Weight loss surgery is particularly helpful to counter morbid obesity caused by lifestyle patterns and hormonal imbalances and should be weighed as a serious option.

The operation on your stomach that is an inherent part of weight loss surgery demands certain lifestyle changes and also puts a strain on your health. It is better to resort to this measure only if serious efforts have yielded no result. This is not considered to be an easy option and may not suit all types of patients. Know what it entails when you are considering the option.

What Does It Mean?

Weight loss surgery involves the reduction of the size of the stomach organ by stapling or banding. A more extreme procedure is to cut a part of the stomach and reattach it to the small intestine, thereby reducing the absorption of food. Another operation that is done is the gastric bypass in which a bypass connects the stomach to the small intestine. The purpose of these operations is to reduce the amount of food that the stomach can hold and signal a feeling of satiety early, thereby reducing the amount of intake.

What happens after?

You will face a dramatic weight reduction after weight loss surgery and this is an assurance that you are on the right track regarding your weight. Rapid weight loss may result in the development of gallstones and this is something your doctor should inform you about with possible measures to counter it. You may have diarrhoea as the body quickly discards the consumed food without complete ingestion. Reduced food ingestion leads to vitamin and mineral deficiencies that need to be managed with very high doses of supplements.

What To Do?

Immediately after the surgery, you will be put on a limited diet consisting of mainly liquids with sugar and salt in limited amount. This will be followed with the introduction of a little solid food to see how your body takes it. Small helpings of fat, proteins and carbohydrates will be slowly enhanced as your body adapts to the reduced organ size. Weight loss surgery necessitates the strict banning of food items that have no nutritional value since the body’s ingestion capacity is drastically reduced. Excess food intake will lead to severe nausea and vomiting.

When To Take Another Opinion?

You should know to take another opinion if this is the first time you have considered doing something serious about your weight issue. Weight loss surgery is by no means the first choice available and should be entered into when the doctor has aided you to lose weight in other ways with little success. Another thing your doctor must do is to explain the effect of the surgery with the good and the bad news and explain the lifestyle effects that it will force on you. If you are hypertensive or diabetic, take another doctor’s views because of the added pressure the surgery will put on your system. Does your weight leave you in the category of obese or morbidly obese? Are you unable to carry out basic tasks on a daily basis? If your answers to these questions is no and your doctor is recommending surgery, ask another.