Dateline NBC: Weigh to Go, Mom!

[Alexandra 55]

Ugh. This show was supposed to "motivate" moms who want to lose weight. Forget it. The first woman had 25 lbs to lose and lost 12 on the South Beach diet. Yay for her. The second woman had about 35 to lose before her high school reunion, and decided to do it by running a marathon. Yeah, right.

The third woman is MO, but only gained weight during her pregnancy and first few years as a mother of quintuplets. Before that she'd been slim all her life, even competing in a 1990 beauty pageant at age 21. She's 5'6", weighs 258, and had bypass surgery a few months ago. She said it's so she'll be around for her five kids, but also mentioned that she wants, once again, to have a body she can be proud of.

I am absolutely dumbfounded by people like this woman, who only got fat as an adult, while she was carrying SEXTUPLETS (one was stillborn), and she was consuming 7500 calories a day on her doctor's orders. Six years later she weighs more than her highest pregnant weight, but had gotten down to 190 in the interim. So it's only the last two or at most three years that she's been carrying 100 extra pounds. She seems to me like a TEXTBOOK case of someone who should be banded and NOT bypassed. How can a doctor sincerely recommend such drastic surgery to permanently change the basic functions of a healthy young body that has only recently gone awry? Given time and a certain amount of caloric restriction she probably could have lost a lot of that weight on her own.

The band would have been PERFECT for her. Yet nowhere was the band mentioned. Of course. Grrrrr.

[mrwindt 12]

Hi Alexandra

I watched that show last night and had the same reactions as you. I was so disgusted that the media never mentions the band as an option.

Just yesterday, I saw my brother (we were all together for mother's day). Although I don't discuss too much with him about my weight loss, I did explain to him all about the band and the surgery when I was first going to have it. And then yesterday, he commented that he saw the terrible article in the NY Times last week about "my" surgery. When I again explained that I had the band, not the by-pass, he commented that he thought I had what Al Roker had.

In case you didn't see the article, it was in the NY Times Science Section and was all about the bypass - with absolutely no mention of the band.

The band is really a wonderful option and it is so frustrating that the media doesn't even mention it.

Take care.

Mary

[nightingale2u 42]

I didn't see this program but I can tell you that there is definitey not enough positive information about the band out there for people to see. The first informational meeting I went to for WLS was with two surgeons that were not pro-band and I walked away very disappointed and thinking that the GBP was going to be my only choice. I was SO relieved after attending Dr. Chua's informational meeting as he gave very different and and positive information on the banding option. I felt a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders and that I really could make the band work for me. I am anxious to have the surgery and plan on being a success story as I want to be able to blab the attributes far and wide!

[shellyj 5]

what really gets me is when dr's do RNY on TEENS!! hello dont they realize the are young, growing, immature, etc...

of course the teen/child will want a quick fix but risk losing a child or complications from such a drastic surgery-i dont think so. you would think they would only offer the band.

i think RNY should only be done if you are super morbidly obese bmi over 50 (mine was 51.7 and i still chose the band) and everyone else should be given the band as their only chioce. i think the RNY doesnt make you accountable for your loss or food intake.

[one gone dog 0]

Yeah but you got doctors like ROSS FOX in Tacoma Wa. who make statements like this to people who are asking about the band.

"if it was me that had to loose the wieght, since I'm having surgery anyway i'd just go all the way" (reffering to the bypass over banding)

and when you got someone whos looking to the doctor for sound advice because they're at the end of thier emotional hay ride (and the doctor knows this) they're going to jump on it.

and when you consider how much more money the doctor is going to get for the bypass it doesnt surprise me that bypass is pushed harder.

If bypass had been my only option I wouldnt have even considered it. Not to say its always a bad thing but it aint for me.

[nightingale2u 42]

You are so right Big Dog... the first surgeons that I went to basically all but said this to the group in regards to the Lap Band... "It's obvious that you all have trouble controlling yourself and you didn't get this way by eating foods that are good for you... so... if you have doubts about your ability to control yourself... the Lap Band is not for you." I think every person in this world has moments where they lack self-control but that played on my own feelings of self-doubt and I was crushed. I am just thankful that my insurance did not cover my seeing those surgeons and that my next choice was a pro-banding M.D. I did not want the GBP but would have done it if I was led to believe that the Band would not work for me... my husband was also greatly relieved as the thought of my having the GBP scared him to death.

[Alexandra 55]

My first conversation with a surgeon came months after I'd made my decision. Up until that point none of the doctors I'd been in contact with had even HEARD of the band. Not my PCP, not my endocrinologist--HE actually recommended the VBG to me, a surgery that is not even done anymore. :cool:

Nope, by the time I went to see my surgeon my mind was long made up, and all I needed him for was to do the work. Of course I jumped through his testing hoops and attended his meetings, but nothing anyone said made the slightest bit of difference--there was just no way I was going to subject my healthy body to such drastic surgery.

If the band got more press, good or bad, maybe more people would be motivated like me to do their own research. I'm afraid loads of people have just never heard of it, so it can't attain the critical mass necessary to move forward in a big way. :cool:

[nightingale2u 42]

I think it will Alex... at least I had heard of it when I started my research... unfortunately you have to dig pretty deep and talk to those who actually have the band to get past the different studies that appear to show that the banding is not as effective as the GBP. I really do think that is changing just for the fact that more surgeons are offering the band. I wouldn't want a war against the GBP... just would love to see more information out there regarding all types of WLS. My sister had the GBP and is very happy with her choice and with the results but she does say that she might have chosen the band had surgeon she chose been offereing that option. It was really watching her go through the whole process that led me to want something less drastic... her recovery was long and difficult. It was also seeing that eventually she was thin and happy and by all appearances healthy that led me to consider it as an option if I was denied the Lap Band.

[bbrecruiter2000 1]

Hi Alex and friends,

I think that INAMED recently hired a new PR firm. Hopefully, the lapband message will get out there in a bigger way. I am frustrated with shows that push the RNY and even more frustrated with PCP's and bariatric surgeons who dont understand lapbanding. It is true that it takes more dedication to lose weight with banding, at least at the beginning. Later, things equal out anyway as far as weight loss is concerned. Of course the person I dislike the most is Dr. Phil. He is the worst hypocrite I have ever heard. Read an article how he just bought a 7 million dollar house for cash in Beverly Hills based on giving advice to people on how to lose weight and solve their money problems as well. He is overweight and could afford to drop a few pounds himself. Boy, is he out of the loop on reality. He also seems to think that all fat people got obese because they eat poorly. He never addresses the satiety issue as a genetic defect though. He is a wienie with a capital WWWW!!!

Babs in TX

334/221/180

-113

[marsha 0]

Oh Babs,

I totally agree with you on the Dr. Phill issue! He has an ongoing "weight loss challenge" with a group of obese people on his show. From time to time, they check in with the show and if they aren't loosing enough weight, they get voted off the show (like in survivor)! As if they don't feel like enough of a failure he has to add to it by rejecting them!!!!!!!!:cool: :cry :cool: I just want to go get them and introduce them to the band so they'll have hope again!

Marsha