Paper short abstract:

This paper tracks UK National Health Service medical and psychological discourse and environments experienced before, during and post (one year) the author’s weight loss surgery journey. Auto-ethnographic observations track reaction and realisation accompanying rapid physical change.

Paper long abstract:

This paper tracks UK National Health Service medical and psychological discourse and environments experienced before, during and post (one year) the author's weight loss surgery journey. Auto-ethnographic observations track reaction and realisation accompanying rapid physical change. To qualify for weight-loss surgery (in this case gastric sleeve) in Britain, one has to have a high enough BMI or several co-morbidity indicators. The process of becoming conditioned to expectations around the surgical event and aftermath are progressed through regular meetings with the surgeon's team, dieticians, doctors and seminar training sessions over the (currently) two or more years waiting period for operations. Although there was much advice and procedure to follow on diet and attitude, there was also a sense that the team were collecting experience narratives. I was told, for example, that little was known about why gastric sleeve surgery appears to work, that everyone reacts differently and how the "mysterious" grehlin hormone may regulate appetite. For this author the experience has been worthwhile and the reactions of colleagues and friends curious. The experience of transforming body shape so rapidly (over one hundred kilos lost in one year) appears to cause surprise and disruption as assumptions are made about lifestyle, health and wellbeing. Here, I draw on notions of body perception, cultural proxemics and terminology in weight-loss surgery as described by medics, patients (via blogs) and personal observation. I summarise mismatches and contentions between government / media rhetoric / obesity narratives with lived experiences over the process of the surgery journey.