I do know a woman who had lap band surgery but it did not work for her. She sabotages the purpose of it by constantly grazing on high calorie foods.. She takes in more calories in that way than by sitting down to eat a decent meal three times a day. I've heard second hand accounts of other people who have had it and successfully lost a great deal of weight. I wish him good luck with his decision. The truth is his lifestyle will change eventually no matter what.

If he's in good health, tell him to go for it - I know several folks who've had it and are doing great. It could add years to his life. Have him ask the doctor to give references of folks who've had it done, then talk to those people.

I know of two people that had gastric by pass surgery... they did great for the first year.
Unfortuneately they have both put a lot of weight back on.
If you don't get to issue of why you eat so much. the likelyhood of you being successful after surgery diminishes that is my opinion.
Hope your DH does get the proper counseling.

I know of two very successful outcomes. Both have able to keep an average weight for the past seven years and they're both over 60. I was shocked how fast one of the responded, he was home the next day and up and around. Had to drink the first few weeks, they gave him the shakes to drink but now he eats well and lives well.

I hate all the negative stories you hear when people talk about surgery...it really depends on the commitment of the individual....Gov Christie of NJ had it done not to long ago and is doing great and losing weight...He had lap band surgery...He did it without telling anyone and of course got caught by some sneaky reporter who called him out on it. you would have thought he had been having an affair with a street prostitute... He called a press conference and and basically told all of the reporters there that he did it for the love of his wife and children and that he "frankly didn't care what any of the reporters at the press conference had to say about it ...and that he certainly wasn't going to have another word to say on the subject.

I think if your husband wants to do the surgery and is committed to the work that goes with it, he should learn all that is involved and make his own decision...there are a million negative stories out there but just as many wonderful success stories too ...It is not easy and it requires a real commitment to a lifestyle and diet change....

There are success stories and failure stories and of course deaths. One real issue that can happen with any surgery is blood clots, one of my relatives had the surgery was doing well went home and got up to go to the bathroom during the night had a blood clot and died in his home. So surgery it self has possible complications!
The newest lap band techniques are much safer since they are not as invasive and do not actually cut anything except to put the instruments in and those are very small incisions. However it is still surgery and you do still under go anesthesia, so there are still risks.
risk vs outcome= is it worth it, plus as stated you still have to adhere to a very very strict diet plan for a long time after surgery. I would advise him joining some of the very good forums that are for people who have had the surgeries and read their real stories and ask them how they feel about it.
They will also have a better take on what and how you can eat after it is done.

Three family members have had weight loss surgery. My mom, back in the 80's had gastric bypass, and well, honestly, it didn't really work for her because like someone else said previously, she didn't really address why she ate the way she did to become obese in the first place.

My oldest sister had it done in 2000. She started out at well over 400 lbs, and has lost ALOT of weight. She is about what most would consider a "normal" weight now, but has had to have much surgery to remove excess skin on her arms and thighs etc.

My next older sister had a lapband put in a few years ago and had problems....when they went to check it out, they found cancer. So, in a way, the lapband saved her life, because if they hadn't had to go in to see why the band wasn't working properly, and to take it out, they wouldn't have found the cancer so early.

Good luck to your husband. I've known other people who've done this and for some, it's changed their lives completely for the better.

I know two people who have had it but I don't know exactly which procedure. One of them seems to have gained most of the weight back. The other has done well but she made lifestyle changes including becoming kind of a fitness fanatic after she lost the weight.

The hospital where it would be done, usually has support group meetings that they encouage you to attend iff you are concidering it. I was at the point of having it done, but went to the er with another problem and spoke to 2 different doctors there about their opinion and changed my mind. There have been many changes since they started the procedures, but they both felt there was still a lot of unknowns. I still am rolling it around in my head, but leaning less toward it now.
I visited two support groups and there were pros and cons on both sides. It is a huge decision and for some people it is a matter of life or death. I concidered it because of the benefits of diabetes control. But I wanted banding and it is the full bypass that gives the best results for that. Good luck to you both, I know what a had decision it is to make.

Just curious -- how much overweight would you have to be to consider weight loss surgery? Hundreds of pounds? 50? 75?

I'd love to shed 30, but I'd never consider surgery at this point.

I work with a woman who's 53, had gastric bypass 3 years ago and has lost 100 lbs. Problem is .....she looks and feels better....but stil has a big belly, won't exercise and won't eat healthy. She works a desk job and eats chips and junk every 5 minutes......

Not being as big may make buying clothes easier and acceptance from haters....but she could have a heart attack just as easily now as before.

Weight loss is very similar to quitting smoking. Won't happen until you *want* it to happen and are willing to take some steps. Nobody here can say it's right for someone else. A friend had lapband and he lost some weight but, in the same way he thought sticking pins in his ear would make him quit smoking he thought the lapband would make him skinny. Neither did for him.

As said, surgery itself has its dangers. Few people understand that people die every year just from the anesthesia so there's risks there and yes you weigh the risk vs potential benefit. Personally, I would never do it, but that's me. However if I did consider it, I think I'd put myself onto the follow-up system for a month or two before doing it to see if I could maintain it after putting myself through it. There's a shock to the body itself of course but also to the mind. At least if you're comfortable with the follow-up requirements it'd make it easier on you post-surgery. And who knows, it might start some pounds coming off to where you wouldn't need it.

Good luck in the decision.

ruthieg__tx, you don't honestly believe that Christie would come out and say he did it for political purposes since he aspires for higher office, now do you? LOL Of COURSE he's going to say it was for his family or even for God and his country. And a "sneaky reporter"? LOL Come on. High profile figures that sneak off to hospitals to do things are newsworthy events, especially so with political figures. If high-level politicians are in the in a hospital, the public has a right to know why. And he wasn't "outed" any more than Starr Jones or the weather guy on NBC, and both of them denied they had the surgery until it was so obvious they had to come clean and tell the truth. Many people rightly ask if Christie didn't think there was something wrong with what and how he's doing, why didn't he just come clean up front? He only made himself look bad. He's suggesting to others that they should be ashamed of weight and of doing something nearly "radical" to deal with it. And that's an insult to a lot of good people.

When a "celebrity" has plastic surgery, (although the press let Laura Bush do hers without fanfare but she's not in the position of Christie either) it's a fact that high profile figures are in the public eye and will have the press and public interested in what they do, especially when they sneak off to have what many term "radical surgery", that in fact could even kill him and hide it from the public. People watch "reality" shows and can't get enough of their activities. People should know when they're in the public eye, they lose a lot of privacy. There's even morons that will say you weren't even born in the country no matter how many birth certificates you produce! LOL

The sad part is that it may well come back to haunt Christie but I hope he does well with his health and weight ambitions.

Hi Kittiemom. Both my husband and I had gastric bypass surgery in Ypsilanti, Michigan in May/June 2009. My husband started at 363 lbs and got down to about 217 but he has put on about 35 lbs in the past year. I weighed 262 at the time of surgery and got down to 155. I have put on about 17 lbs from my lowest point.

This is not surgery to be taken lightly. At the time of our surgery, you had to be at least 100 lbs overweight to qualify as well as having serious health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, blood pressure issues, etc. My husband had sleep apnea also and was on the machine for it. They told us that our stomachs were the size of footballs and the surgery would reduce them to the size of a golf ball. They stapled the lower portion of the stomach, then cut and cauterized it. Our surgery was laproscopic so we had 5 little holes, 1 stitch each covered by a bandage. They pretty much re-organize your innards ... its rough, believe me. We were on a very strong liquid pain medication for several days which caused my husband to hallucinate. I didn't require the same amount of medication ... I didn't have the same pain that he did. That being said, your DH will have a lot of discomfort and a lot of gas. That gas will either travel upwards or downwards and he needs to get rid of it. His tolerance for food will change ... things he liked before, he won't like after. He will be able to eat about 1/4 cup of food during a meal and it should take him at least 20 minutes to eat that much. He will have to eat 6 small meals per day and he won't be able to tolerate sugar. Even now, after 4 years, I eat small meals, for example on Mother's Day, my meal consisted of about 1/2 small baked potato, 1 thin slice of roast beef, 2 asparagus spears, 3 baby carrots, and I was too full.

The doctor told us that we would have to walk, walk, walk. So between the greatly reduced meals and the additional exercise, the weight melted off. Again, it's a lifestyle change ... less food, better food, more exercise. If any person follows the rules, that person will lose the weight but the surgery makes it faster. It's not permanent though. The tiny pouch that they've left as a stomach will eventually stretch to the size of an orange and if you force food and eat foods that are high in fat and sugar, it will stretch more. The doctor told us that we could end up with a stomach about 20 feet long (your intestines) and that we could put all the weight back on along with much more. This is a life long commitment.

There is a discussion board for weight loss surgery that I relied heavily on for information. I've included the link for you. Anyone can join and ask questions.

This surgery has definitely added some years to my husband's life but there are dangers during and immediately after surgery and ongoing after affects. We are quite cold most of the time, we can't eat and enjoy larger or even regular sized meals, there is discomfort even now if we don't eat the recommended way. Who knows what the future will bring.

If you want to know anything further, email me at smilin47 @ gmail (.) com. I will tell you anything you want to know about our experience.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion Board

dedtired -- I know how to lose 30 pounds fast, fast, fast!

I went from 148 to 108 when we did a teardown/new build, due to stress doing battle with our town's Building Review Board. I had to get back up to 115 to qualify for anesthesia during a kidney surgery in 2000.

I've stayed in the 110 - 120 range for a dozen years. (I'm 5' 6".) I think some of this is just *aging*, but my DH and I both slimmed when I just stopped going down the cookies/chips/soft drinks aisle in the grocery.

Now I'm focusing on the huge amount of *salt* and *sugar* in so many prepared foods. When I read that the average Senior is on eight different meds...I want to keep us at one each as long as possible.

Good advice, Chisue. I did the marital stress diet about 23 years ago and dropped down to 115. I am also 5'6". I was a skeleton. My bones poked into me when I slept at night. I loved it!

Well, now I am fat and happy. Well, not happy about being fat but happy in general.

There's no doubt that I am a junk food junkie, at least when it comes to cookies, my down fall. Ah well, there are worse things than chubby.

I have had friends who have had bypass surgery and one of them died from an infection...one gained all the weight back and more...another one has lost the use of a kidney from it...and the other one still upchucks every time she eats over a few ounces. So it is an individual choice but a life time commitment. If we could all just eat 1/4 cup and stop...we could all lose weight without any surgery! With any weight loss program, it only works as well as one is dedicated to sticking with it for life!

dedtired -- Only sort of funny about the "marital stress diet", but I hear you! It is funny about the bones! One night I rolled over in bed -- guess I was used to needing more 'push' to do that -- and I fell right over the edge of the bed onto the floor. Just missed knocking myself out on the bedside chest.

I only think about that surplus weight I'd carried when I lift our Westie. He weighs 17 lbs., and my feet and knees note the difference. I would like to add ONE POUND, but only if it could all go into my old-lady-scrawny face and neck. LOL

SUCH a good idea to try the small portions BEFORE resorting to surgery. The excess didn't all come at once; it takes time and patience to shed it.

cynic I imagine not.......but just like he said in his press confrence...he didn't really care a whole hell of a lot about what any one there had to say about his surgery...

and if he did it because he aspires to run for public office or if he just wants to live to be 100...

its a personal choice that everyone needs to make and it doesn't help that everyone drags out every negative story that they have every heard regarding surgery...right I know the poster ask but still....Weight loss surgery today isn't what it was even a few years ago...

I had 3/4 of one lung removed not too many years ago and that for sure would have killed me just a few years ago...surgery changes as new procedures come about...

I saw...More power to Gov Christie for whatever reason he had his surgery done...now ...no w can we get back on topic cynic

Back on topic...OK, nobody replied when I asked the *financial* cost. Anyone know?

I was interested in a post saying someone had to have extensive surgery to remove excess skin. That's something I have wondered about. I have nasty, saggy, wrinkled inner thighs since inadvertently losing thirty pounds in 1999. That didn't change when I finally gained back ten. If I were younger and spent time in a bathing suit...I'd think about a fix!

i'm sure everyplace is different, but this was posted...and of course ins coverage?

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.nicholsonclinic.com/payment/?gclid=CLOmmru7m7cCFahcMgodcUMAsA

I had it a few years ago and have gained a few pounds back. I'm trying to get back to eating the way I should. I started eating bread, which I didn't do the first year or two. I'm pretty sure that's why it has started coming back on. I had to have surgery again a month or so later when I had an incarcerated hernia. I could have died, which is scary but I was in excrutiating pain and it was obvious something was wrong.

I'm still glad I did it. I walked out of the hospital without having to ever take a blood pressure pill again, my asthma is 100 times better, I can now lay down flat and sleep at night instead of sleeping sitting up on the couch. My feet, back and legs usually don't hurt after a 12 1/2 hour workday like they used to....although, the other day I felt like a mack truck hit me...particularly bad day...but most of the time that is so much better.

I also haven't been diagnosed with diabetes, which is the main reason I decided to finally have it done after years of this diet and exercise program and another, failed. The last year before my surgery I had a horrible Winter of non stop pneumonia and bronchitis. I was on antibiotics, nebs and steriods for months. Pneumonia and bronchitis and asthma flair ups were a constant problem for me. I've only had to use my inhaler twice that I can remember in the last three years. The last time was a few weeks ago, had a little cold and was walk/running in the cold air from the parking garage to where I work.

Oh, and blood clots, you have to walk, move around after surgery...any surgery or long flight, or car ride. If you sit in your computer chair for hours at a time, you could get a blood clot.

It is not the easy way out either. The surgery is hard and so is having to drink your food for the first week or two. Trying to get enough protein is hard too. You still have to exercise and if you don't the weight will come back. If you don't eat right it will come back.

The cost of our surgery was covered by the Ontario Health Plan but we did see the amount of the claim ... $22,500 each. At the time of our surgery, it was not available readily in Ontario. The waiting list was about 2 yrs long so the doctor completed a form required by OHIP and the doctors in Michigan completed their part of it, we submitted it and we had surgery within 3 months of our initial visit to the Clinic. If we had to wait for the surgery, especially for my husband, the doctor and I were both fearful that he might not have survived. When we left the hospital, I was on no medication other than Vit B12 and a one-a-day vitamin (no blood pressure pills, cholesterol pills, metformin or anything else). DH took insulin injections for one week and he was off insulin and he was doing 7 or 8 injections daily. His blood pressure pills were reduced as well. He still takes lipitor and a couple of other things, mostly for stress/panic attacks but otherwise he's ok. I was off work for about 2 weeks but I have a desk job. DH was on long term disability and had been for over a year prior because of his weight, bad knees and other things.

Although it was radical surgery, we both felt it was beneficial and worth the risks to us to have the surgery. Yes, a woman died the 3rd night after her surgery in the same hotel we stayed at, but about 2 weeks prior to our surgery. We didn't know about that until long after we went under the knife. There are always bad outcomes but the good results far out-number the bad. Take your time, talk to lots of people, ask questions. Weight the benefits compared to the liabilities and make a decision that suits you/your husband.