Frequently Asked Questions

Bariatric surgery helps people with obesity lose weight and keep it off. Typically, patients who have bariatric surgery have tried to lose weight with diet and exercise. Often, they have been successful in losing weight but then have gained most or all of it back. Patients who have bariatric surgery are often motivated by a desire to improve their overall health.

Bariatric surgery is offered to people with:

1. A Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or higher
2. A BMI of 30 to 32.5 and an obesity-related health condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or sleep apnea.

If you meet the criteria and would like to lose weight and improve your overall health, you should consider bariatric surgery.

After bariatric surgery you can expect to lose weight. The amount you lose and how fast you lose it will depend on the type of procedure you have. With some procedures your overall health improves as you lose weight. With some procedures medical problems such as diabetes are cured or significantly improved on the day of surgery. Most of our patients describe having more energy and zest for life.

Like all surgeries, bariatric surgery is not without risk. However, bariatric surgery is actually safer than having your gallbladder taken out. Some of the risks include more common problems such as small wound infections and hernias, which are not life-threatening and easily treated. Some of the risks include less common problems such as a leak or bleeding, which may require a second operation.

Yes, there are several weight loss supplements, weight loss programs and weight loss treatments available. Many people are successful at losing weight with diet and exercise. Unfortunately, most people are not able to keep that weight off. Fewer than 5% of individuals who lose a significant amount of weight with diet and exercise are able to keep that weight off. That’s why scientifically backed weight loss procedures of bariatric surgery become a viable option for people fighting obesity.

After the gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy, your diet will be restricted over the first few months. The first week you will be on a liquid diet. Then you will be on a pureed diet for two weeks, and then a soft diet for two weeks. After that you will be able to eat whatever you feel like. You will also need to focus specifically on eating foods with high protein so you can improve weight loss and prevent muscle loss. Many people find that their tastes change after surgery, so you may no longer like what you used to eat. In particular, people have less interest in sweet foods after surgery.

Everyone’s experience with pain is different. Many people do not have a lot of pain after surgery. We work with you to try to make that pain tolerable. All our patients get ambulated on the same day of surgery.

The duration of surgery depends on what procedure you are having. They take 1 to 1 ½ hours.

After the gastric balloon, you will be discharged the same day. After the sleeve gastrectomy or the gastric bypass, you will stay in the hospitals two nights, typically.

How much weight you lose depends on what procedure you have. We typically discuss weight loss in terms of excess body weight. The difference between your current weight and your ideal body weight is considered your excess weight.

• With the gastric balloon, you can expect to lose 30-40% of your excess weight.
• With the sleeve gastrectomy, you can expect to lose 50-60% of your excess weight.
• With the gastric bypass, you can expect to lose 60-70% of your excess weight.

Although bariatric surgery is the only effective method to lose weight and keep it off, most of all insurance policies cover bariatric surgery as part of weight loss surgery.  Prior to entering a bariatric surgery program, you may wish to check with your insurance.  Even without insurance, the weight loss surgery cost or the gastric bypass surgery cost or the weight loss balloon cost is  not as exorbitant as people believe, especially compared to the quality of life that comes with it.

This is a joint decision with our team for many people. You may know people who have had one procedure or another and had a good (or bad) experience. It is helpful to talk to these folks and get their thoughts:

Have you spoken to individuals who have undergone similar procedures and what were their experiences?

It is also important to know what your goal is:

• Is your primary goal to lose the most weight possible?
• Are you aiming to improve your overall health?
• Is the specific objective to address high blood pressure or diabetes?

Unlike unstructured weight loss programs near you, our team works with you to identify the correct and optimum procedure for you. Contact us for more details.