How Weight Loss Surgery Saved Billy Robbins From ‘Half Ton Teen’
You may have heard or read about ‘Billy Robbins’, the teenager who has sadly been dubbed ‘half his teenager’ by the media, who at just 19 years old topped the scales with an incredible 800 pounds, turning him in the heaviest teenager in the world.
Her plight has been well documented in a TLC special called, imaginably, ‘your teenager’s half’. Billy had been told that he had literally months to live if his weight did not drop drastically and the only option for such a drastic weight loss was to have weight loss surgery.
The most effective and commonly used surgical procedure for clinically obese people is called a gastric band, which is when a laparoscopic adjustable gastric band is placed around the upper part of the stomach, this procedure is usually non-invasive and can be performed by laparoscopic surgery or keyhole shaped. surgery as it is more commonly known.
In Billy Robbins’ case, he was initially too big to undergo the life-saving operation and had to undergo a strict 1,200 calorie diet, which may not seem too extreme for people of normal size and weight, but when he’s been consuming 8000 calories a day. it’s a massive reduction.
Finally, after losing two and a half stones, he had the first of a three-step surgical plan, devised by surgeons in Texas who specialized in this type of procedure. This operation involved removing a large amount of excess fat from Billy’s stomach – a slab of five stones to be exact, that’s 70 pounds!
Then, after 3 months of hospital care and continuous diet, during which time his weight had dropped a remarkable 280 pounds, he underwent the second phase of his surgery.
This second phase consisted of implanting the gastric band that would limit the amount of food that could be ingested, a month later he was allowed to go home having lost 70 more pounds.
The third and final part of this surgery will be to tighten the gastric band to further limit Billy’s food intake and help him lose even more weight. On the broadcast of this documentary in January 2009, Billy had lost a total of 30 stones, just over half his original starting weight.
Weight loss surgery has saved Billy Robbins from certain early death as he has had many, many others, but the real issue here is that of a nation’s diet and eating habits, Billy Robbins sure was a sort of a victim of circumstance, being spoiled by a mother who gave him no instructions on the correct diet and, for whatever reasons he might have had, was slowly killing the son he loved.
Children need diet and exercise education from an early age or they too will become victims of lazy eating culture and we will see more cases like Billy’s. Advertisers need to be governed much better, as our children are under a constant barrage of ad after ad of fat-filled, sugar-soaked snacks and drinks that have our children’s health as their lowest priority rather than their highest. high.
Many of these corporations that prey on our youth have the audacity to blame the victims for their lack of self-control, but the message they subliminally promote is more, it’s good! We need to take action and put control firmly in our own hands to ensure that our children and ourselves live happier, healthier, and longer lives.
At last count, more than two-thirds of Americans were overweight and about 15% of them were obese, and the numbers are expected to reach 75% by 2015. This problem has driven our health insurance costs up and are out of reach for many, as weight-related illnesses are the number one drain on our medical resources.
It is never too late to take action, lose weight, and lead a healthier lifestyle through diet and exercise will not only help us but our children as well.
