socially acceptable standard of appearance.
We’re talking about a perfectly healthy man, having major surgery, so that people wont talk shit about him for being fat.
(And argue as much as you want about the “health” of being fat, he doesn’t HAVE any health problems right now, this surgery isn’t fixing anything but his body shape.)
It disgusts me that as much as liberals are willing to protect the gays, and all minorities, and transgender people, they have absolutely no qualms about giving fatties an entire ration of shit.
Brandon
@Hunter Gathers: This view perfectly encapsulates the point I was making. I personally have no qualms with obese people using lap band surgery, however it is major surgery and therefore should only be used sparingly and in rare cases. Obesity is a major health issue, so every tool should be considered to help people, however the surgery itself is pointless so long as there isn’t the attendant behavioral change.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Hunter Gathers: While I agree with the substance of your argument, I might also point out that I think Christie was so fat that he couldn’t “exert himself” without running a fairly substantial risk of hurting himself or dying.
He’s gonna blow it anyway. Heard him on the new this morning crowing about going into a steakhouse and only being able to eat a third of a steak before having to stop. He’s still overeating – the lap band gives you room for about a cup of food – he’s just doing it in smaller amounts.
Like with most overweight people, a lot of the problem is in his head.
Ash Can
@Brandon: Way too many liberals (and centrists) feel the same way about obesity. This actually is a case of both (all three?) sides doing it.
Suzanne
Good for him. Now maybe he can stand, uh, I mean FALL, on his own merits. And maybe we can stop describing his morality as “fat”.
waratah
@Just Some Fuckhead: I really hope you are not serious.
cmorenc
@The Other Bob:
The hard-core national GOP base will not forgive Christie for very publicly giving Obama warm and fuzzy kudos (as warm and fuzzy as Christie ever gets) during the Sandy crisis just a few days before the 2012 election, while also seeming to stick a shiv in Romney’s ribs. For example, Christie was rather pointedly NOT welcome to speak or appear at this winter’s CPAC convention.
Christie’s problem, in short, is that although in the 2016 general election he’s probably the most strongly competitive candidate they could nominate, he will have an extremely difficult time getting enough traction in GOP primaries to win the nomination. If the GOP establishment attempts to engineer a path for him to the nomination around his difficulties with the GOP primary electorate, this will spark an tea party rebellion that will cause an ugly fracture in the party. Yes, if he did win the nomination anyway, eventually a huge portion of the GOP base would come home to him toward the end, but in the meantime, for the greater portion of the campaign Chrsitie would effectively be fighting a distracting two-front war.
However, never underestimate the ability of nominally progressive/democratic firebaggers to inflict a similar two-front war problem on the democratic nominee, though even so I doubt it will be as vociferously nasty as Christie’s problem with the hard-core GOP base.
Shinobi
@Violet: Agreed, he’s basically taking his currently healthy body and introducing a huge amount of risk so he can look okay. The list of possible complications from lap band surgery is alarming.
Eric U.
I know everyone is different, but when I gain a little weight in the winter, my lipids go bad, the doctor starts calling me “pre-diabetic” and my blood pressure goes up. I am waiting until June to get my annual checkup so that I don’t get pressured to go on all sorts of meds that I don’t need if I keep my weight down. It’s like a switch, at 170 I’m the healthiest man in the room, at 190 I’m on death’s door.
Which is a very long way of saying that I wonder how people can be carrying as much weight as Christie and not having major health problems from it.
@cmorenc: and Christie somehow made the national news last week for praising Obama’s response again. I didn’t know what to think
CaseyL
If Christie uses this as a jump start to get fit, good for him. If he treats it as a get-out-of-jail free card, then he’s in for a shock.
Lap band surgery doesn’t work over the long term if you don’t change your eating habits. Even if you can only eat a little bit at a time, if you’re eating the wrong crap you’ll still gain back the weight – esp. if you don’t exercise.
Remember a while back, he was doing some meet and greet with voters, and he couldn’t walk more than 100 yards before getting back into his car? The man was and is definitely not a “healthy fattie.” Might’ve had the surgery on doctor’s orders.
Roger Moore
@Shinobi:
Except that there’s good reason to think that his current body is not healthy. He was warned by his doctor that he needed to lose a bunch of weight. Unless you’re willing to put your judgment about his health based on looking at pictures of him above that of a doctor who’s examined him in person, you should probably accept that he actually does need to lose weight.
Shinobi
@Eric U.: Maybe the problem isn’t that Chris Christie is at deaths door, but that your doctor is focusing too much on your weight as a barometer of your overall health.
Thin people have heart attacks, thin people have high blood pressure, thin people get type 2 diabetes. Fat is not the only determining factor. And it hurts both fat and thin people to continue to believe that fat is the worst health problem anyone can have. It encourages doctors to overlook real warning signs in thin patients, and marginalizes fat patients.
It also makes a 20 lb weight gain seem like the worlds biggest deal.
Now the weight gain COULD actually be a symptom of you developing insulin resistance.
However it is also important to note that “pre diabetic” as well as some of the new standards for diagnosing diabetes are extremely low, and encourage doctors to medicate probably earlier than necessary. If your doctor pushes you, I’d consider getting a second opinion. It takes more than one blood test to diagnose diabetes properly.
Ash Can
@Shinobi: Weight loss isn’t just for looks, especially in the case of someone who’s significantly beyond his optimal weight range. And his body may (or may not) be healthy now, but longer-term he’s more likely to develop more health problems, and at a younger age, if he doesn’t lose the weight.
@cmorenc: I thought the same thing — that this indicates he’s thinking of running, and that he likely wouldn’t make it out of the primaries.
Brandon
@Forum Transmitted Disease: If this is true, color me disgusted. A prime example of waste in our health care system, particularly more egregious because his surgery was paid for by NJ tax payers. Imagine what Christie’s reaction would be if it was a poor person receiving a state funded lap band surgery and then immediately heading out to Burger King. He is truly an execrable person and should never have had the surgery before working out whatever his food issues were first with a therapist.
cmorenc
@Shinobi:
BZZT! NO, a person as obese as Christie is/was is *not* a “perfectly healthy man”. This conclusion can be soundly reached independent of any alleged social prejudices about weight and appearance, and entirely on the statistical correlation between excessive BMI and incidence of obesity-related diseases. Although I don’t know exactly what Christie’s BMI is, it’s a safe bet it’s far in excess of the “normal” healthy range of 20-25, and it wouldn’t be an unreasonable guess that it is (or at least was pre-surgery) in excess of 40 (the threshold for “morbidly” obese).
REGARDLESS of the extent to which Christie’s weight issues stem from unfortunate genetics or native metabolic issues vs gluttony…the fact is that his body is NOT that of a “normal healthy man”.
Redshirt
“The Lap Band” might be a good band name. I have to think about it a bit more though.
Shinobi
@Roger Moore: Does he have any exsisting medical problems that we are aware of? Diabetes? Hypertension? Sleep Apnea? No.
All we know is that he’s a big guy who decided to have lap band surgery after getting lambasted by the entire media for being fat for several years. I hope that he did this for a good reason and doesn’t have any complications.
Studies have shown that fat people (even the “Mobidly Obese”) who don’t smoke, eat healthy, and exercise have the same mortality weights as normal individuals and much better rates than the underweight. Overweight individuals are also more likely to survive cardiac events. (Called the Obesity Paradox, lol.)
Of course these studies no one has heard of because no one likes to hear that all the fat people aren’t about to drop dead at any time. And wouldn’t that just be better for everyone?
Gian
@cmorenc:
you have more faith in the memories of the GOP tea bagger base than I do. less than a decade ago they were all for medicare part d – including not negotiating with drug sellers to get quantity discounts.
now? now it’s too expensive and it’s all the fault of someone from the other team.
I don’t know what the governor’s blood pressure or blood work was, or maybe it’s getting tough on his knees. I mean it is also possible that he’s not running for president in 2016 and that he has another reason to get such a procedure.
He might just want to be the spokesmodel for a chain of weight loss surgery centers when he retires?
Shinobi
@cmorenc: You can be healthy and be fat, it’s a real thing.
You can also be very unhealthy and be thin. Thin people get all the “fat diseases” too. You’re not safe from diabetes and heart attack just because you don’t look like Chris Christie. You are only slightly less likely to have those problems.
Paul Gottlieb
I fully intend to vote against Christie in November, but ‘m very happy to hear that he has begun to deal with his obesity problem. It would be very sad if and energetic and dynamic guy like Christie–however wrong-headed–should drop dead prematurely. I hope his example will encourage other people with his problem to also take live-saving action
Bruuuuce
I’m glad he’s getting physically healthy. Isn’t it SWELL that he has the healthcare coverage to get it done, when so many in his state still don’t even have basic healthcare available? [/sarcasm]
And, adding to the chorus, yes, still an asshole in most ways.
Nicole
Currently on HBO on Demand there’s a documentary about weight loss and part of it addresses lap band surgery. The guy they follow had seven or eight surgeries post lap band to address problems. It’s a very drastic solution, but what I took away from the program is that for some people, by the time they reach that level of obesity, traditional weight-loss programs just aren’t going to be effective. Lap band was probably Christie’s best option, even though it’s very risky.
It’s an interesting documentary; I’m frustrated I can’t remember the name of it. The other thing that stuck out to me is that for people who lose weight after being overweight, one of the really big challenges is that they have to eat a smaller number of calories than someone who has always been at that target weight. There was a woman who had lost over 100 pounds, and her daily caloric limit to maintain her new weight was 1100 calories a day. She was very small- less than five feet tall- but still, that requires incredible vigilance to maintain.
Losing weight is freaking hard. My husband and I are both on low-carb diets (him for health, me for vanity) and while I’m eating very healthy (I’m doing a vegetarian version that requires me to cook most of my meals, so it’s all non-processed, other than the occasional veggie burger), it’s tough. I really miss crackers and rice. I mean, REALLY miss them. And milk. Lord I miss milk. Cheese and yogurt are great, but cold cereal with milk is one of my great joys of life, and I miss it.
MikeJ
@Shinobi:
There are lots of things I don’t know about Chris Christie ‘s personal life. Why do you assume we’ve all read his medical charts? I’ve not slept with Chris Christie. How am I to know if he has sleep apnea?
Shinobi
Here is a great article that links to a bunch of studies in the growing body of research that indicate that obesity is not as harmful as the current thinking suggests.
For anyone who is actually interested in whether or not being fat is going to kill you I also recommend Paul Campos’s The Diet Myth.
Shinobi
@MikeJ: Exactly, so since we haven’t read his medical charts, as far as we know he’s healthy. Otherwise we are just making assumptions based on his appearance.
See also: Ethnic Minorities
Cassidy
@Shinobi: It’s about certifications. The health care market is as susceptible to the new and sexy thing as any other industry. The current trend is to create a “med home” and to be publicly certified as such. Part of meeting those standards is early intervention and long term management of various disease processes, diabetes being one of them. Part of the problem is that if a patient goes to an ER and the doc diagnoses the patient as diabetic or pre-diabetic, it automatically dings the Primary Care Provider/ Clinic for not having diagnosed it. If you dip below certain metrics consistently, you lose that certification.
ericblair
@cmorenc:
However, the teabaggers could put a lot of pressure on the GOP because they were organized and propped up by nutso billionaires and given an enormous megaphone by all of the media. Any breakaway progressive faction isn’t going to get any of this. I don’t think it will be a factor.
I’d like to know the details about how Rombot the Mormon bishop got the support of the Christian right, because that should indicate what a non-jeezoid-approved candidate has to do to get the footsoldiers on his side. Christie would have a more difficult time of it than Romney, since whatever heretical religious views Romney has he still didn’t commit tribal treason and thank Obama for help.
TS
@The Other Bob:
He is/was seriously overweight – it was a major health issue and would definitely stop a presidential campaign. It is good that he realized that he had to lose it – now he can be attacked for his policies.
Roger Moore
@Shinobi:
We do know that he was hospitalized and had to cancel a scheduled appearance because he had breathing problems. And we know that he was advised that he needed to lose weight by his doctor. Again, unless you believe that your eyeball diagnoses is better than his doctor’s, you should probably accept that he needs to lose some weight.
TS
@RSA:
No way – conservatives only attack democrats in that manner – not their own. Their principles allow them to nominate and probably elect to congress the man who deserted his state and family for a few nights with his girlfriend – they be happy with Christie taking the easy path to weight loss.
Keith G
@Just Some Fuckhead:
You shitepoke. It’s hard to sip OJ while giggling.
Chris
@Cassidy:
I think he will. He vetoed an anti gay marriage bill and went on record opposing the civil rights act (“it shoulda been left to a popular vote!”) Why blow the heartland’s cultural dog whistles so loud if you’re staying in Jersey?
And for the same reason, I disagree with those saying that Christie represents any kind of improvement. A union busting, gay marriage opposing, anti tax Republican who opposes the civil rights act isn’t any kind of a moderate. So he was smart enough to accept federal aid after a major natural disaster. Good for him, but if that’s how low the bar is it might as well not be there.
pseudonymous in nc
@Shinobi:
Oh, I dunno about that. Age is age: keeping healthy requires more work no matter what.
This is an aside from whatever political aspirations he may have: as cmorenc notes, Sandy won’t be forgiven by the mouthbreathers, and when Tailgunner Ted and Randy Pandy have 2016 in their sights, the base will not be short of people who have studiously avoided heresy.
PurpleGirl
@Shinobi: We do know that he can’t walk very far. Remember his son’s baseball (?) game last summer. Although he helicoptered to the game site, once there he had to take a car to get to an area where he could see the game. He couldn’t walk from the landing site to the game site, a few hundred yards. That is not good. Yes, we don’t know if he has BP problems or is/about to become diabetic, etc. But don’t being able to walk a few hundred yards… still not good.
Shinobi
@Roger Moore: See that WOULD fall under the category of health problems that we are aware of. (I don’t actually give a fuck about Chris Christie’s medical history, I’m just really tired of hearing about how all fat people are dying.)
I don’t necessarily see how losing weight is going to fix his breathing problems, but, y’know, I’m not his doctor.
There are a lot of cases where doctors tell patients to lose weight. Sometimes they do that instead of addressing their actual health problems. So I guess I don’t take the “you should lose weight” diagnosis as some kind of actual prescription for an actual problem. I suppose sometimes that IS the only solution, but sometimes doctors also just assume that it is. Read any of these: http://fathealth.wordpress.com/)
Redshirt
@pseudonymous in nc: I’m not so sure. Your average Republican voter is a lemming, and will drop all former protest if they are told to support Christie. He’ll suddenly become the next Reagan.
There’s no amount of hypocrisy these idiots can’t vomit forth.
Shinobi
@PurpleGirl: Agreed. Well I hope his lap band surgery helps.
CaseyL
Shinobi, he is not “healthy.” He can’t walk more than a city block (if that), he can’t breathe properly, and if his doctor recommended the surgery, he probably needed it.
Shinobi
@Cassidy: What about when they diagnose you with diabetes and they are horribly wrong? While refusing to treat your already diagnosed thyroid disorder? Sorry we just went through this a while back, I am so over shitty doctors.
Cassidy
Fix the fucking comments system already. Jesus Christ.
Chris
@Chris:
Sorry, that should of course read “he vetoed a gay marriage bill.”
Goblue72
@Shinobi: are you fat?
Shinobi
@CaseyL: So I hear. Though I think that only makes the surgery more risky. I hope that weight loss really does solve his problems.
Shinobi
@Goblue72: Are you an asshole? Of course I am. Who else would give a shit that fat people be treated with some dignity.
Chris
@Redshirt:
That also is very very true. As we just saw with Mitt.
Cassidy
@Shinobi: A misdiagnoses is not as serious as a missed diagnoses based on the current metrics used.
The current state of Family Medicine is to focus on preventative medicine and long term care and management, the idea being that managing symptoms is more effective than treating a crisis (which is true). Some of the criteria is giving prescriptions for a longer amount of time than what was the usual 30 days and stuff like that, essentially to show your patient population that we’re treating you for the long term. That’s what med hmoe is about: the long term care of your patient population to prevent gaps in treatment. It’s a great concept. But, people being people, when a metric is involved, everyone strives for the number.
ETA: That being said, a thyroid disorder and adiabetes is not an either or situation. Treating diabetes is much easier than the other, and if similiar results can be attained with minimal intervention, then why not? Obviously, I don’t know your whole story, but I can see some of the good docs I work with saying “Hey, I don’t want to get into hormone replacement just yet, but let’s see if we can treat the blood sugar issue and maybe that will bring your weoght down to a more manageable level.”.
shortstop
@Ash Can: That is extremely unfortunate. Have always been relieved that the Illinois fringe right isn’t as bad as it is in most of the nation: this state rejects the most extreme nonsense. May not be true much longer.
BGK
@Shinobi:
Spoken as one who I’m guessing has never been the target of that shit-talking. As if it was something someone could shrug or laugh off. Spend a little time in that verbal free-fire zone and then get back to me.
My hobbyhorse? You bet.
Cassidy
@Shinobi: I’m not fat and I give a shit.
GregB
Word has it that Christie has secretly scheduled an asshole reduction in the near future.
gene108
@Todd:
That’s because he has a Democratic legislature to keep his shit in check.
He’s just as much a social conservative as any southern right-winger. The state legislature voted to make gay marriage legal. Christie vetoed it.
He’s anti-abortion.
The only redeeming thing Christie’s done on social issues is appoint a Muslim judge/long-time backer to a judicial position, but Bush, Jr. came out and said not to attack Islam, after 9/11/01 and did do a lot of Latino outreach, but it didn’t do much to inspire the rest of the Republican knuckle draggers.
If it wasn’t for him doing his job during Sandy, he’d not be sitting as pretty as he is now.
We got hit with a couple of 20″+ snow storms a few years ago. Christie was vacationing in Florida. Got him a lot of bad press for not being in the state, while many people were snowed in and out of power. I think he learned his lesson from that one, when Sandy came along.
Christie reduced the income eligibility for Medicaid from $25,000 to $5,000. He’s scrapped state subsidies to the fledgling solar power industry in the state that started taking root because of Corzine’s policies.
He rolled back the surtax on incomes over a million dollars, which Corzine got passed, which cost the state $800 million that he cut out of funding for public education to balance the budget. A lot of teachers got laid off in the process, but the middle-class school districts that are the pride of local townships managed to adjust to the “new normal” and middle-class and upper-middle class parents are still satisfied with whatever education their kids get, so the damage it initially did was blunted.
He has kept the sales tax increase Corzine got passed, from 6% to 7%, in place.
Christie is a 21st century Reagan. He says things in enough of a non-knuckle-dragging-Bible-thumping-way to make people think he’s not “one of them” and someone they can tolerate, but he’ll make policy decisions to the right of Reagan and both Bush’s, if he’s President.
EDIT: I just want to add, the big thing Christie is done is to not piss off the people, who’d normally support a Republican and with the improving economy, things for non-hardcore-Democrats aren’t so bad that they feel like they need a change, for change’s sake. He’s in a lucky situation, though he hasn’t done much for the state.
Roger Moore
@Shinobi:
And yet you happily ignore it because you want to talk about how mean everyone is to fat people. It may be possible to be healthy and overweight- FSM knows there are plenty of problems with BMI as a way of measuring health- but Chris Christie is the wrong example to choose. If you want to pick a Republican governor as an example of a healthy person who BMI says should lose a bunch of weight, Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a much better example.
Mnemosyne
@Shinobi:
You could try the magic of Google. It’s been well-known for years that obese people are more prone to asthma and that losing weight helps get their asthma under control.
So, no, Christie is not one of those “healthy but fat” people. The guy ain’t running any triathlons anytime soon.
Shinobi
@Roger Moore: No, as I mentioned I WAS NOT aWARE OF IT. So I think it’s great that Chris Christie is listening to his doctor, and I hope that the lap band surgery is really what he needs to fix his problems.
Chris
@gene108:
Thank you – much more comprehensive and better said but basically what I meant.
He’s an extreme right wing bastard just like everyone else in his party, and the “center left” is kidding itself if it thinks otherwise.
Hill Dweller
Does lap band surgery actually address the underlying problem? It treats the symptoms/consequences, but not his self-medicating with food. Until that is addressed, he’ll put all the weight back on.
Shinobi
@Cassidy: Yeah I guess since I avoid going to the doctor for any reason at all ever I don’t know about any of this.
The situation was more like, someone who has had a known thyroid problem their entire life and for reasons having to do with insurance was off medication for several years. He goes to the doctor and was all “Hey I have like no thyroid and I know this and i need drugs.” (His thyroid is like 13% of normal without meds, it’s absurd.) And then they do one non fasting blood sugar test and tell him he has keytosis and is severely diabetic, and refuse to even address his known thyroid issue. He got a second opinion and once his thyroid was under control his insulin responses were perfectly normal. Bad doctors are the worst.
Cassidy
@Hill Dweller: Actually, it’s part of a whole treatment plan that should involve a Nutritionist, Dietitian, Personal Trainer, his PCM, etc. Some people, once they reach a certain level of obesity, need a jump start; working out is mostly mental. Being shortsighted creatures, most people give up on exercise when they don’t see any gains in a short period of time.
Anyway, point is, it’s rare that a person just goes in for a lap band surgery and then booted out the door with a “good luck”. There’s a lot mor to it than that.
Roger Moore
@Shinobi:
Because you can’t be bothered to do any research before jumping in and talking about the issue. Some people around here have actually been following Chris Christie for a while and know that he’s been exhibiting signs typical of somebody with an unhealthy weight. They know that he’s been advised by his doctor to lose weight. And you come along and tell those people who know more about the specific situation than you do that they’re jumping to conclusions out of generalized beliefs about weight. You’re letting your concern over the general issue interfere with your ability to inform yourself about the specific situation, which is making you look like a stupid asshole.
bemused
I’m a little surprised he was able to keep his surgery under wraps for this long.
I’ve never had a weight issue and have stayed the same weight since high school (weight shifting to different places is another story) but I do have sympathy for people like Christie, Huckabee, etc. I think they were born with a body type that makes it almost impossible to slim down with diet and exercise alone unless they spent five years in a concentration camp.
shortstop
@Hill Dweller: It does address the symptoms rather than the underlying causes, so it’s considered a desperate measure for people who are unable or unwilling to lose the weight via improved diet and exercise — and for whom the risks associated with this technique are smaller than the risks connected to being morbidly obese.
A dear friend of mine died from complications from gastric bypass surgery, which is quite a bit more dangerous than lap-band surgery, but lap-band has its own list of potential adverse reactions, some of them quite serious.
Cassidy
@Shinobi: I hear you. Just as an alternative perspective, the diabetes is more immediately life threatening than the thyroid issue, so it is possible that the doc thought that by prioritizing the diabetes he/ she would be stabilizing your systems so that later the thyroid issue could be treated.
Or they could simply suck, that’s just as possible.
MikeJ
@Shinobi:
No, I’m assuming he’s unhealthy because his doctor has prescribed a treatment for him.
If I hear that somebody is having cardiac bypass surgery I assume they have a heart problem. I don’t assume they have a perfectly good circulatory system and are just being pressured into it.
shortstop
@bemused: As someone who’s struggled with weight most of her adult life — winning some battles and losing others — I can say that the genetics explanation only goes so far. Everyone in my family has a predisposition to gain weight, but even with that strike against us, we’re clear-eyed about it taking concerted effort to become massively overweight.
Obesity is as much a mental and emotional issue as it is a physical problem, and failure to deal with the mental and emotional issues associated with significant weight gain does not bode well for anyone’s long-term weight-loss prognosis. Unfortunately, that portion of the lap-band “treatment plan” Cassidy refers to is often given short shrift.
shortstop
@Shinobi: Look, Shinobi, can we take the governor’s own words at face value?
“For me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them.”
Even if you think he’s doing this only for cosmetic purposes, he clearly believes losing weight will improve his health.
Shinobi
@MikeJ: I know 5 perfectly healthy people who have gotten gastric bypass, so I don’t generally assume that about weight loss surgery. I”m glad in this case that it seems to be a real necessity.
chopper
@Todd:
stay tuned.
jibeaux
I know one person who did lap band; carrying the weight had destroyed his knee cartilage and made it hard to exercise so there was something of a vicious circle. He lost probably 150 lbs. and I don’t doubt that it extended his life and definitely improved his mobility. He told me that someone else he talked to about the surgery never lost weight from it because even when confined to a liquid diet drank Cook-Out milkshakes. The motivation/psychological factor definitely has to be there.
Shinobi
@shortstop: My problem isn’t with Christie’s choice. I want him to do what he needs to do to be healthy, really. I didn’t realize his health was so poor.
I just wish that he could have made this choice without first having years of fat jokes and derision directed at him in the media from all sides. I think he deserved more dignity than that.
catclub
@bemused: “unless they spent five years in a concentration camp.”
Given the two examples named,…
belieber
All the better for Cole to fap over him.
AHH onna Droid
I say good for him, and all you bitches upthread with the fat jokes or wishing him dead can stfu. I hope he inspires others to consider bariatric surgery when appropriate.
shortstop
@Shinobi: I don’t disagree with your second paragraph in the least. But it was quite a journey from your first comment at #25…
…to your first paragraph here acknowledging his health problems.
Nothing wrong with consistently smacking down mean-spirited treatment of fat people, but dude, please pick your battles when you’re discussing the health aspect of this.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@cmorenc:
As a New Jersyan and Firebagger I want Gov. Christie to win for two reasons.
1) I want to inflict the same pain on others that we have suffered here in the last four years. Asshole commenters upstream are praising Christie because he isn’t as bad as the current Republican leadership (cue Overton Window and low expectations). So he isn’t full on wingnut, wooo fucking hooo, tell that to the teachers and other civil servants he has fucked over the past four years.
2) To prove to fuckholes like yourself that he is no different from Obama when it comes things that matter.
AHH onna Droid
@shortstop: im no doctor and neither are you. This is the problem with google MD and anecdata. Several research papers have come out lately elucidating just how gastric bypass does indeed treat the disease, that is, metabolic disorder.
Cassidy
Wow. Petty and ODS at the same time. Are you playing
blackfaceHamsher Bingo today?bemused
@shortstop:
The procedure itself can’t be a picnic and then once one gets to a healthy, reasonable weight, it is lifelong maintenance. That is a difficult place to get to so I cheer on everyone going through this and actually in awe of those who reach and keep their goals.
Cassidy
@bemused: Oh c’mon now. where we would be without the TMZ specualtions about Carnie Wilson? The entertainment world was eleveated to a new level when Chris Farley satirized her on SNL to the amusement of millions. We can’t be cheering people on for trying to be healthy! Then we’d have no one left to shame into Major Depression. Why do you hate America?
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Cassidy: Lovitar is in it to win it.
amy c
@AHH onna Droid: The study referenced here about how they’re thinking that gastric bypass might work because it fixes your gut bacteria is fascinating.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Cassidy:
No, I play blackface everyday.
Ella in New Mexico
@Shinobi:
Sorry to burst your bubble, but this guy is in a weight class and at an age where his systems will no longer be able to buffer his obesity. He’s at the precipice of a phenomenon I’ve seen over and over again as a Critical Care Nurse:
Their weight starts to take on a life of it’s own, as their metabolism changes and they become more and more efficient at storing fat. Some research indicates the their gut flora changes and actually interacts with their brain and their metabolism to facilitate this.
As they get fatter they get more immobile. As they get more immobile, they find life less and less pleasurable because they are restricted in their activities. So they eat, and eat, and eat. Their meals are the highlight of their day. And they rapidly gain more and more weight.
Then they get sick–infections, poor blood flow to their lower extremities causing ulcers, pneumonia, renal insufficiency, diabetes, coronary artery disease, whatever– one of those diagnoses finally tips the scale and gets them a hospital admission, after which things really snowball.
They are too big for the hospital beds, even the bariatric ones. They crush the mattresses, even the extra air overlays. This may sound cruel, but you know how large animals who go down often don’t get back up? It’s because they are very likely to get secondary pneumonia, just like the morbidly obese patient. These folks end up not being able to breath deeply enough to clear their lungs, fluid builds up and they go into respiratory distress, end up being on a ventilator. After that, comes the sequelae of illnesses that are a common “side effect” of prolonged hospital stays and medical interventions.
I won’t go into the depths of the nightmare it is to care for a 400+ lb patient who is completely immobile and has to be turned every one to two hours just to let the blood flow to his body parts he’s sitting on. Just be assured, scooping poop out of your ass-crack while six people hold you on your side and your blood pressure tanks is not my idea of a “fun” way to spend my day.
So, please, can all of you get over the whole “He’s fat but he’s healthy so this is all about how he looks” crap? Because a man Chris Christie’s size is absolutely a ticking frigging time bomb.
bemused
@catclub:
Ha, ha. Too bad there isn’t ideology lap-band surgery.
I remember a guy who had been a prisoner of war in WWII and heard he was skin and bones when he was freed. When I knew him, he was equally as obese as Christie. I think he and his family were prone to excessive weight gain but after being on starvation rations for a few years, he probably was more emotionally connected to food than most people.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
I’m no longer in it to win anything. I just want to share the pain.
bemused
@Cassidy:
Heh.
Redshirt
@Loviatar, Firebagger: That’s the spirit, Comrade! We shall all suffer for the Purity Brigades!
Cassidy
@Loviatar, Firebagger: Burn it down since it can’t be perfect! That’s the spirit.
Suzanne
@Shinobi: Um, I am not fat, and I care about fat people being treated as though they’re pathalogical. I don’t know anything about Chris Christie’s health and it isn’t my business, but it has nothing to do with his governing.
Central Planning
@PeakVT:
I heard he got an asshole transplant, but the asshole rejected him. Thank you, I’ll be here all week.
Actually, I think I heard that joke as a kid. No idea of the original source.
RSA
@TS:
Thanks for reminding me: IOKIYR.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Redshirt:
You know what I always find amusing about assholes like yourself is the projection.
I point out that Obama is not the most progressive Democratic president. I point out that he supports and advocates republican positions. I point out that he considers himself a moderate Republican and that he has stated that Reagan is his hero.
I point this out and I accused of having a purity test for the democratic party and labeled “Firebagger”.
———
On the other hand, you and the other similar Obama supporters are quite happy to ostracize and castigate anyone who disagrees with the party line. Obamacare is an unalloyed success, Chained CPI is a winner for the Democratic party and Obama and only Obama could have saved the country from ruin.
Can’t speak for others, but after 5 years of the Obot bullshit and nothing to show for it I’m left with sharing the pain. It took until Bush’s 2 terms and the pain he caused to shut John up and cause him to admit the hippies were right. Hopefully a Christie term will shut you assholes up and get you to admit the Firebaggers were right about Obama and all moderate Republicans.
——-
Then again assholes are designed to spout gas and shit so I don’t expect much.
Cassidy
@Loviatar, Firebagger: That’s not what you said or did at all. At least be honest. I already get that you’re a petulant child, but at least have the balls or ovaries to own what you say. Please don’t come in here, wish ill on everyone to “share the pain”, then backtrack like a cowardly little bitch that you were just pointing out that Obama is just like Reagan. You’re a fucking liar.
ETA: And a dumbass. Seriously? No different than Reagan? Read a fucking history book you ignorant, uneducated dipshit.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Cassidy:
I’m not backing away from shit; I want you and others like you to share my pain. I want you and others like you to have family members and friends unemployed for 2, 3, 4+ years. I want you and others like you to have those family members uninsured and worrying about their retirement. Then I want the next smug asshole up the food chain to tell you don’t worry its pragmatic that we don’t have single-payer or universal healthcare. Don’t worry its the politics that we don’t have a jobs plan. And don’t worry Chained CPI is a 12 dimensional chess plan to fix everything. Also, the fact that your party leaders feel comfortable in ignoring your wants to cozy to the wingnuts of the opposite party is just the way the game is played. I WANT YOU TO FEEL MY PAIN BITCH!!!
———-
Has anyone gone to jail for causing the 2007 financial crash? NO
Is Gitmo still open? YES
Is Obamacare a reworked Heritage healthcare plan from the 90s? YES
Finally, who was it that going around bragging that he was a moderate republican and Reagan was his hero? OBAMA
Tell me again the differences between Obama and 90s era Republican.
Loviatar, Firebagger
You guys don’t get it, I’m in nihilist mode now. I’ve joined the Republicans in believing the only way for us to succeed as a country is for the other side to lose. If we can’t get our way threaten to burn it down and lets see who blinks first.
So you asshole squishes who still seem to believe in compromise that always ends up costing more than we get in return are in the way. And if you’re in the way you’re no better than the Republicans.
We got Obamacre (a rebranded Republican plan), they got the 2010 elections and 10 years to fuck with the statehouses and Congress.
Tell me who got the better of that deal.
Cassidy
@Loviatar, Firebagger:@Loviatar, Firebagger: Hmmmm…please tell me again your litany of problems that makes you such a special snowflake?
You children are so cute when you start using your words. lol
Suzanne
@Loviatar, Firebagger:
Oh, we get it.
Cassidy
@Suzanne: Yup. Giving up because his/her wishlist wasn’t immediately begged for and completed. If you’re not part of the solution….
Nevermind, of course, that progressive change is something that happens over decades. But
LoviatorWATB didn’t get his/her fucking pony, so now we gotta listne to him/her being all butch and shit. FEEL MY PAIN!!!!!!! lolRedshirt
@Loviatar, Firebagger: LOL. “Projection”.
Keep ranting away, Comrade!
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Suzanne:
So the question to you becomes when are you going to join me. Oh I get it none of your sacred cows are being gored. You and yours are probably still fully employed, which means healthcare and the thought of a deprived retirement isn’t an issue. Like I said feel my pain. Until that happens I guess tut tuting on the sidelines are all you’re good for.
———-
@Cassidy:
Since this is a post supposedly about Christie; tell me what piece of legislation has Obama signed that a Gov. Christie wouldn’t? Christie’s policies will be no different that Obama’s policies.
You Obots are a joke you got played by a black Republican which in today’s political climate means he is pretty much a “pragmatic” Democrat.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Cassidy:
Please answer my simple question for simple minds:
The Democrats got Obmacare and the Republicans got the statehouses and the House of Representatives.
Was it worth it?
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Redshirt:
Again with the name calling. that’s the problem with you guys. No answer, yell Firebagger. Shown to be an idiot, yell comrade.
The sad thing is, its a repeat of the whole hippie punching of previous years updated to Firebagger punching. I wonder if in future years we’ll have a bunch of you guys apologizing for being so wrong.
—–
P.S.
just to let you know I’ll be one of those Firebaggers refusing to accept your apology and telling you to go fuck yourself.
Bobby Thomson
@Shinobi:
Shorter Shinobi: Because sometimes some doctors are wrong, I ignore all doctors. Leeches, anyone?
That’s some NRA-grade logic right there.
Ordinarily, I would think this is DougJ trolling, but calling Chris Christie “perfectly healthy” is too over-the-top, even for him.
Bobby Thomson
@Loviatar, Firebagger:
You are smoking some premium shit.
Redshirt
@Loviatar, Firebagger: When have I called you any names? Yet you’ve already used insults against me repeatedly, for no reason I can determine. Again, “projection” much?
Mnemosyne
@Loviatar, Firebagger:
You only have yourself and people like yourself to blame for 2010 since you were busy running around screeching about how Obamacare was going to kill us all and was the worst betrayal EVAH!
But it’s just like you to blame everyone else for your own missteps.
shortstop
@Cassidy:
Who’s this “we”?
Learn to walk away from these people once in a while.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Bobby Thomson:
I’m a New Jersey resident. I’ve lived in the tri-state area my whole life. Gov. Chistie as much of an asshole that he is, is a true northeastern Governor. His policies may differ from Obama on the margins, but for the main his policies will not differ that much from Obama.
– Protect the financial sector.
– Slow entitlements growth by tinkering with medicare and social security.
– Prosecute the war on terror without demonizing Muslims
– Pretty much ignore anyone without the money to get your attention.
I’ve lived it for 4 years, saw it in action with Christie Todd Whitman for another 7 years. Unlike the Republicans, “pragmatic” Democrats/moderate Republicans won’t actively work on further enriching the wealthy by punishing the poor and middle, they’ll just let inertia take its course.
Suzanne
@Loviatar, Firebagger:
My mother lost her house and all of her retirement savings in the recession. She has no health insurance and I had to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital three weeks ago. Her social workers can find her no psychiatric care that she can afford. She’s living with me and my husband, who is a teacher, and is having his pay cut next year because his district is cutting services for disabled Spanish speakers.
Yeah, we know nothing of financial hardship.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Mnemosyne:
THIS, THIS, THIS.
Thank you Mnemosyne, I was wondering when someone was going to blame the Firebaggers for 2010, it only took 130 comments. When talking about the 2000 elections you guys used to blame the Naderites within 5 comments. And the hippies still get blamed for Reagan.
Just for once when you guys talk about a lost election I’d like to see a little internal reflection. You know, a hmmm, maybe it was the fucked policy that we passed that cost us the election. Nahhh its the hippies/naderites/firebaggers fault, must be, our policies can’t be at fault, they can only be faulted.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Suzanne:
So you do feel the pain. My condolences.
——
Again, why are you standing on the sidelines tut tuting? Obama hasn’t done shit to warrant your support.
Cassidy
I can’t tell which is more pathetic: the undiluted ignorance or the perpetual victimhood because WATB didn’t get his pony in 2 years (tops!). Honestly, do yourself a favor and read a history book or 10 and stop embarrassing yourself. We get it. You didn’t get your pony and bully pulpit and drones and argle bargle, whatever. Obama didn’t go up on stage, wish hard enough, tap the ruby slippers together, bend over and shit out single payer healthcare. And he didn’t go into congress and do a roundhouse, judo, ninja, flying somersault kick to the Republcians and force them to close Guatanamo and that gives you a sad. And I’m guessing you belive he fucked your sister or something. Either way, it’s pathetic.
So, instead of blaming everyone else and being all butch (I’M A NIHILIST MOMMY! LOOK AT ME) why don’t you do something productive like helping Democrats get elected instead of sitting at home covered in your own shit screaming “WORSE THAN BUSH!” abd then whining later about not getting your particular set of prioroties handled.
On second thought, we don’t need your help. Here, take this plastic bag and tie it really tight around your head. Then, hold your breath and wait for that apology.
Loviatar, Firebagger
@Cassidy:
ooohhhh was that just as good for you. The best I’ve had in days.
The insults were great, the whole fucking your sister thing seemed a little over the top, but when you ended it with the plastic bag I knew you were the man.
Suzanne
@Loviatar, Firebagger: Actually, I was here talking about anti-fat prejudice.
I support President Obama because even a small amount of progress is progress, and because it’s the Republicans and Libertarians who are opposed at the basic level to what I stand for. When I disagree with POTUS, it’s usually over strategy and not substance.