Maintaining a healthy weight is an important part of lowering your risk of serious diseases, including heart disease. When diet and exercise don’t provide you with the weight loss results you want, weight loss surgery might be an option to consider. Find out more about different types of weight loss procedures, including the benefits they offer and what to expect.
Types of Weight Loss Surgery
There are different kinds of procedures available to help you lose excess weight. Including:
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass:
- This involves stapling your stomach to make it smaller and connecting it to your small intestine. This helps you eat and absorb less food that ends up turning into fat
- Gastric binding or Lap-Band:
- A reversible procedure that involves putting a silicone band around the top of your stomach, which reduces the amount of room you have for food. You’ll still absorb nutrients through normal digestion unlike with the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
- Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy:
- This irreversible procedure removes nearly 80% percent of your stomach, resulting in a reduced appetite and less room for food
- Intragastric balloon:
- 1 This procedure involves placing a balloon into your stomach and filling it up with saline, which helps you feel fuller. You’ll eat less food while the balloon is in place, which is usually for six months.
Good Candidates
Good candidates for weight loss surgery include those who have attempted to lose weight through diet and exercise without any success. Candidates must understand what the procedure they’re considering involves, its risks, and what to expect afterwards. Those who are thinking of having weight loss surgery must go through an evaluation to determine if this is the right treatment option for them. In general, good candidates should not have any health issues that could affect the healing process or raise their risk of complications.
Benefits
Weight loss surgery makes it possible for you to drop excess weight that won’t come off during standard diet and exercise. This helps decrease your risk of developing diabetes, heart problems, and other health issues that are associated with being overweight or obese.
Recovery Process
The recovery process for weight loss surgery usually involves staying in the hospital for a couple of days. In most cases, you will have to stick to a liquid diet to allow your stomach to heal properly. In order to maintain the results of your surgery, you will need to eat healthy and exercise or you risk the chance of the weight coming back.
Ways to Avoid Weight Loss Surgery
Undergoing weight loss surgery can assist you with losing excess weight. However, these procedures come with certain risks, and not everyone is considered a good candidate. You can try to reduce the need for this kind of surgery by adopting healthier eating habits and developing a regular exercise routine. For instance, lowering your intake of sugar and salt, filling up on protein, and cooking your own meals can all help you improve your chance of losing weight.
You can also look into nonsurgical treatment options for weight loss, such as weight loss medication and weight loss support groups. These options can help you drop excess weight without having to undergo surgery.
If you’re interested in weight loss surgery, please contact the Weight Loss and Wellness Center to schedule an appointment. We can help you determine if you’re a good candidate and which type of surgery might be best for you.
