Whether you're considering weight-loss surgery and want to understand what's ahead, adapting to a new lifestyle following the procedure, or looking for non-surgical weight-loss tips, all the information is here.
Opting for weight-loss surgery is not an easy choice. To decide whether it's right for you, consider the facts of the procedure and the post-operative road you'll need to travel.
The challenges of dieting, exercise and even medications can seem daunting when trying to keep weight off. As a result, many have turned to weight-loss surgery as the best long-term option. But before making that difficult decision, questions need to be answered.
Which type of weight-loss surgery is right for you?
What's involved in the procedure?
Are there any risks associated with weight-loss surgery?
In normal digestion, food passes through the stomach and enters the small intestine, where most of the nutrients and calories are absorbed. It then passes into the large intestine (colon), and the remaining waste is eventually excreted.
Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. You will feel full more quickly than when your stomach was its original size, which reduces the amount of food you eat and thus the calories consumed. Bypassing part of the intestine also results in fewer calories being absorbed. This leads to weight loss.
The most common gastric bypass surgery is a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
In a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the stomach is made smaller by creating a small pouch at the top of the stomach using surgical staples or a plastic band. The smaller stomach is connected directly to the middle portion of the small intestine (jejunum), bypassing the rest of the stomach and the upper portion of the small intestine (duodenum).
This procedure can be done by making a large incision in the abdomen (an open procedure) or by making a small incision and using small instruments and a camera to guide the surgery (laparoscopic approach).
Male gender is a predictor of morbidity and age a predictor of mortality for patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Open gastric bypass surgery requires up to a 5-day stay. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery requires a hospital stay of 2-3 days.
