Lap Band and the National Football League
No longer are Lap Band patients the kind of guys who get sand kicked in their faces, drive women away and are written off as 98-pound weaklings or girly men.
Some meat-and-potatoes guys, what you might call real manly men in the National Football League (NFL) have discovered the joys and benefits of Lap Band surgery.
In one instance, the husky New York Jets coach Rex Ryan saw Lap Band doctors and decided to go ahead with the outpatient surgery in March, 2010.
His breaking point came when a photographer snapped a picture of his bare belly, thereby exposing his extremely rotund mid-section and 340 pound frame for the entire world to see.
Said Coach Ryan: “Whoa, that’s not a real good shot!” (The coach is pictured, before Lap Band.)
Like many Lap Band patients, Coach Ryan tried a number of weight loss schemes including a liquid diet but then gained it all back. He even considered weight loss surgery. Sound familiar?
The New York Post reported that Ryan was a little over the top with the manly meat-and-potatoes thing because he consumed a whopping 7000 calories daily, much of it contained in his favorite, Mexican food.
After the Lap Band, Coach Ryan lost 40 pounds in about three weeks.
A Lap Band wraps around the top of the stomach and drastically restricts the amount of food patients can eat.
One guy, said to be the only active NFL player with a Lap Band, 6-foot-3, 26 year old Max Jean-Gilles of the Philadelphia Eagles noticed chest pains and shortness of breath at a playing weight of 388 pounds. His Lap Band doctors want to see him at a playing weight of 320 pounds.
Sure, macho football players must be big, but not obese to do their jobs. In fact, a sports story about the Jean-Gilles Lap Band mentions at least eight NFL football players who died of obesity related diseases before turning 50.
Commented a psychiatrist: “Saying ‘I play football’ is no longer an excuse for obesity.”
Jean-Gilles saw a psychiatrist before getting the Lap Band because most insurance firms require counseling and education about the procedure so that the patient will fully understand what he or she is getting into.
Any Lap Band procedure is a lot more than just getting skinny! (Read more about the Lap Band.)
admin @ August 15, 2010