Would you advise your (adult) children to have WLS?

I am going to watch this post for what others think about this. My oldest son is turning 18 in 2 weeks. He's obese. He's probably got a BMI between 37 and 38. I worry about his health, about his eating habits, about his lack of physical activity.

I know my son is too young now to even consider it, but I worry about him and wonder if it will have to come to that one day.

I do have a young coworker here who is 22 years old and is pursuing RNY. Though, he's over 450lbs, and there are comorbidities that go along with it.

Absolutely not.

She can stop eating junk food, learn portion control and lose the weight that way. If there were any surgical complications, she would have to live with them and it is not worth it. She is active, has no medical issues and just needs to learn how to eat properly to reach and maintain her ideal weight.

Working with a therapist is a good plan.

Just curious, but when would your perception change on this? Would it be based on age or time spent being obese? When do you think someone should consider WLS? Only with co-morbidities or only with a significantly higher BMI?

(Asking as a discussion point, I'm not trying to be argumentative).

When health is involved, i.e. Diabetes or very high blood pressure. Certainly not for a healthy and active young person.

I wish I had got my vsg before I developed health problems from it. If you're obese why wait if you can't manage to get it off without surgery?

A college age kid *****ferees for sports leagues is healthy enough to try to do it without surgery. Weight loss surgery is a wonderful tool, but has its downsides too. She would not be able to join the military and would be discriminated against for some other jobs and health insurance. WLS is a pre-existing condition.

You can end up with reflux, vitamin and iron deficiencies, bathroom issues, cross-over addictions, or reactive hypoglycemia. You will have Bounceback regain if you are not able to maintain the diet for life.

If it were my daughter, I would take her to Weigh****chers.

She already has pre-existing health issues that preclude her from the military. She has chronic migraine (basilar and classic), asthma, and an auto-immune arthritis that they're still trying to narrow down the exact diagnosis on. None of these things are caused by weight, but they are exacerbated by it.

The potential for complications is a real one, and not to be taken lightly, certainly.

I would certainly rather see her deal with this without surgery, but I have to wonder if it wouldn't be better for her to get the weight off regardless of how...

Her chances for losing the weight and keeping it off long term aren't any better than ours were just because she's young. A measly 2-4% success rate. I lost 120 pounds in my 20s and was sure I had it figured out. That was the first of 3 times I've lost over 100 pounds. This is #4 and I'm 45. I would give anything to have those years of losing and gaining back. What a waste of energy and emotion!

As for Weigh****chers, how many of us have failed at that?

I agree it's so important to let it be her decision and something she reaches on her own.

I don't agree. ThIs could be said of all of us. Didn't work for us did it?

One of the things I'd be concerned about, having seen so many posts here over the years, is the need younger people seem to have to combine socializing with food and alcohol. Clearly not all young people feel this way, but many seem to not know how to have fun with friends unless alcohol and food are involved. That would need to change with weight loss and WLS.