I saw this story today on Examiner.com (whatever that is). Has some updated numbers on how many people are having WLS since I last researched it:

“There has been a staggering increase in the number of patients having weight loss surgery by 644% from 1995 to 2005. Over 200,000 people opted for this approach in 2005 and an estimated 400,000 did so in 2008.”

wow.