How 'Half Ton Teen' Billy Robbins Was Saved by Weight Loss Surgery

You may have heard or read about 'Billy Robbins', thehelp him lose even more weight. At the airing of this
teenager who has unfortunately been nick-named 'halfdocumentary in January 2009, Billy had lost a total of
ton teen' by the mass media, who at just 19 years of30 stones, just over half his original starting weight.
age topped the scales at an incredible 800 pounds,Weight loss surgery has saved Billy Robbins from
making him the world's heaviest teenager.certain early death as it has many, many others but
His plight has been well documented in a TLC specialthe real issue here is that of a nations diet and eating
called, imaginably, 'half ton teen'. Billy had been told hehabits, sure Billy Robbins was something of a victim of
had literally months to live if his weight wasn'tcircumstance, being pampered by a mother who gave
drastically reduced and the only option for such drastichim no direction regarding the correct diet and for
weight loss was to undergo weight loss surgery.whatever reasons she may have had, she was slowly
The most effective and commonly used surgicalkilling the son she loves.
procedure for the clinically obese is called gastricChildren need educating about diet and exercise from
banding which is when a laparoscopic adjustablean early age or they too will become victims of the
gastric band is placed around the top portion of thelazy eating culture and we will see more cases such
stomach, this procedure is not usually invasive and canas Billy's.
be performed via Laparoscopic surgery or, keyholeAdvertisers need to be governed much better as our
surgery as it is more commonly known.children are under a constant barrage of one
In Billy Robbins case, he was too large initially toadvertisement after another for fat filled, sugar
receive the life saving operation and had to go onto adrenched snack foods and drinks that have the health
strict 1200 calorie diet, which may not seem tooof our children as their lowest priority instead of their
extreme to people of normal size and weight buthighest. Many of these corporations that prey on our
when you have been consuming 8000 calories a day ityoung people have the audacity to blame the victims
is a massive reduction.for lack of self control yet the message they
Eventually, after losing two and a half stone, he hadsubliminally promote is more is good!
the first of a three step surgical plan, devised byWe have to take measures, and place the control
surgeons in Texas, who specialized in this type offirmly into our own hands to ensure our children, and
procedure. This operation entailed removing a largeourselves, live happier, healthier and longer lives. At the
amount of excess fat from Billy's stomach, a fivelast count over two thirds of Americans were
stone slab to be exact, that's 70 pounds!overweight and around 15% of those were obese and
Then after 3 months of hospital care and continuedthe figures are expected to reach 75% by the year
dieting, during which time his weight had come down a2015! This issue has forced our medical insurance
remarkable 280 pounds, he underwent the secondcosts way up and out the reach of many as weight
phase of his surgery. This second phase was torelated illnesses are the number one drain on our
implant the gastric band that would limit the amount ofmedical resources.
food that could be eaten, a month after this he wasIt is never too late to take action, losing weight and
allowed to go home having lost a further 70 pounds.leading a healthier lifestyle through diet and exercise will
The third and final part of this surgery will be to tightennot only help us but our children also.
the gastric band to limit further Billy's food intake and