By now, you’ve likely heard that New Jersey governor Chris Christie underwent secret gastric band surgery in February of this year and has shown some “success” in dropping the pounds since then.

Although Christie claims “This is an intensely personal issue,” political pundits note that candidates often try to lose weight as they prepare for major political campaigns. The Washington Post reminds us that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee lost more than 100-pounds before running for president and then even went onto pen a book about healthy living.

WebMD reports that gastric banding surgery is the second most common weight loss surgery (after gastric bypass). WebMD details that gastric banding is considered the least invasive weight loss surgery. It is also the safest according to WebMD. They go onto report that the procedure can be reversed if necessary, and in time, the stomach generally returns to its normal size.

No matter what Christie’s true intents are (whether health or politically oriented), I wish him luck with his endeavors to attain better health. Although personally, I question the legitimacy of any kind of surgery to help with weight loss. I have several friends who have undergone these procedures and disagree with me. And I know that many readers of this blog would disagree with me as well.

But at the end of the day, the key to weight loss is eating less and exercising more. And anyone can achieve this without invasive — and potentially dangerous — surgery. Yes, it takes a lot of will power to achieve this. But why not work to tap into that before taking such extreme measures? Not only do people who undergo these surgeries often throwup a great deal right after having the surgery (due to initially still overeating), but they often gain the weight back. We’ve seen examples of this in Carnie Wilson and others.

If you’re considering surgery to achieve weight loss, I urge you to consider the pros and cons. Click here for more information.

People often look depressed when I tell them that keeping off the 250+ pounds that I lost over a decade ago still requires work today. Everyone wants the simple solution and/or to know that after the weight loss they won’t have to think about dieting anymore. But as people who are or who have been extremely overweight, this is something we can never stop thinking about — otherwise the weight will creep back on (no matter how the weight loss was achieved in the first place).

What do you think of Chris Christie undergoing weight loss surgery? And do you think people (all potential voters) will be impressed if he loses all of his excess weight even though it’s through surgery? And are you for the surgery or against it? Are you a surgery success story? No matter where you weigh in on this debate, I’d love to hear from you.

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