Chris Christie had lap band weight loss surgery

[swamp]

He says it was for his health.  The pundits say it's for the upcoming presidential campaign.

Your thoughts? 

And is weight loss surgery "cheating?"   Should people lose weight the old fashioned way, speed?

[midjd]

I don't think it's "cheating," but it'll be interesting to see if he's able to keep the weight off. Most people I know who have had similar surgeries have ended up close to their original weight. The lap band does seem less invasive/permanent than gastric bypass, so I guess if it doesn't work for him he can just have it removed and go on about his business, rather than having to live the rest of his life minus a portion of small intestine.

But IMO if the physical alterations aren't accompanied by some sort of counseling or MH treatment to get at the source of his weight gain, it's unlikely to have much lasting effect.

[Deleted]

I thought it was cigarettes and laxatives.  And this is politics - since when do people care if they "cheat" or not?

[Deleted]

His life... His business.

But unless he gets to the bottom of it and fix the "issue", he will most likely gain the weight back.

[Deleted]

I'm on a fitness site and have read a lot of stories on wieght loss surgery.  While a few people praise it as necessary and life-changing, more have tales of failure and of how hard it is to get enough nutrients with a greatly reduced stomach capacity.  Everything you eat has to be nutrient-dense, and if you eat too much or too fast, you throw up.  Essentially, you're forced into far more drastic eating habits than any "eat-less, move-more" weight loss plan would require, and it's a life sentence.

It worked for Al Roker and it may work for Christie, but I'd consider it a last resort.

[swamp]

My SIL had it done, she seems fine.  But when the surgery goes bad, it goes very, very, very bad. 

[midjd]

Essentially, you're forced into far more drastic eating habits than any "eat-less, move-more" weight loss plan would require, and it's a life sentence.

The Lap Band can be removed or loosened so that the patient can enjoy more normal eating habits after most of the weight has come off. I don't think it inhibits digestion/nutrient absorption as much as gastric bypass, the band only makes the stomach smaller rather than removing part of the stomach/small intestine.

I think it has the potential to be more effective than gastric bypass, but only if the subject has the mental/emotional commitment to keep the weight off and stick to a healthy diet after the band is loosened... otherwise they're back where they started.

One of my coworkers had the surgery and from her comments, it cost more than $20K. I don't think it was covered by insurance because she was <100 lbs overweight. For me, shelling out that kind of cash would probably be enough to ensure I never overate again, but for someone like Christie it may be a drop in the bucket (and at his weight his insurance may have picked up the tab).

[swamp]

I dunno if his insurance would have paid for it.   Based on his comments, he said his BP, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc. were perfectly fine.

I know people who were recommended for the surgery but insurance would not pay. They were at the over 100 lb threshold, but they had no corresponding health problems.

[swamp]

May 8, 2013 9:27:35 GMT -5 @tbird said:

May 8, 2013 9:25:42 GMT -5 swamp said:

My SIL had it done, she seems fine.  But when the surgery goes bad, it goes very, very, very bad. 

When?  How long?  I think it is around the 5 year mark that you start to see the negative effects of nutrient issues.

2 years ago, I think.   Maybe the shit will hit the fan in a few years? 

One of my friends had it done, she's putting the weight back on. But she's also one of the people who spends her free time pinning recipes on Pinterest. 

[swamp]

May 8, 2013 9:30:06 GMT -5 @tbird said:

As for "cheating" - I think this is completely irrelevant.  I don't consider any personal health choice that is legal and available to be "cheating"

Is nancy pelosi's plastic surgery "cheating"?

Nancy Pelosi's plastic surgery is ugly. [img]http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png[/img]\

I don't think it's cheating either.  I've heard that comment, though, and was interested in what other peopel thought about it.

[busymom]

Maybe he's doing it for both reasons:  he wants to be healthier, AND he wants to run for President? 

[NancysSummerSip]

I'm glad for him that he did it. He is a husband and father before he is a governor or a potential Presidential candidate. If he wants to continue being a husband and father above and before all else, then he needs to survive first. And losing weight is an issue, regardless of his blood pressure or cholesterol levels. He says they are normal, but that could be "normal within a range for his age, gender and weight," as opposed to normal and healthy. Not judging him there, as I have issues with all of those things. Just saying that what's normal is a pretty big ballpark sometimes.

I hope it works out for him and that it works in the long run. The surgery can be defeated if you go back to your old eating habits. A cousin of mine did just that, and he's bigger than ever.

[Deleted]

Christie said that it's for his kids and not politics, but I'm sure he woudln't be doing this if he was a states attorney and nobody was calling his weight into question.  But I guess what's the difference?

I'm sure liberals will be pretty pissed if he really gets lean from now until the time he runs.  They didn't want to poke fun at someone for being fat, but they could basically accomplish the same thing with acting concerned about his health.  

[midjd]

He says they are normal, but that could be "normal within a range for his age, gender and weight," as opposed to normal and healthy. Not judging him there, as I have issues with all of those things. Just saying that what's normal is a pretty big ballpark sometimes.

Good point. I'm guessing he didn't mean he had the levels of a 20something marathon runner (and if he does, he needs to donate his body to science!)

Dave, you're attacking "liberals" for NOT making fun of someone's weight?

[mollyanna58]

May 8, 2013 9:07:13 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

His life... His business.

But unless he gets to the bottom of it and fix the "issue", he will most likely gain the weight back.

[Deleted]

Damn Liberals, with all their concern... makes me SICK!

[swamp]

May 8, 2013 9:40:59 GMT -5 @davebo said:

Christie said that it's for his kids and not politics, but I'm sure he woudln't be doing this if he was a states attorney and nobody was calling his weight into question.  But I guess what's the difference?

I'm sure liberals will be pretty pissed if he really gets lean from now until the time he runs.  They didn't want to poke fun at someone for being fat, but they could basically accomplish the same thing with acting concerned about his health.  

I'm pretty liberal and I like Christie.

[Deleted]

Yeah, "concern"...haha.  

[Deleted]

May 8, 2013 9:48:47 GMT -5 @davebo said:

Yeah, "concern"...haha.  

that's sad.

[mollyanna58]

Jon Corzine's camp ran a commercial during the gubernatorial campaign focusing on Christie's weight.  It was not well received and quickly pulled.

[Deleted]

May 8, 2013 9:50:28 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

Jon Corzine's camp ran a commercial during the gubernatorial campaign focusing on Christie's weight.  It was not well received and quickly pulled.

Corzine needs to STFU and find all that money that mysteriously went missing from his company.

[swamp]

May 8, 2013 10:08:30 GMT -5 @moneyjenny82 said:

May 8, 2013 9:50:28 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

Jon Corzine's camp ran a commercial during the gubernatorial campaign focusing on Christie's weight.  It was not well received and quickly pulled.

Corzine needs to STFU and find all that money that mysteriously went missing from his company.

Christie ate it? [img]http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png[/img]

[NancysSummerSip]

I'm pretty liberal, and I'd certainly consider voting for Christie if he ran in 2016. I like the honesty and integrity the guy has shown. And if he does plan a presidential campaign, it's probably not unlike training for and running a marathon, in the sense of the need for energy and enthusiasm, with all those campaign stops, speeches, glad-handing, travel, etc. I'm thinking it helps to be in shape to tackle a schedule like that. And at his current size, I don't think he has the stamina for that effort. It's work to carry all that bulk around, and keep it fed. The less you have to cart around, and the better you feed the human machine, the better off you are. And believe me, I'm speaking from experience here. Not trying to poke fun at him at all.

[Deleted]

May 8, 2013 10:22:51 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

I'm pretty liberal, and I'd certainly consider voting for Christie if he ran in 2016. I like the honesty and integrity the guy has shown. And if he does plan a presidential campaign, it's probably not unlike training for and running a marathon, in the sense of the need for energy and enthusiasm, with all those campaign stops, speeches, glad-handing, travel, etc. I'm thinking it helps to be in shape to tackle a schedule like that. And at his current size, I don't think he has the stamina for that effort. It's work to carry all that bulk around, and keep it fed. The less you have to cart around, and the better you feed the human machine, the better off you are. And believe me, I'm speaking from experience here. Not trying to poke fun at him at all.

That's why I think liberals would be terrified of a lean/mean Christie.  They know that he has a way with words that seems to appeal to both republicans and democrats. And the fact that he spoke highly of Obama despite some flack he caught, probably endeared him to a lot of people in the middle.

The strategy for an overweight Christie wouldn't be to run attack ads about his weight, but the media would end up doing the heavy lifting.  Pundits and Doctors would get interviewed about the danger in carrying weight at his age and whether he is physically qualified to operate as president.  

[NancysSummerSip]

May 8, 2013 10:35:46 GMT -5 @davebo said:

May 8, 2013 10:22:51 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

I'm pretty liberal, and I'd certainly consider voting for Christie if he ran in 2016. I like the honesty and integrity the guy has shown. And if he does plan a presidential campaign, it's probably not unlike training for and running a marathon, in the sense of the need for energy and enthusiasm, with all those campaign stops, speeches, glad-handing, travel, etc. I'm thinking it helps to be in shape to tackle a schedule like that. And at his current size, I don't think he has the stamina for that effort. It's work to carry all that bulk around, and keep it fed. The less you have to cart around, and the better you feed the human machine, the better off you are. And believe me, I'm speaking from experience here. Not trying to poke fun at him at all.

That's why I think liberals would be terrified of a lean/mean Christie.  They know that he has a way with words that seems to appeal to both republicans and democrats. And the fact that he spoke highly of Obama despite some flack he caught, probably endeared him to a lot of people in the middle.

The strategy for an overweight Christie wouldn't be to run attack ads about his weight, but the media would end up doing the heavy lifting.  Pundits and Doctors would get interviewed about the danger in carrying weight at his age and whether he is physically qualified to operate as president.  

And that strategy, using pundits and doctors to do the backstabbing (or as Davebo put it, the heavy lifting ) is pretty common and pretty cruel, in my book. If you are going to attack the fat guy, or gal, you should have the cojones to do it to their face. I've been subject to this kind of thing. A few years ago, I was running a 5K, and came up on a woman and her daughter. The girl was maybe 7 or 8 years old, and as I was passing them, the woman pointed to me and said to the child, "Run faster. You don't want that fat lady to beat you, do you?"

Made me mad enough to kick their butts, it did. Sadder than that first incident, though, was what I saw at the finish line. I waited for them, planning to ream that mother a new one for what she said. She and the kid came across the finish line, and she was yelling at the girl for being slow.

Nothing like teaching your kid intolerance and reminding them that they're a loser, all in the span of 3.1 miles.

[hoops902]

::And is weight loss surgery "cheating?" Should people lose weight the old fashioned way, speed? ::

It's cheating in the same way that having surgery on your broken arm is cheating I think.  He has a health problem, he's obese, he's using surgery to help him fix that problem.

[Tiny]

I don't think the weightloss surgery is cheating - especially since it's success rate only seems to be in the "short term" - most people gain back the weight (cause you know it's still really easy to consume more calories than you need no matter how 'much' your stomach holds or how much less your intestines absorb.

There's alot of other difficulties coming out about having both types of surgeries - you're pretty much not gonna be able to drink much alcohol - cause it's gets absorbed quicker! for some reason.   And any kinds of medications you might need to take need to be evaluated as to how and how much/how often you should take them.

For the cost of these surgeries I think I would spend the money on hiring someone for 20 hours a week (spread out over the week) as a "Weight Loss Coach" - someone who would help me shop, help me figure out portions, be around to 'coach me' before I went to social gatherings (which tend to be centered around food), some one to help me deal with the emotional/pscyhological issues of eating.  Oh, and who would also help me out with moving more.    -   Kinda like a Weight watchers meeting/leader - but more personal and at my home and in my face - ALL the Time!   Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to instill. 

Maybe the "Wieght Loss Coach" would spend more time up front and then slowly over the course of a year the hours would be less. 



FWIW:  someone who's 100 pounds over weight has 350,000 calories (more or less) that they've saved up for 'future' use.  If you need 2000 calories to sustain your current life style AND if you could get by with out eating - it would take you 175 days (6months)  to use up that excess stored up enegry.  Since you have to eat (humans can't live off their fat for any length of time like some animals can) it's reasonable to assume that losing 100 pounds isn't something you'll do in a couple of months.


Hence my idea of the part time 'coach' who'd you'd hire for 6 months or a year at a time (in the begining).... because loosing the weight isn't something that you do quickly and once and then never have to 'diet' or watch what you eat agian.   It needs to be a permanent life long change. So, you're probably gonna be on the 'journey' and need help/assistance/support for a long time.

[souldoubt]

May 8, 2013 10:44:42 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

::And is weight loss surgery "cheating?" Should people lose weight the old fashioned way, speed? ::

It's cheating in the same way that having surgery on your broken arm is cheating I think.  He has a health problem, he's obese, he's using surgery to help him fix that problem.

I don't think it's cheating but you're comparing two different things - a broken arm usually stems from an accident while getting so overweight one is qualified for gastric bypass or lap band happens because of diet and lifestyle choices.  It's a health "problem" because he takes in more than he burns which is based on decisions one makes every day. 

More power to Christie for whatever reason he did it.  I like the fact that he tells it like it is and hasn't been afraid to take on unions.  If he runs in 2016 barring anything major happening he'd get my vote.   

[thyme4change]

I hope he gets healthy and is able to adopt new habits that will support a healthier lifestyle for him.  No one should have to live an unhealthy life.

[busymom]

Christie appears capable of working with both major political parties.  Weight problem or not, it is THAT alone that makes him appear to be a good Presidential candidate.