Will Bariatric Surgery Help You To Lose Weight?

We don't need statistical surveys to remind us that obesity is a major health issue. A glance at any typical TV studio audience will do. But if you are one of the six million Americans who suffer from super-obesity (BMI > 40), knowing that there are many others like you is hardly a comfort. The question remains: how can you regain some control over your weight and, ultimately, your life?

Weight Loss Catch-22

Bariatric surgery such as lap band or roux-en-Y bypass is recommended as a viable choice for severely obese candidates, but even this drastic option is no easy route to a normal weight. In fact, for many patients it's a Catch-22 situation. Here's why.

How Bariatric Surgery Works

The idea behind weight loss surgery is simple. The surgeon alters your digestive system to make it very difficult for you to eat much food at one sitting, without suffering uncomfortable side effects. This discomfort acts as a strong incentive to modify your eating habits and eat fewer calories. Gastric reduction surgery varies in severity. Stomach banding or stapling operations (eg. lap-band, or vertical banded gastroplasty) only reduce stomach size. Stomach bypass operations (eg. roux-en-Y, or biliopancreatic diversion) go further. They also shorten the functional length of the small intestine, making it more difficult to absorb food after it leaves the stomach. This further reduces calorie intake, which is why bypass operations tend to produce greater weight loss than banding or stapling procedures.

Bariatric Surgery is Not Foolproof

There is no doubt that gastric reduction surgery works for many patients. Success rates vary between 45-75 percent for gastric bypass and 40-60 percent for vertical banded gastroplasty. But even these figures indicate that weight loss surgery is not successful for perhaps half of all patients. The main reason for this is lack of patient compliance with post-operative guidelines on eating and exercise.

Bariatric Surgeons Operate on Your Body Not Your Mind

As any bariatric surgeon will tell you, surgery cannot guarantee long term weight loss. Only you the patient can do this. How? By following the post-operative diet-plan and by taking regular exercise. This means changing your lifestyle - for ever. And here lies the problem. Because although you may have a new stomach and a new small intestine, if you are not careful you may harbor all your old attitudes towards eating and physical activity. In a way, it's a Catch-22 situation: people choose surgery because they lack the ability to follow a healthy diet and take regular exercise. Yet, this is exactly what they must do after surgery if they wish to lose weight.

How To Make Bariatric Surgery Work For You

In order to achieve lasting weight loss after surgery, you must be realistic in your expectations. Don't see surgery as "the solution", see it as an opportunity to change your lifestyle. Which means you must be ready and prepared to change. It's no good waking up with a surgically altered digestive system and expecting it to teach you how to eat for the rest of your life. It is up to you to find the inner strength and commitment to change your dietary habits and to normalize your weight in the process. Your willingness to do this is likely to be raised during pre-op screening at your bariatric clinic, and it is something you should consider carefully before having surgery. Otherwise, chances are you will end up cheating and gaining weight.

Talk To Other Bariatric Patients

One way of learning what to expect after surgery, is to talk with others who have undergone a gastric bypass or other form of gastric surgery. The best bariatric centers will be only too happy to refer you to successful patients to help you prepare yourself for the task ahead.

Take a Long Term View

Conventional diets can be started and stopped whenever you choose, but gastric bypass is for life. Even lap band surgery, while reversible, is not a short term procedure. This means you need to take a long term view and make a long term plan of how you are going to manage your eating and exercise routines after surgery. How will you cope socially? Will your family support your new regimen? Have you thought how you are going to overcome the usual temptation to overeat? You need long term answers to these questions.

Get Proper Support

The best bariatric clinics offer good post-operative patient support, either via meetings or online services. Be wary of clinics that don't offer this kind of help, and take full advantage of the help services which are offered. Surveys show that weight loss surgery is more successful when proper support is offered and used.

Discuss Everything Beforehand

Most reputable bariatric clinics take great care to screen candidates before surgery in order to filter out unsuitable patients. Take advantage of this process to air your doubts and be honest about your capabilities - don't see it as a hurdle to overcome and simply limit yourself to providing the "correct" answers. Use it to raise as many questions as possible and listen carefully to the advice given. It might save you a lifetime of disappointment. If you qualify for surgery, make certain you discuss thoroughly what happens after your operation. And only when you are completely satisfied that you are ready and willing to embrace the necessary lifestyle changes should you proceed.

Bariatric Surgery
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