Surviving Fitness

Deborah Voigt is one of the worlds great soprano divas. Her voice has been called “liquid gold” and indeed, her talent is a tour-de-force! As a professionally trained soprano myself I have watched Deborah’s career and personal drama over the past few years with keen interest, and mixed emotion. In her early years, not only was Ms. Voigt a musical genius with “powerful pipes”, she was beautiful & curvy. A buxom blond bombshell. Naturally, her career was meteoric on all counts! Sure, the pounds crept on, just like any normal aging woman. However, the most important growth Voigt was experiencing was her soaring voice, increased public demand, and expanding paycheck.

Right around 2000 I noticed that the living breathing Deborah Voigt did not match the “Deborah Voigt” promotion photos! Clearly, this gal was starting to epitomize every opera stereotype.

However it was an additional two years later when I became truly concerned. I caught a clip of a recent performance being broadcast on our public TV station. Deborah Voigt was unrecognizable. Her powerful dramatic soprano voice was still magnificent, but the poor woman housing that musical gift could barely walk across the stage. She looked truly uncomfortable each time she took a breath. Singing was no longer ‘effortless’ for “little Debbie”.

In 2004 things came to a startling head when Deb arrived to sing for Covent Garden. She was hired to perform the title role of Ariadne, and tickets were sold out in anticipation. However, the director fired her because she was too fat! She didn’t have the “look” desired. (Keep in mind, this was an Opera folks, not American Idol) And, adding insult to injury, she was told that it was unacceptable she could not fit into the (now infamous) “little black dress” designed for that particular production. An uproar exploded throughout the classical music world, and struck a chord (pardon a shameless pun) with full-figured women everywhere. The media lapped up the ensuing controversy, and fanned the flame for months.

Deborah’s career did not “hit bottom” as predicted. On the contrary. She continued to perform. She released a hit recording and she gained new fans all over the world. Indeed, her career appeared to enjoy a healthy boost from all the uproar and publicity regarding the “scandal of the scales”.

Well…fast forward four years. This week Deborah is the headliner at..you guessed it, Covent Garden. Her old nemesis. She has returned to sing the very same role she was dismissed from four years earlier. She will even be wearing a little black dress. Why? Well, for one thing, she’s lost over 100 pounds! Her secret? Drum roll please…

Gastric Bypass Surgery.

Awww!

Ok. Here’s my mixed emotional response. I am proud of her for taking personal responsibility for her health. Obviously, her weight had reached dangerous proportions, and it certainly had to have taken a toll on her physically in every aspect of her life and her career (aside from her dress size). However, it is more than a little disappointing to me that most of us struggling with our own weight issues cannot “follow in her footsteps” nor be motivated by her example in our quest to slim down. Oh Sure, she’s dropped the pounds – but she did so by surgically halving her stomach. What about fitness!? What about calories!? What about “making healthy choices”!? What about blood, sweat and tears? Aren’t we supposed to EARN our weight loss?

And then there are further questions I would like to pose. Will Deb really be willing to take the “next step” and hit the local gym now? Will she invest in a treadmill for her penthouse and weights for her dressing room? Will she spend as much time “sweatin’ to the oldies” as she does singing them? Certainly she has the ability to get her groove on now…but, WILL SHE? I cannot help wonder if she will actually take advantage of her smaller dress size to keep improving her health, or will this just become the means for a clever marketing bonanza?

One of my good friends is the head dietitian at a large local hospital. She told me that it has become the trend for both women and men in the UK and in the USA to purposely GAIN weight until they have reached the BMI requirements to qualify for a Gastric Bypass. !?!?! It is often coined “eating to lose“. Whoa. OK, I have to admit, it has crossed my mind at least a couple times. When you are overweight and miserable, who wouldn’t want such a fast turn-around? When you see stories like Deborah’s it sure makes it look desirable and fashionable. Is this our nation’s new quick fix?

I hesitate to buy into this concept. I’ve watched people take the Gastric Bypass Journey. Al Roker of NBC fame is creeping right up the scales again. Also my Great Aunt T, and a neighbor’s teenage daughter. In fact, I’ve seen a LOT of average, non-famous people take the GB Train. Their transformations have been stunning, but not stable. First, they all lose weight at the speed of light. Instant success! Magic! Hooray!! But then there are consequences. One in 50 can still die from the surgery itself – especially if you don’t get a doctor with extensive experience. If you do survive, then here are some more serious issues to face. For example, the body is not designed to be a shrinky-dink. The skin cannot adjust properly. Thus, embarrassing giant folds of skin hang down from arms, belly and thighs. Most people must have plastic surgery to ever remove these flapping appendage’s. This is considered elective surgery by insurance, and the cost is so preventive that most of these “biggest losers” trade one form of anxiety & poor self-image for another. Irony at its zenith. Then, there are the complications with the stomach and digestion system itself. Many experience permanent chronic problems with constipation or “running”…or both! They also must now weigh everything that goes into their mouth, and follow a rigid meal plan because if they overeat just an extra ounce, they hurl – or “dump”. None of this invokes “healthy lifestyle” in my mind! The worst part? Tragically, inch by inch, and day by day, time takes over. The stomach stretches out, and so does the body.

So, how successful is Gastric Bypass surgery, really? According to the New England Journal of Medicine the outcomes are a toss up. Death due to diabetes, coronary and cancer dropped. But suicide and accident rates leaped. Do you think this surgery is a legitimate option for weight loss? Is it promoting health, or instant gratification? Will this teach a person how to maintain healthy living, or only how to look for the next quick fix? Does this encourage moderation, or excess? The bottom line is this: Will trading in our tennis shoes for scalpels be our answer, or our downfall?

I just can’t help but entertain this “Eating to Lose” concept…Should I rush out to McDonalds and Krispy Kreme each day? I am sure they could help “all my dreams come true” reaching for that #40 BMI…what do you think?!

Still Surviving – HK

Filed under: Fitness, weight-loss Tagged: | Bypass, fat, Fitness, Gastric, opera, Surgery, Voigt, weight, weight-loss