Gastric bands?? A lazy way out or good choice? x

porffor

Gary1977 your weight loss is truly inspiring!! Keep up the great work! I struggle with every lb so to see you've lost 3 times as much as me shows it really can be done.

Now.. back to topic.
I do think theres is a reason for them, but all too often we hear of people who rely on them and don't learn the basics. This can be said about many things though. My aunt for one has always been morbidly obese since her early 20's, she had a heart bypass 4 years ago (quadruple) and still today lives her life eating rubbish. I was shocked that her daughter was BUYING her sweets and sugary snacks yet full of concern about her mums ever failing health. She is almost housebound now and struggling to move around as her legs have swollen etc etc.. the doctors are now saying 'we can't work miracles'.. and daughter was shocked by this attitude.

Honestly, something has to change to aid the surgery. Often in the UK under the NHS scheme people are told to lose a % of weight before surgery is given. This I feel is an incentive and will teach people to an extent. Sadly they don't always uphold it later on though.

I know a woman who is relying on getting surgery - she had a stroke and has gained weight but then eats everything and anything. She wants surgery and has applied for it. Personally if I'd had a stroke I would be avoiding a general anaesthetic at all costs let alone the effects of her weight. Sadly her daughter is a mirror image of her on a slightly smaller scale.

So.. lazy way out would be my overall judgement.. but it is a judgement and doesn't mean there is never a case for it.

abarde

I was prepared to have a Gastric Bypass here in Switzerland. But after thinking a lot, I got to this conclusion: If after the surgery, I need to change my old habits and start eating healthier and exercising, soooo why can't I do this without having to pass through all this pain and risks that this kind of surgery implies? It's way much easier like this! So, I just decided not having the surgery. And yes, I struggle a lot with dieting but I still have the option to fail and start over. The change of habit needs to start in our mind, and the surgery doesn't help with that at all!

AshinAms

Because of my history sometimes I wish I had had the surgery instead of doing it the 'old fashioned way'. I lost 40 kilos over 2 years and gained back 12 (lost 6 of those now),in the last 3 years and I still have about another 15-20 kilos to go from this weight to a 'healthy' BMI.

I am eating disordered in a big way. I either eat almost nothing at all or am bulimic and in between those episodes I don't seem to care what I eat so the pounds pile on. I have been between 52 kilos and 140 kilos at different times in my life. The 140 kilo high was achieved with the help of anti-bulimia meds - I sort of wish I'd never taken them, but at least I still have some of my teeth thanks to the meds!

Keeping the link between food and health uppermost in my mind without slipping from one extreme to the other is incredibly difficult for me. I think that the band would have helped take some of that sort of pressure away from me and I think that it does help a lot of people in this respect if they can follow the rules, for the same reason that programs like LighterLife also help some people.

Luckily for me, my BMI wasn't high enough initially to qualify for the surgery - it was 42 and it needed to be 45. When I caught myself wondering how much I'd have to eat to put my BMI up another three points I decided I'd had enough and started counting calories/exercising and going for acupuncture.

I wouldn't say weight loss surgery was a lazy way out, and I don't think that the amount of effort required to lose the weight is any less than losing by counting calories/exercising, it's just easier to polish your own badge if you feel like you sweated all that fat out! Most morbidly obese people do have other issues that reflect in their relationship with food and I agree that the band can't resolve those issues, but unfortunately neither can eating healthy or exercising. The relationship that is disordered will always be disordered until the underlying issues are resolved.

Also, don't assume that health problems that morbidly obese people have when they lose weight with the band are all attributable to the band. I understand there are surgical complications but there can also be consequences just from losing weight on it's own. I have had many health problems since losing weight - eg gallstones, kidneystones etc, which I believe are a result of the weight loss.

Just my opinions and no offence intended to anyone.

zeeeb

I think, whatever works. I would have totally got a gastric band except for the $$$ it would have cost me (i wasn't fat enough for it to be medically necessary) and also the judgement i would have received if i had have gone to the Dr to ask for it. When I went to the Dr about my weight, they wanted to send me to a dietician... Duh, i know what i should eat, it's the discipline that I lack, not the knowledge.

Seriously, whatever gets people to a healthy weight. And if more people were in a healthy weight range, the medical costs of the world would be alot less, less heart attacks, less diabetes, less joint issues, so many things would be less common.

It is so hard to eat well these days when all you see is junk junk junk, everywhere, at schools, in supermarkets, on TV, vending machines. It's all designed to tempt us to buy and eat the cr@p, the advertising and marketing is often smarter than the people seeing it, it's designed to brainwash us into wanting it, even if we wouldn't normally want it.

So, yeah, go the gastric banding, it helps many who just don't have to self control to stop when they've had sufficient food.