First my disclaimer: Weightloss surgery is a hotbutton issue for sure. Most people have an opinion on it. My opinion is it is a valid medical procedure and helpful to many. I have no opinion about what other people she do with thier bodies. So I'm not saying anything negative about people that make that choice.

There is a tv station in the Seattle area that was working with a local weight loss surgery center to give away a free lapband surgery. Thursday was the last seminar they were having before the drawing. I had the time to go. I even registered. I mean, C'mon...free lapband surgery??? Who wouldn't go for that?

I looked long and hard at myself and decided that I was really not 100% certain I was comfortable with the idea of risk vs. benefit aspect of surgery for weight loss. I withdrew my name from the seminar list and decided that with the success that I've had, I'm going to keep on keeping on and do this through diet and exercise.

Now if someone offered a free boob job and full body life AFTER I lose the weight...I'm all over that!!

I definitely wouldn't--not now, not at my highest weight. But for some people, WLS is the appropriate tool for weight loss and health improvement.

I guess for some WLS is the only thing that could save their lives, but i could never have surgery and mess with a perfectly healthy organ because of my self-indulgent ways. i've seen people have the big surgery, lose 100 lbs and gain back 140 lbs because their mind was still the same - it took effort to gain the 140 back, but where there's a will there's a way!

I'll take a free boob job tho! just a hike'em'up not a heidi montag monstrosity lol

Well written post. It's a very delicate subject.

Surgery is not for me, in part because I'm somewhat of an all-naturalist. Not quite, but there's a touch of hippy in me. No piercings, not even my ears, no tattoos, no hair coloring, no make-up....so surgery really isn't my thing. If I can do it myself I'm just stubborn enough to do so.

And I've seen the negative after-effects too.

i have a few friends that have had WL surgery .. some lap band and some gastric .. my gastric friends have had NO problems .. although i know both of them carry far to many risks .. my best friend almost died from lap band .. it eroded w/ in 1 week and her Dr kept saying she just couldnt handle pain she needed to find a better pain management .. well i went to visit her one day she couldn't breath, move, talk .. i got on the phone w/ her Dr and DEMANDED he did something he told me to bring her in .. he did surgery the next day and she was FULL of infection she had two drain tubes draining 2 liters every two hours .. had i not forced her to the hospital 2 mos after the surgery and 2 mos of in and out of the hospital she may have died that night .. i dont believe they know enough about lap band that is why when she kept going back to the Dr he kept blowing her off .. the choice is yours but ill be honest I'm happy for you that you said NO its not worth the problems that comes with it!!

I have VERY strong feelings against any form of surgery for weight loss. My husband had gastric bypass. He was determined to have it despite my severe reservations. His weight dropped off dramatically and he went from 305lbs to about 152lbs in about 8 months. He looked sickly. He was never well after the surgery. It changed his personality dramatically. He could never eat right. He suffered from bouts of stomach upset, constipation, acid reflux, you name it.

One of the common side effects to these surgeries is transference of addiction from one thing to another. He was clearly addicted to food. And post surgery his addiction became prescription drugs. He became a person I didn't know at all and because of his quest to become thin, he is no longer with me. He died 2 years ago due to a combination of Valium that he took to relieve anxiety (found out when it was too late as he hid this from me - another symptom of drastic personality change) and methadone which he had only been on 3 days as treatment for his Lortab addiction.

After seeing what this decision did to his personality, I told him I would rather spend the rest of my life fat than go through what he went through. Now that he's gone, I still believe this. Free will allowed him to make these choices and free will is what allows a person to let things get out of control. I am no skinny minnie by any means. His death caused me to seek solace in food, too and I ballooned to 255 lbs before I finally decided that enough was enough. Each person eventually reaches their breaking point and when they do, I have seen that they are finally committed to making positive change the healthy and natural way. It may not be coming off as fast as I wanted but at least I can say that I have lost 31 pounds thanks to nothing other than watching what I eat and getting off my butt.

I WAS days away from WLS. Am SO glad I opted out of it.

I ran into someone recently who spoke to her physician about having the surgery and he told her that one out of 100 mommies who have the surgery won't go home to their children. (By the way she is now "doing it* on her own and quite successfully!)

Yeah. SO glad I opted out of it. There are definite risks involved, but there are lots of risks involved in being obese. I finally realized that I didn't have to be obese and I also didn't *need* the surgery to take me out of obese-dom. Risks eliminated!!!

I just think that too many people think that WLS is the only answer and they either opt for surgery (with either good or bad results) or they opt NOT to have the surgery and don't even attempt to do it on their own, thinking they can't possibly accomplish it.

michaelasmom, thank you for sharing your story. I am so sorry for your loss.

Surgery in general has always scared me, particularly this type.

Not to say it shouldn't be available to those that need/want to go that route, but for me I don't think it would ever be a consideration. I've never really been able to find an unbiased review of surgical means of weight loss, of course I can't say I've spent all that much time trying to find out about it.

Where can I go to read up on it, just for curiosity sake?

I was supposed to go for the pretesting for the surgery, but I canceled my appointment, much to the dismay of my husband (now ex), and my parents. I don't even like to take prescription medication unless I have to. My ex was mad at me about opting out of it because he was getting it done too, and his argument was "I thought we were going to do it together". My parents were worried for my health of course.
That being said, I have an uncle who had it done and he's back to his starting weight or higher. He never learned how to eat healthfully.
The fight about the surgery was part of what led to my marriage dissolving, it was going that way anyways, but this helped speed it along. I felt so bullied.
I'm glad I didn't go through with it, but I know works for some people.

michaelasmom .. such a sad sad story im sorry for you .. i see what you mean w/ it changes peoples personalities ... some people change for the worse from this i cannot stand the I'm the sh*t attitude when just months prior they were 300lbs and w/ out surgery wouldn't be where they are today .. and the divorce rate seems to be fairly high .. i say all the time i would rather be fat then have WL surgery and act like some of these people do .. i know a few people that had the surgery that should NOT have qualified .. but the Dr fudged numbers so they could proceed w/ the surgery .. just not right!! also w/ the not learning to eat right .. thats another thing i dont like about it .. for instance people who have the WL surgery because of high cholesterol .. ok losing the weight will help BUT your still driving through the drive thru every day to eat fast food 350 or 150 it'll still clog the arteries .. granted your not eating as much but fast food is not good for you not matter how much of it you eat .. they should have to take classes on eating healthy

As far as personality changes go, that can just as easily happen to people that lose it non-surgically, as well. I've personally seen many people change for the worse, and they were all non-WLS. Doing it one way over the other doesn't guarantee you'll have your head on straight or even be likable when you hit goal.

And neither group necessarily learns the right way to eat, based on the weight regain statistics from both groups. (Ok, maybe they learn but don't choose to stay on that route) WLS is just a tool to physically prevent the overeating, but it's up to each individual to keep it up. Maintenance is just as hard as weight loss, and that goes for all of us. Head hunger and compulsive eating is destructive and powerful.

Haley, WLS patients are required to go through nutrition classes, both before and after surgery. They are just as susceptible to head hunger and pushing the envelope as the rest of us, so they sometimes unfortunately go back to old ways.

I personally wouldnt do wls it just doesnt seem a right thing for me.. however i would deff take up a free boob job cause if i keep loosing weight my boobs (what little i have) will be inverted!! lol

Are they still? Lap-band has ballooned into a huge, aggressive industry in the last 2-3 years: around here, one company advertises on billboards "My wife is HOT! Thank you, Lap-Band!" Even the free give-away the OP mentions is obviously a sales technique: one person gets a free surgery, and 50 have to listen to a hard-sell, high pressure sales presentation. I have a lot of trouble believing that any company involved in this sort of heavy-handed approach is turning down eager, willing, paying customers because it isn't in their best interest, and I strongly suspect that they are soft-pedaling the reality of what it takes to get the weight off and keep it off.

Twenty, ten, five years ago WLS was something that started with a consultation with your GP and involved seeing several specialists over a period of months, if not years--a GP and specialists who were interested in your long term health and had no vested interest in any one procedure. Now, WLS starts in a seminar and may never involve an individual consult at all (in fact, I've seen one ad bragging that they do individual consults, as if that's extraordinary), and the doctor who does the procedure never expects to see you again.

Even if these places require "classes", I tend to believe they are cursory and perhaps delivered with a nod and a wink--after all, they don't want to discourage anyone!

This is not at all an attack on the procedure: it's clearly the best choice for many people. The problem is that it is rapidly becoming a fad and even the people who could benefit from it are less and less likely to get the information they need.

I keep coming back to this thread, trying to decide whether or not to comment. Here's my two cents:

I have 2 friends who've had gastric bypass and 1 who have had lap band. The R-en-Y gals surgeries were 4 and 6 years ago. The lap band friend was a little over 2 years ago. Shortly after she had her surgery done, I investigated both and decided WLS was not for me.

All 3 had dramatic weight loss at their one year out point. The 6 years ago friend has kept most of it off, the 4 years ago has been regaining, but I think she is counted as a weight loss "success" for statistical reasons as she still weighs 15% less than her original starting weight, which has put her in the obese category instead of morbidly obese.

Now, the lap band friend lost 85 lbs in one year. She and I got together in April 2009 and I remember thinking that she looked great, but I was a bit annoyed at myself as if I had started diet and exercise plan when she had gotten her surgery I suspected that I could lose at about the same rate as she had. Turns out I was right, by April 2010 I was down 80 lbs.

Now, here is what I wanted to comment on but have been a bit hesitant as I know folks that have had the WLS will be reading this - I have been taken aside by many mutual acquaintances who know all 4 of these stories who have congratulated me on doing it "the right way". Now the people making these comments have never had to lose a significant amount of weight themselves so can't possibly know how hard and/or frustrating it is to be 100+ lbs overweight. I have been stunned by the judgement I hear in their comments.

I'm wondering if their negative attitude toward WLS is because of seeing folks regaining, the advertising for the surgery, or just another manifestation of the "all you've got to do is..." commentary the obese in our society are subject to.

I think we tend to think of all the negatives, but not really the positives. My best friend's husband had gastric bypass in the early 90's. He was 530 lbs. To this day, he maintains between 180-210 lbs, he is 6'2". It has changed his life for the better. He was in his 20's and his health was failing, he'd praise the surgery to anyone out there because it saved his life. Of course, it's still a great decision because he keeps on living with what he has to do to not get that way again.

I couldn't handle the risks unless it was the ultimate last answer.