Hey guys, I'm new to this whole thing, right now I'm in the information gathering stage. I will be attending a "seminar" tomorrow night with my wife to get some more information.
I've been seriously thinking of getting the lap band for about 3 months now. I'm 26 years old (is that too young?) 6'0" tall weigh about 280lbs and have a BMI of 38. The main reason for getting this done is due to health concerns, it will be nice to look much better as well... but in reality it breaks down about 85% health 15% looks. I've been battling weight issues evern since I was a little kid, I was always the chubby kid at school, in Middle School i somehow picked up the unfortunate nickname of "Shamu" because I was a little heavy. When I graduated High School I was weighing about 210 lbs, not huge but about 25 lbs heavier than my "ideal weight". After numerous diets and excercise programs I managed to weigh about 195, which has been the thinnest I have ever weighed, even that was still about 10 lbs heavier than my "ideal weight". This was arround age 19. Since then I have gotten married and have ballooned up to my current weight. I have tried all the fad diets from Atkins, to South Beach, to Slim Fast. I have joined several gyms including one at work. The problem is that I enjoy eating too much, and I live a pretty sedentary lifestyle. At work I sit in front of a computer all day, at home I sit in front of the TV or read a book outside in the hammock. My extracaricular activities are cars and church, neither which is physically taxing... in short I eat too much and don't excercise enough. My blood pressure is borderline high, my resting pulse rate is also high, my cholesterol is also borderline... and on top of all that my family has a very bad history of heart disease (grandfather died of a heart attack in his early 50's and an uncle and aunt have both had strokes while still in their 50's). I have a beautiful young wife and a wonderful 2 yr. old son that I love very much and I have decided that I can no longer risk destroying my body by not addressing my looming health issues.
Well sorry for the long story but I wanted everyone to have some insight into my situation before I asked my questions. First off, do you think I am too young to have the lap band procedure done? (the 4 people i personally know that have had the procedure done have been in their late 30's early 40's) I'm also not quite 100 lbs over weight, and I've heard that most Dr's are hesitant to do the procedure unless you are over 100 lbs over weight. Lastly, taking into consideration my long family history of heart disease, should this make it more imperative that I have the procedure done now? I don't want to wait until I'm alot older and further gone, I fear that I may be taking years away from my life every day that I live and not correcting this issue.
Thanks for listening to my rants and ravings, hope to hear your input.
-K