Am I missing something in the debate about overweight people opting for gastric surgery? (Oxford Mail, September 8) Surely, if the surgery makes the new stomach feel full, then eating less will achieve the same means. This would be cheaper to both the NHS and therefore on our own purses – and it comes without the associated pain and ridicule.

It seems overweight people haven’t been advised that the only way to lose weight is to eat less. Put simply, calorific value in, must be less than the calorific value out.

Quite clearly, the medical industry has a vested interest in surgery – it’s work!

These people need to be told a few home truths.

And for those who bleat that they’re already on starvation rations and the rolls of fat still won’t shift, then tell them that they’re still eating too much of the wrong stuff – or far too much of the right stuff.

If that fails, then tell them that they’ve invented perpetual motion. And if that’s the case, it’s a good publicist that they need, not a surgeon.

Peter Laidler, Aston Close, Abingdon