Should people barely over 200 lbs or below 200 get Lapband or any WLS...?

you've just put out a poll - that's been placed many times in the last few months - many annoyed that those under 200lbs should be able to get the band.
i view it differently - i contributed to the economy to the tune of $30k (hubby & self) & i have insurance. luckily retired at 35 - ; the fact that Insurance doesn't want to participate in actively prohibiting the onset of comorbitities related to weight is an atrocity.

I think it is better to get the surgery while you are still under 200 pounds. It is probably less risky if you weigh less, and you are being proactive by taking care of your health before it seriously declines.

I wish I would have had the courage to get out of my own denial and have the surgery 10 years ago, when I was around 160 pounds. Instead I waited until I was over 200, and was diagnosed with diabetes and high cholesterol.

I am 4' 11" tall and my weight fluctuates between 198 and 204 lbs. I have had arthritis and depression for a number of years, along with blood clots, and my parents and brother have type 2 diabetes although I don't - yet - but they all have high blood pressure and I was diagnosed last week and have started medication, and believe diabetes is just around the corner. Having said all this, my BMI is usually more than 35 and around 40 (depending on the calculator I use it may be just slightly over 40) so even though I am right at 200 lbs I still seem to meet the criteria. I haven't been to a seminar yet but am scheduled to go in July. I am just like everyone else, just because I don't need to lose 200 lbs or more doesn't mean I haven't tried and it's just as hard, if not harder, to lose less weight. I believe I should have the same opportunity to increase my health and decrease my weight as those needing to lose more. My weight still affects my life in an unhealthy way. If I am accepted as a candidate and my insurance will pay, then I plan to have the surgery.

I realize you were saying 'average height and in good health' and I don't think these people would meet the criteria. Even if they have the money a reputable surgeon should not do the surgery unless it is needed. I don't believe this should be used by someone for cosmetic reasons only. My goal is to look better but my health is more important to me so that is my reason for researching surgery.

I was just banded a couple of days ago, and I was one of those who was not much over 200. Of course, define "not much". Our ideas may be completely different.
I feel that if your bmi is in a dangerous zone, and you have done what everyone else has done then yes, one should consider and qualify for wls.
Why wait until they are any heavier???...and YES, if they don't do something about it now, chances are very great that they will only get heavier, and have more health risks.
Should one wait until they are 20 or 30 pounds overweight to go on a diet, or should they work on it as soon as they become aware of the extra weight gain? It's the same with wls. One shouldn't have to wait until they are at a larger weight than they are ready to combat.
I have had people tell me that I'm not big enough to do wls, but they don't know me and the battle I have fought all my life.

Well, I don't know much...but I do know that I was 200 before I gained to 295. And I'm convinced I would have continued to go up had I not had the surgery.

So I guess I think if we have a weight gain problem for whatever reason, it is the same problem no matter at 200 or 300 pounds. And if lap band surgery is the solution...why shouldn't it be a solution at 200 as opposed to 300.

Now having said that, IDEALLY, yes we would have all stopped gaining weight before 200, exercised more, and just did it on our own. But we didn't....because we couldn't.

So I try not to be too judgmental for folks who decide to take care of their "same" problem at an earlier stage than I did. I just about died waiting too long. I wouldn't put that off on anyone.

Best wishes!

I have battled my weight problem since I was at school. I have been as low as 160 lbs and as high as 264 lbs during my years of dieting. Sure I managed to keep myself around 200 - 220 lbs for the last few years which is way too heavy for someone at 5'2" tall. I had no health issues, eg, BP, diabetes right up until I was around 50yo. In fact, my BP was around 115/75... then bam, it was up to 160/100 for quite some time and I had to go on medication. I had the diabetes and sleep apnea not long before that. Why wait until all those problems hit? If I had been banded a few years before when I was at 200 lbs then I wouldn't have these health issues now.

So in answer to your question, I believe everyone has a right to be banded if they find it hard losing weight or keeping it off.

This is what I think and I always speak my mind. IF I had been able to have lap band surgery at 200lbs or indeed even known about it then, then I would not have gotten as big as I am now :( If you have the money and you need it then go for it. BUT don't do it because you are just too lazy... you have to have a real reason for doing it I think... like you know you are never going to get slimmer without one. Because it would be better for your health to get banded sooner rather than later. JMO

I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad.

I certainly think that it should be available to anyone. Regardless of weight. Why? Why shuld someone have to wait till they reach 100+ lbs. If they have a signifigant enough dieting history that shows they have dieted in the past and can't keep it off then more power to them to prevent them from getting morbidly obese in the first place.
Heck this is one thing I have real trouble with in the USA healthcare system. Waiting till there are actual problems to treat people who already have problems in certain areas.
If someone has a family history of co-morbids or weight problems, And they struggle trying to lose or stay at a so called *Normal weight* why not?

Since the band has the LEAST complications of all WLS it should be a good *Preventive*

I wish my BF could get a band. Why? He & I both have real issues with portions. He has recently been put on insulin for his diabetes cause he can't get his numbers under control. Why can't he? Simple he eats to much. And the wrong kinds of foods.

And while I am slowly replacing most carbs with better options. It's really hard and EXPENSIVE to do so. Realizing just how much we do eat has been an eye opener. I never really realized before all this just what a *Normal* portion is. I don't think anytime in my entire 40 years have I ever had a *Normal* portioned meal since perhaps the age of 5 and under.

Also If you look at him. He doesn't appear much overweight. ALL of his weight is in his torso. He has nice trim sexy arms & legs with decent muscle definition, and just a tiny bit of overhang with his belly (Muffin top i guess its called) But according to the charts hes *morbidly obese*

I swear if he lost 100 lbs I don't know where it would come from!!

But portion control is something he could benifit from greatly.

I wish I had learned what i know about the band 20 years ago. I would have found a way to pay for it then. To prevent from getting to the size I am now.

Well its not a pound weight as such, more so BMI because 200 is very overweight for some and not so much for others.

From a personal point of view, I got banded at a BMI of 35, maybe 36. I had no real comorbidities - well I had a bad ankle which has since been fixed, but no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no sleep apnoea, I was really very healthy.

However, I felt I'd begun the fat cycle. At the risk of inciting riot yet again, I felt disgusting at that weight, I looked awful, bloated and unhealthy, I couldnt buy anything I actually wanted to wear and as most of us here would know, once you start down that road, you get too fat and unfit to be active, you spend more and more time on the couch, and its just a vicious spiral into true obesity.

I figured why wait till I DID have problems? I wanted to nip it in the bud. I'm saved the health care system in Australia potentially tens of thousands of dollars that would have had to be spent on my in the future when I was diabetic, on blood pressure medication, in and out of hospital with heart scares, all the things that happen to obese people who make it into old age.

There was a story on Sixty Minutes here last night about Bruce Venables, an Australian actor, who was having a Lap Band put in. He became "not diabetic" 48 hours after the surgery. Prof. Paul O'Brien has pioneered a world first study of banded people in which 1 in 10 of the medicated people in the study cured their diabetes with diet, exercise and medication and virtually ALL of the banded people had complete remission. Its in the news here, its remarkable and they truly dont know why yet.

But the money that saves the public purse is incredible, its gajillions of dollars if we can cure/prevent obesity. I fell sort of halfway - yes, I was obese but it was mainly a preventative measure for me.

However for me it was truly a cosmetic thing too, I really wasnt happy with the way I looked and what being so fat said about me, and I cured it the most practical way I could see. And I really truly do NOT believe that is any more drastic that someone going and getting breast implants, a face lift and a bit of lipo - the surgery is no more risky AND it improves my long term health to boot, whereas cosmetic surgery is just that - cosmetic. So if people can then defend it by saying how much better it makes them feel about themselves, why is a Lap Band any different - obviously whether the public system pays for that or whether it should be self funded in those circumstances is another debate but I'd be quite happy to have to pay for mine, whereas someone with a BMI of 48 got theirs funded publically, I think that's entirely fair.

Overall though, I think in Australia, it shoudl be widely available to people, not just those that can afford to go through the private system. Its largely funded by medicare, so anyone technically can get it done, but its mainly done by people working in the private system so in private hospitals etc.

Anyway, I dont really care, lol. I did what was best for ME, and I know I couldnt have beaten this weight problem on my own.

I don't like the way I look either, I look like a big bloated blueberry like in charlie and the chocolate factory, cept I am more nude colored LOL, plus I can't buy clothes anymore. I do have some health problems though that are co morb. And being over 400 lbs I don't see how I would be turned down. I probably weighed 200 when I was like between 7 and 10. I know it's horrible. I'm tired of being this huge blob that can't sit in chairs and can't walk up steps, can't stand for long periods...all that lovely shit. I am completely, and utterly tired of suffering. I want the weight off my shoulders...litterly.

That's not bad is it? lol

I'd say you better not be mad at meeeeeee

No, its not bad, lol. But sometimes I think you have more "right" to say it at 400lb than I did at 245. Because so many people would just love to get to 245 and here I am saying that I looked disgusting, it does stick in people's craw a bit. But I had nothing else to compare it to you know? It was the fattest I'd ever been, so I felt terrible - no energy, slow, heavy, lethargic. And I felt I looked terrible because I'd never looked heavier than that.

To see someone go from 400 to 245, well we'd all be saying "you look fantastic" and truly meaning it. Because its all in the comparison.

To me, I'd never weighed more, so for me it WAS rock bottom. But its very hard to say it in a diplomatic way.

my goal is 170 i started at 419, down to 406 on june 19th get weighed again on wednesday will see what i am then i think i might have gained but who knows, hopefully not, but i'dddddddd absolutely die to be 200 lbs i think i would be tiny at 200...maybe LOL