There is a new biggest loser contestant that had the lap-band surgery. I wonder what is her story?? :thumbup:

Check the link: Montina - Contestants - The Biggest Loser - NBC Site

Yes, parents are responsible for the meals they prepare and for the health of the child. My mom sent me to a nutritionist, doctor, and tried to motivate me but it was unsuccessful for the most part. At 14 I was in the marching band and would walk to the bakery right after band practice and buy all kinds of goodies and have them ate up before my mom came to pick me up. At that time the schools had coke machines and I would drink at least 4 can cokes a day!!!!! OMG! Looking back it seems so horrible! My mom had no idea that I had just had just ate two or more days worth of calories before I even touched dinner!

Oh, yea I would clean my plate at dinner time to like I just hadn't ate a twinkie, suzy q, granola bar, and a brownie (my past favorites)!

I agree that most 14 year olds are not responsible for what they eat. It is their parents that plan,shop, cook etc. I would imagine that the whole family need help in instances like these in types of food, cooking methods etc.

To band a 14 year old would probably make no difference as her parents would still be buying and cooking the wrong foods. It would make banded life really hard.

I still live with my parents. My mom buys ice cream, cupcakes, cookies, etc. She makes unhealthy meals. It IS hard being banded and living in my house. She doesn't put a gun to my head and say "eat this or I'll shoot!" but it doesn't make a lifestyle change any easier... you know?

I'm 37 and sometimes now sure if I was grown-up enough for the surgery :smile2:

I still live with my parents. My mom buys ice cream, cupcakes, cookies, etc. She makes unhealthy meals. It IS hard being banded and living in my house. She doesn't put a gun to my head and say "eat this or I'll shoot!" but it doesn't make a lifestyle change any easier... you know?

Maybe it's time for you to move out on your own where you can control what kind of food is in the house. I know after my WLS, my daughter didn't like it because I didn't buy all the "junk food" she wanted. She did move out, but now I think she's losing weight because she doesn't have the money to buy the junk food that I had previously supplied.

How many fourteen-year-olds do you know?

I would guess, as a teacher, that I probably knew more 14 year olds...and from a wider variety of home/cultural settings...than most people.

I disagree with your view of noncompliance assigned to an age group. Yes, they may be testing their wings, but as long as they are not being pushed into getting a band by a parent, and it is their choice, then noncompliance does not become an issue because this is something *they* want.

Look around at this forum...not too many teens here but an incredible number of noncompliant people. I stand by my opinion that a 14 year old is not too young for a band. For a bypass...absolutely...but not for a band. It is just a tool like any other.

Just a thought...if an overweight 14 year old is expected to successfuly lose the weight just by dieting and exercise...how come all of you 'adults' don't just do the same thing if that's so successful. More to the point...how come those of you who were fat since your teen years didn't just 'bite the bullet' and lose your weight as a teen and without the band?

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I would also like to add that as a fat 14 year old, I would have begged for the band. I was perpetually hungry and ate enough at a meal for 3 people. At that point in my life I did not snack between meals (lack of opportunity mostly). We ate healthy meals. I just ate way too much at a sitting. The band would have prevented that...and 40 years of fat related misery and health problems related to being fat.

Over the next 40 years I ballooned up to 330 lbs despite WW, calorie counting, etc. All tools remember...just like the band...but not the right tool for me. The band is/was.

I would never withhold a tool from someone just because they're only 14. I also don't consider band surgery as something you do as a 'last resort'. A bypass may be a 'last resort'...but the band isn't.

Is WW, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystems, calorie counting, etc. last resorts? No they're tools...and so is the band.

I would guess, as a teacher, that I probably knew more 14 year olds...and from a wider variety of home/cultural settings...than most people.

I disagree with your view of noncompliance assigned to an age group. Yes, they may be testing their wings, but as long as they are not being pushed into getting a band by a parent, and it is their choice, then noncompliance does not become an issue because this is something *they* want.

Look around at this forum...not too many teens here but an incredible number of noncompliant people. I stand by my opinion that a 14 year old is not too young for a band. For a bypass...absolutely...but not for a band. It is just a tool like any other.

Just a thought...if an overweight 14 year old is expected to successfuly lose the weight just by dieting and exercise...how come all of you 'adults' don't just do the same thing if that's so successful. More to the point...how come those of you who were fat since your teen years didn't just 'bite the bullet' and lose your weight as a teen and without the band?

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At 15 I lost over 40 pounds in 2 months after working out for one hour a day and restricting my calories to 800 a day. I have tried every diet you can think of and was successful at most but the weight always came back with interest. I got my band to help me keep it off for good this time. Maybe age doesn't have any thing to do with it. Maybe it's just a mind thing?

I got my band to help me keep it off for good this time. Maybe age doesn't have any thing to do with it. Maybe it's just a mind thing?

That was my point Shurmeka. :smile2: The media has done a great job of telling us how irresponsible, defiant, rebelleious, etc. young teens are but that has not been my experience. No doubt some are...but there are just as many who are well behaved, respectful, obedient and compliant to those in authority.

I've also been temporarily successful at losing weight since I was in my teens...but it always came back because all I was doing was tamping down that hunger through sheer willpower. The band...even at 14...would have helped with that...just as it does now.

I know the misery I've gone through for the past 40 years and I wouldn't wish that on anything. Being fat has affected *every* area of my life and I'm still dealing with the psychological affects of being ridiculed, not being able to live a normal life, etc. I couldn't deny a 14 year old the opportunity to not go through what I did.

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Maybe it's time for you to move out on your own where you can control what kind of food is in the house. I know after my WLS, my daughter didn't like it because I didn't buy all the "junk food" she wanted. She did move out, but now I think she's losing weight because she doesn't have the money to buy the junk food that I had previously supplied.

I agree I moved out just 5 years ago and I am living a more healthier life. I cook all the time, so there are no "junk food" in my kitchen. The funny part is when my mom visited me last month she said, "there is nothing to eat in my kitchen." so she went to the store to buy some junk food....:smile2:

I guess I don't really understand HOW you can fail a lapband unless you don't have it filled? can the pouch above it restretch? I was given the impression that it could NOT restretch because of the band in place?

I'm a nurse at a pediatric hospital. Compliance in that particular age group (pre and early teens) is about none. Diabetics, Cancer kids, various intolerances, CF etc.... they are very rarely compliant and end up back to see us because of complications of that non-compliance. I cannot believe any surgeon would be ok with doing WLS on a 14 yr old....unless it was life or death?

I guess I don't really understand HOW you can fail a LAP-BAND® unless you don't have it filled?

There are many high calorie foods that slide through a band even when you have restriction. That's why it's a tool and not a magic wand. I know from experience that even when I had too much fill, Pasta, Cookies and other like stuff just slid through the band while chicken, beef and vegies were getting stuck on a regular basis no matter how small a bite or how well I chewed. I like how you put that though because it's not the lap band that fails us...it us we who fail the lap band if we don't follow the rules.

I cannot believe any surgeon would be ok with doing WLS on a 14 yr old....unless it was life or death?

My surgeon does the band on teens and it doesn't make him a bad surgeon just because he disagrees with the surgeons you know who wouldn't do it. Opinions vary...and thank God nobody gets to determine how we raise our children except us. :smile2:

You guys are so right! I get so irritated at people who post about why they're not losing weight with the band, but they continue to make poor food choices and don't exercise. I heard this quote at a support meeting that I go to " The best screwdriver in the world won't help a carpenter that needs a hammer." That made so much sense to me because you have to have the right tools to succeed. The band alone will do nothing for you, but if you decide to make the commitment to yourself to work with your tool, you WILL lose weight.

Your band did not fail you- YOU failed your band.

I would guess, as a teacher, that I probably knew more 14 year olds...and from a wider variety of home/cultural settings...than most people.

I disagree with your view of noncompliance assigned to an age group. Yes, they may be testing their wings, but as long as they are not being pushed into getting a band by a parent, and it is their choice, then noncompliance does not become an issue because this is something *they* want.

Look around at this forum...not too many teens here but an incredible number of noncompliant people. I stand by my opinion that a 14 year old is not too young for a band. For a bypass...absolutely...but not for a band. It is just a tool like any other.

Just a thought...if an overweight 14 year old is expected to successfuly lose the weight just by dieting and exercise...how come all of you 'adults' don't just do the same thing if that's so successful. More to the point...how come those of you who were fat since your teen years didn't just 'bite the bullet' and lose your weight as a teen and without the band?

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As a teacher, you do indeed know many.

As an RN with experience regarding compliance in this age group, I do, too.

My stance is that a 14-year-old is developmentally unprepared to make a decision to alter his/her body in this way. I believe it's unethical for parents to make this type of decision for kids.

A few years make all the difference, IMO. Just a handful of years---an 18-year-old, for example, may be in a totally different place. (Or may not be--I mean, there are plenty of adults who have difficulty complying! That's for the surgeon and psych and everyone else who helps determine readiness to assess.)

Would those who were fat as kids loved to have had a solution? Absolutely. But childhood's/early teen years are the time, perhaps, to focus on fostering the skills required to have success with banding, if that's the ultimate plan. Spend some time really preparing. When able to offer legal consent independently, then I think it's a terrific idea, and would support either of my kids if they were in that position.

I do have a fourteen-year-old -- he's smart, he's motivated, he's ....fourteen. No way on God's green earth would I consent to elective surgery until other avenues had been thoroughly explored. And at 14, you just can't ever say they have, IMO. (Then again, I don't have a child who's battled obesity throughout childhood--nor did I, so perhaps my opinion is colored by that.)

But, in stark contrast to my opinion is this study, which I just pulled up. It's very small---so small that I am not sure its statistical importance. But it is food for thought. Its gist is that banding works better for 14-18-olds than lifestyle change alone.

http://www.generalsurgerynews.com/index.asp?section_id=69&show=dept&issue_id=642&article_id=15311

Edited September 23, 201015 yr by BetsyB

My stance is that a 14-year-old is developmentally unprepared to make a decision to alter his/her body in this way. I believe it's unethical for parents to make this type of decision for kids.

And this is where we ultimately disagree. I believe the parent has the ethical right and duty to do what they feel is best for their 14 year old. They know that teen better than anyone else.

But as I said in the other thread, I'm not going to belabor the point. We all have our opinions and one thing I've learned about internet interactions is that nobody's mind will be changed. So I throw my .02 out there and you can either agree, disagree or ignore it...just as I will do when reading the opinions of others.

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I'm on the fence about a 14 year old getting the band.

I'm for it when I think of a kid being obese for most or all of those 14 years. That is not a happy or healthy childhood. I'm for it if the 14 year old needs to take off 100 or more pounds to have a "normal" BMI.

I'm against it because I have known many 14 year olds that are very immature still. It would be too much of a commitment for them to grasp.