Eagles Notebook: Eagles' Jean-Gilles has lap-band surgery to lose weight

The Eagles didn't tell Max Jean-Gilles to have lap-band surgery. They did tell him he needed to weigh a lot less than the 385 pounds he packed onto his 6-3 frame toward the end of last season.

Jean-Gilles didn't think he would get to his targeted 330- to 335-pound range just by dieting and working out. So on Tuesday, Jean-Gilles had an outpatient lap-band procedure, designed to restrict his food intake. Jean-Gilles and the Eagles say they are unaware of any other active athletes having undergone the procedure, which he hopes will allow him to lose 50 to 60 pounds by the time training camp begins in 3 months.

"My wife and I just researched it, and we felt it would be the best alternative for losing the amount of weight I wanted to lose, in a small amount of time," said Jean-Gilles, who took part in some drills but observed much of yesterday's workouts. He said he should be full-speed for the next round of organized team activities.

"I'd like to weigh around 335 when the season starts," Jean-Gilles said. He said he weighs about 375 right now, and is consuming only clear liquids for the first week after the procedure.

"They put a tube on top of your stomach to make your stomach a little smaller," Jean-Gilles said. "I talked to some friends of the family who did it. It was a big difference in their life. They feel healthy, they feel confident in themselves. The weight comes off quick."

Jets head coach Rex Ryan had the same procedure this offseason. Eagles head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said that since it is minimally invasive, he wonders whether a player or two might not have undergone it in the past, perhaps earlier in an offseason, and just not told the team. Jean-Gilles asked Burkholder's opinion before he went to a Somerset, N.J., hospital for the lap band.

"I know his struggles; I've been with him for a while now," Burkholder said. "And I know we've tried some different avenues for him, to get his weight down. And I know he feels like he's at a break point in his professional career, that if he doesn't do something about his weight, he's going to struggle to play. I don't think there's any documented cases of somebody having it [while playing] . . . Am I in the boat with him? Yeah, I'm in the boat with him . . . He came up with the idea, went and saw the doctors, they had a plan laid out, we looked at the plan and then we agreed with it."

Burkholder said Jean-Gilles has worked hard to get in shape, without seeing great results.

"You wish he would have done it in a traditional way, but some people struggle," Burkholder said.

Jean-Gilles, 26, was drafted in the fourth round in 2006, ahead of Jahri Evans, who has become an All-Pro guard for the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

Jean-Gilles is a powerful blocker who struggles with agility and balance. He has started 15 games over the past two seasons because of injuries to other players, but he seems to wear down the more he plays. The Eagles' media guide describes him as "burly."

Jean-Gilles said he has struggled with his weight his whole life, but more dramatically after ankle surgery following the 2008 season, which limited his workouts.

"I did it for now and in the future . . . I didn't want to be 400 pounds after football, then have heart problems," Jean-Gilles said. "I was almost, close to [400] and I said, 'Oh man, I can't live like this.' I was breathin' heavy."

Coach Andy Reid, who announced the surgery in his news conference kicking off minicamp, was asked whether the Eagles suggested the surgery, before Burkholder spoke with reporters.

"I probably would be the first one to get it, if it was our idea, right?" Reid joked.

Asked what weight he'd like to see for Jean-Gilles, Reid said: "A playable weight." *