THE BIGGEST LOSER
CONTESTANT
JESSICA DELFS
Age: 27
Height: 5'7"
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Occupation: Professional bridal consultant
Biography
Twenty-seven-year-old Jessica has no memory of ever being the same size as her friends. She says food was the center of everything in her life, good or bad, and she didn't know how to make healthy food choices. While Jessica was in high school, a rocky relationship with her mother contributed to her weight gain, and she continued to gain weight in college while pursuing her degree in social and behavioral sciences at the University of Arizona. She tried lap-band surgery in 2006, but it didn't solve the problem, and a "culmination of several low self-esteem moments" convinced her she needed to get healthy and change her life. Professionally, Jessica has had great success, starting her own wedding planning firm at the age of 23 called Top Shelf Bridal and Special Events. She hopes losing the weight will lead to a happier personal life, and give her the confidence to get out and meet new people and create a fun new life. Now at 282 pounds, Jessica says Season 5 winner and fellow Arizonian Ali Vincent has been an inspiration to her, and she looks forward to traveling and enjoying a more active social life once she loses weight.
I am never sure what to say when I hear someone hasn't lost weight after getting a band in. I feel sorry for them, thats for sure though, as for most of us, I think we feel its our last hurrah, the last shot.
ReplyDeleteI hope she succeeds at what she does now as she seems accomplished at many other things. She's hopeful at least that losing weight is still in her future: that's got to mean a lot.
One of my dear friends has had the lap band for 3 years and she is bigger today then when she got it. I think you have to really want to fail for it to just not work at all. My friend has never even gone for a fill, I don't get it, to have surgery and then not use what you've gone through so much trouble to get is crazy!
ReplyDeleteYea that is a little crazy....and scary. Especially for me who is just a few months into this journey. On the other hand I know the band itself won't lose the weight. Perhaps it was a non-understanding what the band actually does for you..?
ReplyDeleteThis is so scary! Especially for someone like me who has only been banded for 3 months :( I just have to keep focused! I want this!!!! On a side note I weigh less than her.....this is the first year I have actually weighed less than some of the people on this show! That is an accomplishment!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe only way I can imagine this NOT working is if we don't jump through the hoops - no fills, no blogging, lot's of sliders, etc.
ReplyDeleteI wish her all the luck, but I know TBL isn't the answer. It isn't healthy. She's making herself a spectacle to try to ridicule herself into losing weight.
it is a bit scary.... but not that unusual from what i gather. in fact a friend was telling me that in kentucky many of the insurance companies are no longer covering lap band surgery because of the high fail rate?!?! I believe this has a lot to do with surgeons not setting up a PROPER pre-and-post surgery programme with nutritionists who do more than have a cursory half hour meeting with a patient to say 'this is what you'll be eating after surgery'.
ReplyDeletei have a friend who had the surgery 3 years ago and she's the first to admit she's not been a model bandster..... she only told me in confidence after she found out i'd been banded and i must say that never in a million years would i have guessed she was a bandster.... not so much because of her weight... but because of what i've always perceived to be an unhealthy relationship with food.
Unfortunately, it is very easy to fail with most WLS. I know, firsthand. I was a model patient and got down to 151 within 18 months or so. I am now up to 179. Life got stressful and I "gave up" so to speak. I am back tracking my food and exercising, but it happens. The band may help the food intake, but doesn't solve the mental challenges.
ReplyDeleteMy doctor said that it can be a matter of personality type. Some people want a quick fix, with no other changes in life. Just surgery and done. I know two girls that have had bands and one can eat more than a linebacker still, and the other has not really done much with hers, either. Then, I know one who has lost 80 lbs and kept it off. I think it's a matter of maintenance, etc. The girl who lost and kept it off - we have the same doctor. I think keeping up with your post-op visits, nutritionist, etc. is also important.
ReplyDeleteTBL to me is unhealthy. Goodness knows I loved that show but there is no way on earth that anyone has 8 hours a day to devote to just exercise.
no way possible she had fills and not lost weight. no way!
ReplyDeletedd-
www.banededup.blogspot.com
Like the others here, I just don't see TBL as a healthy and sustainable way to live. Once the contestants leave the ranch, and go back to their normal way of life, they do not have the time to devote to exercising like they did before. Life happens. You've got to learn to balance life, food, exercise, etc., for success to happen. And if you have mental issues that have caused the weight gain in the first place, it doesn't matter what you do short of starvation, you won't keep the weight off.
ReplyDeleteBut the band isn't a guarantee that you'll be successful either. Like any weight loss program, you have to be committed to working it and allowing it to help you. But YOU have to be willing to do it. If not, it's just an expensive piece of plastic wrapped around your stomach.
I agree with you all...that there's a mental aspect to the band and that TBL way of life isn't something that is sustainable for ordinary folks (maybe trainers or people who live at the gym outside of work and family commitments).
ReplyDelete