After gaining national attention -- and criticism -- for allowing their then 12-year-old daughter to get liposuction, a Pflugerville family has gone one step further. Their daughter recently had a gastric Lap-Band surgically implanted in her stomach.

At her heaviest, she weighed 220 pounds. In early 2006, she lost about 40 pounds through liposuction and a tummy tuck, and another 20 pounds on her own.

In less than a year, she regained about 35 pounds.

“Of course, I didn't blame her, because it's not her fault. She's a compulsive eater,” said Cindy Bates, Brooke’s mother.

Despite her efforts to lose weight, Brooke says she's always struggled.

“Unless you've been through it and had people make fun of you your whole life, you don't know how it feels,” said Brooke.

That’s when her mother decided to take Brooke to Monterrey, Mexico to have doctors surgically implant a lap band. She says it was difficult to find a doctor to perform the surgery in the United States.

“It's so much paperwork that you have to go through -- so much red tape is what I call it. They want you to get psychological testing, they want you to get sleep apnea testing and all those things I'm sure are very important, but it's money,” said Bates.

A Lap-Band works by limiting how much food a patient can eat.

“To me, the root of the problem is the stomach and the hunger and also the compulsiveness but this lap band will only let her eat so much and then after that, it comes back up,” said Bates.

Lap-Bands are not FDA-approved for weight loss in adolescents, but are sometimes used when it is medically warranted.

“I don't think that a Lap-Band is a bad idea to put in a adolescent, and there's more and more studies showing that it is a good thing -- they’re successful in their weight loss,” said Nancy Marquez, a bariatric surgeon in Austin.

While she’s not Brooke’s doctor, she says at 5’6” and 193 pounds, Brooke’s BMI, or body mass index, is 31. Doctors generally won’t use Lap-Bands on patients with a BMI less than 35.

“What is their weight, do they have a BMI that considers them morbidly obese, and do they have medical problems that will improve with weight loss. I think the dilemma becomes in what their weight is -- are they going out of the country to have a procedure done because they don't meet the criteria that has been established nationally,” said Dr. Marquez.

Brooke, now 13-years-old, says she has no regrets.

“You think, 'Why would you be getting the surgery? That's crazy!' I've had so many people tell me this, but my desire to want to fix this problem. I mean, I can't even explain. I would do anything for it,” said Brooke.

Brooke says she’s lost 15 pounds since her surgery three weeks ago. She’s also seen a difference in the amount of food she eats.

Brooke is hoping to lose about 50 more pounds.