Weight Loss Surgery Just Might Be Right for You

Gastric bypass

What has become increasingly more clear year after year is that the United States population has a significant problem with obesity. A combination of lack of exercise coupled with ridiculously high-calorie foods has gotten America dangerously close to an obesity plague.

As it stands today, two out of every three adults are considered to be obese or at least overweight. In addition, one out of every twenty adults is considered to be extremely obese. Just a look at those numbers is enough to demonstrate to anyone who is paying attention that adults in America have a serious problem on their hands. But there is some good news for those who suffer from obesity and serious weight problems.

Until relatively recently, diets were the only way to combat significant weight issues. If someone was obese or seriously overweight, a doctor prescribed weight loss program would be the extent of the options available. In today’s world, things have changed drastically, and options have become more plentiful.

One of the options now available to those who suffer from obesity problems is weight loss surgery. The more that weight loss surgery is perfected, the more specific doctors can be when helping patients with their particular obesity issues. Gastric bypass surgery might be an option for you to consider if efforts to lose weight with a proper diet and exercise regimen have failed to help you shed the pounds you wish to release. If your body mass index (BMI) is 40 or higher, you have extreme obesity and weight loss surgery would be an option for you. If your BMI is 35 or less and you have a serious health problem as a result, like type 2 diabetes, you’re a candidate for gastric bypass surgery.

Bariatric surgery is a surgical procedure that reduces the size of the stomach, thereby surgically changing the anatomy of the body that is overweight. This alteration of the stomach limits the amount of food that can be eaten and digested. With this procedure, obese people can see significant benefits from diet and exercise when diet and exercise used to fail them in the past.

For a patient who has undergone bariatric surgery and had a gastric band or a gastric sleeve, weight loss can be quite rapid. The weight loss can continue until a satisfactory weight has been achieved, but will that weight loss hold up? Will it remain stable or will the patient regain the weight as the have likely done before with yo-yo diets and the like?

According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, as many as 50% of those who have undergone weight-loss surgery regain a small amount of weight. That weight gain is roughly 5% of the weight lost, but many studies have shown that most patients do indeed maintain the weight loss they’ve achieved with a smart weight maintenance plan.

Successful weight loss is as individual as the patients who achieve it. Goals for one person surely will not be the goals for someone else. The reasons that people gain weight vary because of many different circumstances. What is clear, however, is that obesity contributes to health problems far beyond simply being overweight. A recent study from Havard University found that obesity increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes 20 times, and the study also found that the higher the BMI the higher the risk.

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