I am not necessarily an Oprah fan. I watched the show today and she interviewed 3 teenagers who had lapband. They were all well-spoken and knowledgeable. I was pround of them.

Oprah, to my surprise, was not judgemental. She seemed down the road and just asked the questions. What I did notice was that the audience didn't applaud the WLS teenagers when they told how much weight they had lost, however, they applauded when the teenager who lost weight naturally told how much she had lost.

I didn't like that Oprah seemed to purposefully use the word "fat". I know they were "fat". But I think (not sure), in the past Oprah has used the word "obese".

Dr. Oz seemed to be coming on strong.

Damn I missed this one ... wish I had of watched LOL but I was still at work though. It's rumored that Missy Elliot has had it done! But who really knows ... I'm sure alot of stars have but the are just keep it under wraps. So did Miss Jones the radio personaility here in NJ/NY. But who really knows at the end of the day it's their business.

I watched the show. Only one of the teenagers had the band. The other ones has gastric bypass.

I don't think Oprah used the word fat in any negative way at all. Oprah has always been sensitive to weight issues. She has struggled her whole life with her weight. What she did stress was getting to the bottom of your weight issue.

The audience did give the girl who lost the weight without surgery more applause. I hate when people make it seem like WLS is an easy way out. It just goes with all the other stereotypes of overweight people-lazy! It makes me really angry.

There were 2 with lapband:

The 13 year old

The young man (MAC)

2 with gastic bypass

Calli

one with addiction transfer

1 with natural weight loss

Two of the teens had the band, the dark haired girl went to Dr. Ortiz in Mexico and the young black teen went to Illinois.

I felt Oprah's feeling towards WLS surgery came through as pretty obviously negative as did Dr. Oz. I thought the kids and the parents of the two teens who had been banded did well in their explanation. I would have hoped they could have explained more how their eating habits had changed. I'm sure it would have been a real eye opener on how the band really works.

I also thought they should have explained how it is reversible, unlike gastric bypass. They did mention it, but they sort of made it sound like it wasn't really an option.

I don't think the reversible thing should have been mentioned more. Technically it is... but that isn't the point. Yes it can be removed, but that shouldn't happen unless there are problems.

As for the teenagers getting the band. I guess I am going to be in the minority, but I just don't agree with a 13 year old going in. I agree with Dr Oz in that a non-adult is not mature enough to make that kind of decision. I also agee with him that the surgery is forced behavior modification. Specially with the band.

A 13 year old is still young enough that I think a parent should work with them on the behavior modification. I think that had my parents been more proactive at helping me when I was younger, I wouldn't have had to take this step now.

Yes there are exceptions to this... i.e. the 20% that Dr Oz stated have biological causes as well.

I just think that at 13, her mom should have put the same energy into trying to help resolve the psychological issues that she did trying to get her the surgery.

As for the 16yoa Mac. He at least went through a lot more testing and addressed the psychological aspect BEFORE surgery. I still think he was too young for such a drastic measure... but at least he addressed issues before hand and went through a six month process of evaluation. Hopefully he understood more what he was in store for.

Like I said, I guess I am in the minority. I really feel like the lapband is forced behavior modification. We HAVE to eat better. We HAVE to eat less. We HAVE to listen to our body and learn what satiety is. The band forces us to. I have 31 years of BAD eating habits to unlearn. I needed this tool to help me. Specially now after being banded, albeit not very long. I realize just how STRONG the psychological portion is. I though I knew before hand, and had a good handle on it. Boy was I wrong.

The reason I thought the aspect of removal should have been mentioned more is because they were saying that children who have the procedure done can't make the choice about the long term effects. With the lap band a child can reverse things when they are an adult if they feel that is in their best interest.

I totally agree though, that behavior modification at that age should be the number one "fix".

The reason I thought the aspect of removal should have been mentioned more is because they were saying that children who have the procedure done can't make the choice about the long term effects. With the lap band a child can reverse things when they are an adult if they feel that is in their best interest.

I see your point. They can remove it later if they choose to. They would still have a chance for negative effects, whether it be with the stomach or liver. (ie rubbing, adhering) No where as significant with trying to reverse RNY though.

I think Oprah and Dr. Oz both had some negativity slipping through...perhaps they thought it was a bit much for teenagers to have the surgery. It kind of irked me while watching.

I thought it was pretty good and informative about the positive aspects of the band. I did notice that the only one that Oprah said "great job, you are inspiration" is to the girl who did it without wls.

It was obvious that they thought it was the "easy way out". I must admit I thought it would be easy, but it is so so so so hard.

Some kids have tried behavior modification and it doesn't work. I was on a liquid diet at age 9 (ironically, the same one as Oprah - optifast) and then what happened? I gained the weight back and was over 200lbs at age 10. For children who have been dealing with obesity, it might not be too young at 13. I WISH these options were available to me at 13, bc then I wouldn't have had to go through being obese through my teens and 20's. (although I was obese as a child, I don't agree with children having wls) If I could have been "normal" through school, I feel that would have made a huge difference for me.

I recorded the show and just now finished watching it. I don't think Oprah was being judgemental, it almost seemed like she really didn't care one way or the other. I just wasn't feelin it today, Idk, maybe she was just having an off day!

Oh, and I also noticed the audience seemed a lot more supportive of the girl who lost weight without WLS. It seemed like the ones who had WLS were trying to defend themselves a little when they were answering questions, not sure if it was the tone of their voice or the way they were answering or what, just a feeling I got from them.

I do think 13 is a little young to be having WLS, but we don't fully understand everything this girl was going through and no parent wants to see their child suffering. I think the older ones were probably more psychologically prepared, I just don't see how a 13 year old could be mentally prepared for that. Heck, I'm 27 and I don't think I was as mentally prepared as I should have been.

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I am in two minds about WLS for young teens. As a young teen growing up I would have loved to have the ability to have this surgery, so the emotional pain that I suffered as I got older would have been far less. That being said as a young teen I am not sure that I could have handled the emotional toll and mental energy the surgery requires post-op. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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For example when Oprah asked what the young teens ate for food- the response was "half of a cheeseburger and a few fries." Since I have been banded I have not allowed myself the opportunity to have such treats. (I have to assume the parents do their best to keep them on a strict diet, but that is my point-the parents have to participate in the process. Left on their own- it's cheeseburger and fries.)<o:p></o:p>

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My advice is unless there are serious health risks (not being able to find the perfect boyfriend does not count.) everyone (including the parents) should do everything to support weight loss, and promote a healthy self-esteem until the time is right to have the surgery. <o:p></o:p>

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I also agree that Oprah was biased against the kids who had WLS. They are also inspirations! <o:p></o:p>

I agree that the kids with WLS were having to defend themselves. Personally, I was a skinny kid, but how many on here have been overweight since they were children?

If I had been, I know my mom would have done whatever she felt was needed to get me help. As for the cheeseburgers, I was suprised by that too, but like Oprah said, these kids aren't just eating at home.

When I went to my WLS seminar, they gave out some statistics and one of them was that 95% of all diets fail. One statement they made was that a person can only push that rock uphill for so long before they finally give up.

If these kids have been overweight their entire lives, what do you think the chances that they would have the epiphany that the last girl did? She was the exception, not the rule. Why not give these kids a chance at a normal childhood? <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

:hurray:

Well put Suzanne!

If these kids have been overweight their entire lives, what do you think the chances that they would have the epiphany that the last girl did? She was the exception, not the rule. Why not give these kids a chance at a normal childhood? <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Wow. I wish I had seen this. I have such mixed feelings on the issue. I have a daugther who is almost 15. She is 5'8" and about 230 lbs. My heart aches for her all the time. I try and try and try to help her with healthy eating. Unfortunately, she is only with me half of the time and seems to totally overeat when I am not around or not watching. She will do good for a week or so and then not see any results that are easily recognizable and say the heck with it, it's too hard. I would do anything for her, including surgery to help her lose the weight. However, I think that at only 15 she is not ready. She proves that over and over by giving up after about a week of healthy eating. She makes every excuse in the book why she ate this or that. She totally has it in her mind that she can not lose weight. Her father and I (we are no longer together) have discouraged her even more with the fact that I had lap band surgery and he had gastric bypass about 3 years ago. She now thinks that surgery is the only way out. Being an overweight teenager is SO hard. I know this from experience. I wish I had never fed her anything but fruits and vegetables! haha

My battle started when I was 10, my first diet, the cabbage Soup diet, followed by the grapefruit diet, slim fast, dexitrim, WW, hypnotism and then cycling back through all of them. By the time I was 12 I reached my adult height of 5'5" and wieghed 120 pounds, while all of my peers were in the 80-90 pound range. Now that I think about it at 120 I was really skinny, a size 4/5. But being teased and harassed about being "fat" didn't help and I managed to gain 30 pounds by the time I was 13, so 150 is not too thin when your friends are all thin, or by this point just other kids in school. I couldn't run a mile in gym class and had to walk. My parents made me participate in school sports so I chose basketball-6th and 7th grade, volleyball 7th grade, 9th-11th was swimming and 9th-12th was tennis. I had to have special ordered swimsuits for swimteam and a size 16 tennis skirt special ordered. The quality of my jr high school and high school life just sucked. And of course my weight increased well well past 150, the whole way up to 350 by the time I was 30. Unfortunately I stopped growing taller when I was 12.

If I had the option of lapband when I was a teenager I would have done it. I think 13 is a good age for a girl, if she's done growing. As a teenager I wasn't a junk food junkie, just a carb addict (bread, Pasta, rice, etc). Probably the reason the lapband works so well for me now.