(Photo by marcinchady / CC BY 2.0)

While being the amazing collegiate student that I am….. Okay, maybe not… While wasting time on the internet, like any other normal teen, this article popped up on the screen and I was like “Hmmm…..interesting”. So I wanna hear all of your thoughts! Mostly ’cause my own thoughts get boring when the voices in my head get tired of talking. I like to call them Bob and Bobbette. I swear I’m not crazy. O_o

Oh, what’s that, Bob? I got off topic? My bad.

Ahem.

It appears that getting surgery to make your stomach smaller has been an increasingly popular trend not only among adults now, but teens as well. :O (<- Notice the awesome shocked smilie. I know, awesome).

In an article from the New York Times, they interview a now 20-year-old girl who got a gastric bypass surgery when she was 14. At the time before her procedure, she weighed about 404 lbs. Now she weighs around 175.  The gist of the gastric bypass is that they staple your stomach to make a small pouch, the pouch is then re-routed to a portion of your intestines, making you feel fuller sooner and absorb less calories. Another popular form of weight loss surgery is the Lap-Band, which is an inflatable band that goes around your stomach that can be adjusted to make your stomach smaller and thus feel satiated earlier. Some doctors say that while the surgery to be performed on teens is still rare, the numbers tripled in the span of three years. Which means it will probably keep increasing and many of them aren’t too thrilled of the idea. While the article shows that the surgery does initially work, there hasn’t been enough research done to ensure that the results remain effective in the future. Apart from that, this isn’t like “Oh, I’ll get surgery to lose weight and then I’ll keep eating my junk food”. Nope. You have to maintain a diet and exercise plan because if you don’t, you can die. :O (<- Shocked).

The whole diet bit is one of many reasons why some doctors aren’t too thrilled with the idea of adolescents (us peeps) getting surgery. Docs say people need to understand the implications in getting surgery. It ain’t no walk in the park! Your life is gonna change forever and ya can’t make a choice this huge based on emotional or physical factors. It involves a lot of counseling beforehand to get approved for one of these procedures and most, as of now anyways, are denied. The fact that the demand for them is getting higher is a bit scary, and if demands keep going up the procedure may become mainstream and disasters might get encountered. One parent called in asking for her 8-year-old daughter to get one of these puppies (and we don’t mean the cute fluffy kind). Still, despite the drawbacks or as I like to say: The good, the bad and the ugly, it’s still believed to be a good possible source to combat pediatric obesity. *shrugs*

Do you think getting one of these surgeries is good? Bad? Why? Are there any other forms to combat that pesky fat? Actually, why do you think there are so many kids/teens obese in the first place? Maybe it’s more important looking at the source of the fire rather then knowing where the fire extinguisher is located.

Although, knowing where the fire extinguisher is isn’t a bad thing. O_O If you guys get caught in a fire, please do not blame me for your burn marks. I don’t think my insurance covers it.

REPLY! NOWZ!

I wanna use the shocked smilie again. Something like a  “:O OMG! Look at all these wonderful and freakishly amazing comments we’re getting!” kinda thing.