Weight loss surgery is commonly regarded as improving individuals' health and social life, and resulting in a happier and more active life for those defined as “morbidly obese.” However, some researchers have started to doubt whether these positive outcomes apply to everyone and this article explores this doubt further. More specifically, we focus on the experiences of women whose life situation became worse after weight loss surgery. The material draws on qualitative interviews of five Norwegian women undergoing the irreversible gastric bypass procedure. Our findings illustrate that the women lived seemingly “normal” lives prior to the surgery with few signs of illness. Worries about future illness as well as social stigma because of their body shape motivated them to undergo weight loss surgery. After the surgery, however, their situation was profoundly changed and their lives were dramatically restricted. Chronic pain, loss of energy, as well as feelings of shame and failure for having these problems not only limited their social lives but it also made them less physically active. In addition, they had difficulties taking care of their children, and functioning satisfactorily at work. Accordingly, the women gradually felt more “disabled,” regarding themselves as “outsiders” whose problems needed to be kept private. The results highlight some “subtle” consequences of weight loss surgery, particularly the shame and stigma experienced by those whose lives became dramatically worse. Living in a society where negative impacts of weight loss surgery are more or less neglected in research as well as in the public debate the women seemed to suffer in silence. Their problems were clearly present and felt in the body but not talked about and shared with others.

Weight loss surgery (WLS) is gaining ground as the most effective treatment against obesity. In the literature, however, we see a divide among individuals who have undergone WLS based on the amount of weight lost and maintained: successful and unsuccessful patients. In this article, we focus on the notion of unsuccessful patients-exploring the accounts of three women who have regained weight following WLS. In doing so, we endeavor to better understand how weight regain has meaning, and its impact and implications for the lives of individuals who undergo WLS. The findings reveal how weight-regain stories are easily silenced, buried beneath social, cultural, and institutional/medical narratives of successful weight loss and transformation. People who have such experiences may feel reticent to reveal them and in doing so increase their own suffering, therefore leaving the popular narratives unchallenged.

The aim of this article is to explore bodily changes following weight loss surgery. Our empirical material is based on individual interviews with 22 Norwegian women. To further analyze their experiences, we build primarily on the phenomenologist Drew Leder`s distinction between bodily dis-appearance and dys-appearance. Additionally, our analysis is inspired by Simone de Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty and Julia Kristeva. Although these scholars have not directed their attention to obesity operations, they occupy a prime framework for shedding light on different dimensions of bodily change. In doing so, we were able to identify two main themes: The felt "inner" body versus the visible "surface" body and the "old" body versus the "new" body. In different, though interconnected ways, these main themes encompass tensions between changes the women experienced as contributing to a more "normal" and active life, feeling more accepted, and changes that generated ambivalence. In particular, their skin became increasingly problematic because it did not "shrink" like the rest of the body. On the contrary, it became looser and looser. Moreover, badsmelling folds of skin that wobbled, sweated and chafed at the smallest movement, aprons of fat hanging in front of their stomachs, batwing arms, thick flabby thighs and sagging breasts were described as a huge contrast to the positive response they received to their changed body shape when they were out and about with their clothes on. At the same time, they expressed ambivalence with regards to removing the excess skin by means of plastic surgery. Through their own and other women`s experiences they learned removing the excess skin by means of surgery could be a double-edged sword. By illuminating the experiences of the ones undergoing such changes our article offers new insight in a scholarly debate predominated by medical research documenting the positive outcomes of weight loss surgery.

BackgroundTo date, research on bodily changes following bariatric surgery has focused predominantly on women, leaving the long-term experience of men relatively unexplored. In this paper, we draw on interviews with men who have undergone an irreversible gastric bypass procedure to explore their bodily changes more than 4 years post-surgery. We apply a phenomenological framework that draws on Leder's perspectives on the “disappearing” and “dys-appearing” body, combined with a gender-sensitive lens that draws on Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity and Robertson's conceptions of embodied masculinity.FindingsOur principal finding was that the men negotiated their bodily changes following bariatric surgery in profoundly ambivalent ways. Although they enthusiastically praised the surgery for improving their health, self-esteem, and social functioning, they also emphasized their efforts to cope with post-surgical side effects and life-threatening complications. Our analysis elaborates on their efforts to adjust to and come to terms with these changes, focusing on episodes of hypoglycemia, severe pain and internal herniation, and the significance of physical activity and exercise.ConclusionsOur findings point to the need to acknowledge men's ways of making sense of profound and ongoing bodily changes following bariatric surgery and how these negotiations are closely intertwined with masculine ideals of embodiment and social value.

Patients diagnosed with obesity are usually offered group-based behavior interventions which include dietary advice and exercise programs. In particular, high-intensity training—combining weight lifting with aerobic exercising—has been proven effective for losing weight. Moreover, recent studies have shown that persons participating in high-intensity training are more likely to maintain their weight loss compared to persons with lower levels of physical activity. However, most of the research in the field has made use of quantitative methods focusing on the measurable effect of such interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to show how the training is experienced from a first-person perspective, namely the patients themselves. Our hope was to shed some new light on the process of weight loss that concerns more than the measurable “impacts” of the training. A qualitative approach was used based on interviews with five women selected from a primary healthcare clinic in Norway. Our results show that experiences of training are connected to the participants' general experience of being overweight. Both relationships to other people and earlier experiences are important for how the training is carried out and perceived. Five themes were identified supporting this line of argument: (1) the gaze of others; (2) a common ground; (3) dependence of close-follow up; (4) bodily discomfort as painful; and (5) aiming for results—an ambivalent experience. The results highlight the importance of finding the proper context and support for each patient's needs.

In this article we explore women's experiences of "dumping" following weight loss surgery. The empirical material is based on individual interviews with 22 Norwegian women. To further analyze their experiences, we build primarily on the phenomenologist Drew Leder`s notion of the "inner body." Additionally, Simone de Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty's perspectives of the lived body occupy a prime framework for shedding light on different dimensions of bodily changes. The following three core themes were identified: Experiences of illness in conjunction with eating; Learning to relate to changes in the inner body and; Feelings of losing and regaining control. In different, though interconnected ways, these themes encompass an ongoing challenge in the women's lives after the surgery: namely their efforts to establish new eating habits while at the same time working hard to relate to their changed and changing inner body, and especially to the phenomenon of "dumping". The results points to a dilemma: namely that the gastric bypass procedure is an operation that irreversibly alters the anatomy and physiology of a healthy stomach, whereas the individual's eating habits cannot be situated in or reduced to a particular organ, but are endemic to the lived body and its history. This insight might be of importance in the understanding of the complexity of the changes and challenges the women go through after weight loss surgery.

Objective: To explore the experiences of general practitioners (GPs), nurses and medical secretaries in providing multi-professional diabetes care and their perceptions of professional roles. Design, setting and subjects: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six GPs, three nurses and two medical secretaries from five purposively sampled diabetes teams. Interviews were analysed thematically. Main outcome measures: Healthcare professionals' (HCPs') experiences of multi-professional diabetes care in general practice. Results: The involvement of nurses and medical secretaries (collaborating health care professionals) was mainly motivated by GPs' time pressure and their perception of diabetes care as easy to standardize. GPs reported that diabetes care had become more structured and continuous after the involvement of collaborating health care professionals (cHCPs). cHCPs defined their role differently from GPs, emphasizing that their approach included acknowledging patients' need for diabetes education, listening to their stories and meeting their need for emotional support. GPs appeared less involved in patients' emotional concerns and more focused on the biomedical aspects of illness. There was little emphasis on teamwork among GPs and cHCPs, and none of the practices used care plans to involve patients in decisions or unify treatment among professionals. Participants stated that institutional structures including a discriminatory remuneration system, lack of role descriptions and missing procedures for collaborative approaches were an obstacle to MPC. Conclusions: cHCPs worked independently under delegated leadership of the GPs. Although cHCPs had a complementary role, HCPs in general practice may not take full advantage of the potential of sharing patient responsibility and learning with, from and about each other. Contextual barriers for team-based care approaches should be addressed in future research.

Patients undergoing weight-loss surgery are increasingly encouraged to change their lifestyles. Dietary interventions combined with physical exercise interventions are regarded as the most effective way to ensure that they do not regain the weight they have lost. Little research however, has been done on how patients who have had the surgery actually experience the process of changing their exercise habits. To help fill this gap, we investigated the experiences of women participating in a group-based rehabilitation program designed to radically transform these habits. Based on participant observation, and our interviews with 11 women in the program, we were able to identify a variety of potential benefits and negative consequences in group training, organized according to the interval principle. We also found that the experiences of these women were closely related to their views on how significantly the surgery had changed their lifestyle. Based on the experiences related by these women, we believe that the "effectiveness" of standardized group-based interventions for patients undergoing weight-loss surgery should be reconsidered. Some of the women in our study viewed the group-based standardized training intervention positively; others resisted it. Our research leads us to conclude that this type of program could be more successful if the forms of activity and their intensity were customized to meet the needs and desires of each participant.