Under the Knife

Also see:
Beating Obesity by Marc Ambinder
The Atlantic, May 2010

There is a way to beat obesity. But it is radical and expensive. No other diet or weight-loss approach is remotely as effective as bariatric surgery. Most people who seek it out have tried everything else. Many of them can pinpoint the moment they concluded that they had no other choice. Mine came late in the afternoon on June 13, 2008, when I learned that Tim Russert, the Meet the Press host, had died of a sudden heart attack at NBC's Washington bureau. I didn't know Russert well, but as I sat at my desk, my tolerance for the status quo ended. I'm 30 years old, I remember thinking. I can't spend another decade like this. I Googled bariatric surgery Washington D.C.