title: The experience of regaining weight following weight loss surgery: A narrative-phenomenological exploration.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Health and Society , University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway.|b Institute of Physiotherapy , Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences , Oslo , Norway.
authors.forename: Karen Synne
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Groven
authors.affiliation: c Institut de Recherche en Santé Publique , Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal , Montréal , Québec , Canada.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Glenn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015430:Weight Gain; D015431:Weight Loss