I'll be honest, I looked into it. We used to have great health insurance and it would have been covered by our insurance (or at least 80%) of it. Before I could seriously make a decision, we decided to have another baby and that is when I found out about my blood clotting problem. My blood clots too much and in the past 5 years, I've had two aunts die from blood clots after routine surgery.

Now, I wouldn't do it. The risk isn't worth the benefits for me but I would never judge anyone for having it done. To each his/her own. This is such a personal battle with all sorts of issues that what is right for one person is almost never right for another.

Also, I know I have problems with mindless, reward and emotional eating. Those are behaviours I would have to modify first or NOTHING I do would be permanent.

I decided a long time ago that I would lose weight the "correct way." I felt that with the WLS that I couldn't have those one night splurges for very special events or truly learn about my body/food.

I understand it's a tool and all that but some people don't get that. If you've ever seen MTV true life or those such shows, there was a 17 year old that said, "oh if I get WLS, all my problems will be cool. I can eat the same way I am and lose weight." When I heard him saying that, I was upset. This kid isn't even mature enough to handle the prediet let alone, the surgery.

I've also seen a person with WLS get really sick because according to my mother (who's a nurse that'd bring her some healthy goodies), wasn't eating enough protein and eating too many starchy veggies. Example, we had a dinner while I was on my diet. She picked off the (delish) asparugus and complained about the whole meal. Whereas I ate healthy portions off my plate. She later said she ordered pizza. :(

Yeah, I wonder about this too. I think that when people go through their normal health insurance and medical providers, there is probably stricter oversite but I tend to suspect along with Shmead that these private-pay, heavy advertisting clinics without an ongoing provider/patient relationship are probably less stringent.

I know a couple of people (from other online sites, not in person) who had the surgery who definitely did not go through any extensive preparation at all. One of them basically ate her way up into the qualifying weight because she was on the bubble. They are happy so far, but I am pretty skeptical about their long term ability to maintain a significant loss.

I've heard too many stories where the person always felt sick afterwards, either throwing up or feeling like they might. That alone was enough to turn me completely off, cause once you have the surgery then it's too late to change your mind. Bless those who did go through with it, I wish them well.

Free lap band surgery???... that's a new one.

When I lived in Michigan, a car dealership was giving a free shotgun away with each truck bought.

I'm a primary care provider, and sadly, I see many post- WLS patients who have lots of ongoing health problems related to their surgeries, and by then, four, five, or six years down the road, the surgeon who did the initial surgery is no longer involved-- it falls upon the ER doc, the GP or the ob/gyn, who, in most cases knows little or nothing about the health ramifications of the surgery.

It has been my experience that those patients are often bounced around like ping pong balls and often treated poorly-- a lot of times, the PCP tells them to consult the surgeon, and the surgeon says "that's not my problem, it has nothing to do with the surgery." The patient is stuck in the middle and often starts to feel like her complaints are not taken seriously. They turn into frequent flyers at the ER-- the people that the docs and nurses kind of roll their eyes and shrug their shoulders about. The people who have chronic problems without good solutions.

When you take a younger person who is basically healthy except for obesity, you are trading off complications that they may develop in the future, against complications that they may develop now. Every single time I have to care for a post-WLS patient who now has seriously compromised health-- a person in her thirties who has the health of a complicated cancer patient or geriatric patient-- it really and truly breaks my heart.

What concerns me is that bariatrics has turned into a huge profit-making industry in this country-- and whenever a lot of people are profiting from a procedure, there is always going to be a strong public voice in favor of the procedure and lots of funding for research that SUPPORTS the procedure. Hospitals have practically fallen over themselves establishing bariatric wings because it is a big huge money-maker for them.

In contrast, people like us, who are losing with lifestyle change, are practically invisible and treated like "miracle cases" whenever "one of us" is shown on TV or in a magazine. ...

I'm not saying WLS is always wrong, but people should absolutely have their eyes wide-open to the fact that there are many incentives to push people into that pipeline and many fewer incentives to support people who wish to do it "the old-fashioned way."

I considered both the lap band and gastric bypass and ONLY because my insurance didn't cover any part of it did I opt not to do it. I have a friend that did the gastric bypass and he is doing very well today...5yrs later. I have a very close friend that did the lap band 2yrs ago and she is doing well also. I used to work with several people that had gastric bypass and they are all doing well. So with everything there is a good and bad but as the individual you have to make sure you do all you can to be healthy.

As for the boob job, the place I worked where lots of people got gastric bypass, even more got boob jobs and the insurance company covered 80%...I got in on that and was instructed that it was a major surgery but I had a great experience. I got pregnant and gained some weight after the surgery and I'm hoping they are tight when I get to my size 10 (they look good so far). If not I will be calling the same surgeon to tighten them up. She is a very good at what she does.

Even when you choose the lose weight the "Right Way" the same series of bad decisions will result in the same bottom line. Weight Gain. For me, I created a maintenance plan the day I started counting calories. It's too easy to get to your goal or below your goal and it all go to pot.