Is Weight Loss Surgery The Answer?

Is Weight Loss Surgery The Answer?

If you are considering weight loss surgery it is important you understand how the digestive system works to process food. Understanding the natural way the body controls weight will help you understand how bariatric surgeries prompt weight loss with restrictive and malabsorbptive methods. 

What Happens When I Eat After Weight Loss Surgery?

Every time you consume food, the digestive system works to process the food through the body, absorbing the nutrients your body needs. The digestive tract section that absorbs nutrients and calories from the body is comprised of the stomach, the small and the large intestines. The process of digestion is aided by digestive juices made in the gallbladder and pancreas. Together these organs process any food into calories, nutrients and waste products.

 

Food moves though the body, slowly being broken down and the calories being absorbed gradually.

How Does Weight Loss Surgery Control Calorie Intake?

Bariatric surgery methods control weight gain in two ways: first by limiting the amount of calories you can eat and secondly by speeding up the digestion of food to prevent a large number of calories being absorbed.

 

Limiting the amount of calories you eat is a common method of weight loss and most diets recommend lowering your daily calories intake by 500 calories to loose weight. Weight loss surgery literally shrinks your stomach, making it impossible for you to consume more than a certain amount of food, thereby restricting the number of calories you consume.

 

The second aspect of bariatric surgery is speeding up digestion and preventing nutrients being absorbed. Calories and nutrients are absorbed gradually during the digestive process. Weight loss surgery methods, such as Gastric Bypass surgery, shorten the digestive tract, speeding up the time it takes for food to reach the large intestine and limiting the time food remains in the body.

 

Does Weight Loss Surgery Work?

If after surgery patients stick to a healthy balanced diet with regular physical exercise, weight loss results of up to 80% of excess weight are common.

 

Although bariatric surgeons can alter your digestive system and make it more difficult for you to gain weight, there is no guarantee that surgery will help you loose excess weight, and even less of a guarantee that bariatric surgeries can help you maintain weight loss. Before undergoing weight loss surgery, patients must be committed to following a healthy lifestyle and diet after weight-loss surgery.

 

Types Of Weight Loss Surgery

Depending on how much weight you need to loose, the lifestyle you lead and any other health problems you suffer from, there are a variety of bariatric surgeries that can help put you on track towards a slimmer figure.

 

Gastric Band Surgery (Lap Band) - also known as lap band surgery, this is a reversible method of weight loss surgery. Surgeons place a band around the stomach creating a smaller stomach pouch and limiting the amount of food you can eat.

 

Gastric Balloon -  the least invasive weight loss surgery method, a balloon is inflated in the stomach to keep the stomach feeling full and limit the amount of food consumed. 

 

Sleeve Gastrectomy - a procedure only recommended for patients who are morbidly obese, during sleeve gastrectomy procedures bariatric surgeons remove up to 80% of the actual stomach.

 

Gastric Bypass Roux-en Y - Combining restrictive and malabsorptive methods of bariatric surgery, the intestine is re-routed and the stomach made smaller to limit both the amount of food that can be eaten and the amount of food absorbed.  

 

A Good Candidate For Weight Loss Surgery

To be a candidate for weight loss surgery patients must have a BMI of over 30. Surgeons will expect patients to have tried other methods of weight loss before resorting to surgery and a dedication to following a healthy diet and lifestyle post-surgery. Before surgery all patients will meet with a counselor who will advise whether patients are suitable candidates.  To talk to a doctor about whether weight loss surgery is right for you, contact a bariatric surgeon in your location.