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

My "rock bottom" was 223. When I hear people whose goal is 200, I think "nooooooooo, aim higher" but then they turn out to be 6 ft or something and 200 is a normal BMI for them.

Maybe it would be better if the poll said 100 or less lbs. to lose instead of below 200 lb.

I'm 5'9 my goal is 170 but 200 would be good hehe

Why should someone have to wait until they're morbidly obese to have the chance to do something about it? Why should anyone have to be forced to go through the same yoyo dieting that brought me to 300 pounds? I wish I had the opportunity to do this sooner. I would have liked to have been able to do this before I got to such a desperate state.

I feel like I lost several years of my life being unhealthy and unhappy. I would never want anyone else to have to go through that if they don't have to.

I choose not to judge anyone's choices in life as a general rule. WLS is the same. To each his own.

This poll is in a word, offensive.

it's not meant to be offensive it's just a poll people have their opinions and are voicing them.

This is rants and raves you know, it's a place for opinions. :)

This is not an offensive poll. It is just asking your opinion.

Weight and height play a role in determining your BMI. My doctor will not do surgery if you do not meet the over 35 BMI standard even on a self-pay patient. I think it depends if your BMI is 35 or higher. The company and doctor that invented the Lap Band never intended it to be used for someone under a BMI of 35. I am sure you can find a doctor to take your money and do the surgery when you do not meet the BMI standard. Just like should age play a role in who gets WLS. I say it does. I think that only those under 18 with extreme cases should be considered for WLS. This surgery is not a quick fix and it takes a strong will & mental attitude to change your eating habits and work your band. The band is still a tool that has to be used properly. This is not some fade diet, but a life style change.

Andy I absolutely loved your reply. Thank you for posting it. :)

krissy, everyone is entitled his/her opinion. As are you - I'm kind of curious however why it is you feel this way. It seems slightly unfair to kind of do a bit of a "drive-by" post. More feedback would have been helpful to the conversation.

I personally find nothing offensive in the least. It's a simple question and I highly doubt it was meant in any way to come off as such.

My personal opinion is that, to each his/her own. If you can pay for it and your doctor agrees to do it, then do it.

I myself would not go out of my way to spend all that money and pain if I only needed to lose 30-40 lbs. Of course that's just me. If someone else would, then I say - great for that person.

Personally at if I were 225 and my height of 5'6" I wouldn't have considered it. If I were 200 lbs at 5'6" I definitely wouldn't have considered it. My problem happened that I creeped up past 250 lbs and was definitely having a hard time losing it and wanted something to help go back down and then maintain and keep away from that yo yo dieting routine I'd been on all my life. Never meant to become a skinny person, wasn't my choice. Although I understand others wanting that, it's just not my bag baby!

Wasn't really sure what weight I wanted to go down to but I certainly didn't want to gain back the weight I had lost on the pre-op liquid phase. But if you think about it, it was a kind of 4 week crash diet at the time and my body doesn't react well to crash dieting. Now that I'm not "dieting" I'm doing much better. Mentally I'm doing great!

Everyone has different needs and wants from this and I wouldn't judge a person because they got the band at 200 lbs or 400 lbs it's a personal choice and doesn't warrant anyone's judgment. Just as I wouldn't judge a person who was 200 lbs or 400 lbs and were happy with the weight they were at and did not want to go through WLS. I know what's right for me now and probably shouldn't have been banded in the first place as I wasn't in a "good place" at the time when I made the decision. Nanook.

That's not really true. In the US we use the NIH standards but the band was developed outside the US and they use different standards. They will band anyone who is obese, which is a BMI of 30 or above. You don't have to wait to be morbidly obese like you do here.

There have been some studies of "low" BMI'ers and the band and they are finding that it works great if you are "only" 50 lb. overweight. It works much better than it does for higher BMIs, in fact. So the thinking is changing that this can be preventative for those who are already past the point of no return with weight.

If you have 50 lb. or more to lose, you are not looking at good odds with dieting and exercising. But having WLS will help you and you are more likely to lose all your excess weight and keep it off, thus never developing the problems that the morbidly obese get.

I see the NIH changing their criteria over the next couple of years. Hopefully insurance companies will fall in line and it will be easier to get WLS.

[quote=andyisbanded;901799]The company and doctor that invented the Lap Band never intended it to be used for someone under a BMI of 35. /quote]

Oops quote didnt work, so I just bolded it.

I absolutely dont take issue with anything you said Andy, brilliant post. I just wanted to expand on this particular statemement.

The clinic I attend is headed by Prof. Paul O'Brien (read a bit about him here Lap Band Surgeons, The Centre for Bariatric Surgery - Morbid Obesity Treatment, Melbourne Australia) who was involved with the development and release of the Lap Band worldwide, although not the sole inventor. In Australia and in this clinic, people with a BMI of 30 or more can get banded. Its not common to get banded at 30 of course, but if you're a suitable candidate - taking into account weight history, family history etc - you can get banded. As Prof. O'Brien was saying when interviewed on telly last night on our 60 minutes, it has now been discovered in a study led by him that the Lap Band can cure type II diabetes virtually overnight (and if not, relatively quickly) before weight loss has even occurred so banding at lower BMI's is likely to become even more common.

Interestingly, at Prof O'Brien's clinic there's never any mention of protein first or low carbing or anything. He recommends a balanced diet including all food groups.

I'm considered a low BMI person for banding purposes. I have no co-morbidities, I wear a size 14.

If I only had my mother's genes, I'd leave well enough alone. My father is a mess at 67. So, facing peri menopause squarely in the eyes, the time is now to get to a healthy weight and stay there.

Losing weight isn't the issue. It's keeping it off. I've stayed relatively stable within a 20 pound zone for 13 years...ever since being pregnant with my oldest.

I've watched people around me do a brilliant job of dropping pounds, whether it be Weight Watchers, Nutri/System, the Cookie Diet, Atkins, Zone, South Beach....whatever. Brilliant for a while, then for all of them, the weight has returned.

Thus the band. I'm willing to do the work ONCE. Then I want a little piece of hardware to keep me from being normal. When one of my WW friends decides to binge and eat a double banana split, she can. I'll still be forced to chose between a glass or wine or dinner, not both.

That was my thinking too. Its the maintenance stage that I think my band for.

On the 60 minutes program that I mentioned above, they spoke to a weight watchers leader, a lady who'd lost like 100lb and kept it off. She was mouthing off about how WLS is too extreme and you just need to eat less and move more. Its exactly the advice I always give on here, only difference here everyone has a Lap Band to help them. Statistically it is PROVEN that WW, Jenny Craig, none of it works if you've more than 50lb to lose, its only about 1% of people who actually lose weight and keep it off. It is a senseless, endless losing battle, you wont win it. Everyone can eat less and move more for long enough to lose some weight, hardly anyone can keep it going long enough to maintain that loss.

I should also mention that I'm a self pay.

Surgery is safer for people who have fewer health concerns. I don't understand the need to weigh more or have a severe medical concern to get to (and stay at) a healthy weight.

It's like saying "you can't have glasses until your vision is 20/60. 20/40 isn't bad enough to correct."