Health Care

How Bariatric Surgery Can Help You Lose Weight

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Are you up to the challenge? Focusing on achieving a healthy weight can significantly impact your whole health. In addition to feeling better, shedding excess pounds may reduce the risk and improve or resolve over 40 serious conditions in the long run, including:

  • Coronary heart disease
  • High blood pressure
  • Hyperlipidemia/Hypertriglyceridema
  • Insulin Resistance
  • Many types of cancer
  • Obstructive sleep apnea
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
  • Stroke
  • Type 2 Diabetes

How Bariatric Surgery Works

Bariatric surgeries reduce your stomach size, and your food is rerouted and absorbed differently as it digests. Patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 35, regardless of any health-related issues, are eligible for weight loss surgery.

BMI measures body fat in proportion to your weight and height. Try this calculator to help you find your BMI number. People with a BMI over 30 are also eligible if they haven’t been able to achieve substantial or long-term weight loss.

Surgical Solutions for Weight Loss

You have a variety of bariatric surgery options. Here are three of them offered by many of our bariatric programs:

  • Sleeve Gastrectomy: During this procedure, surgeons remove up to 80% of the stomach, leading to weight loss
  • Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass: This procedure is designed to make your stomach smaller. By enabling food to bypass much of the stomach and part of the small intestine, you’ll find yourself getting full quicker with less desire to eat, helping you keep the weight off
  • Duodenal Switch: This surgery removes most of the stomach and changes your small intestine to reduce how much fat it can absorb. This procedure may only be recommended if you are severely obese

Although these are all minimally invasive, they’re still considered major surgeries. Choosing the best bariatric surgery for you can depend on several factors to maximize and improve your overall health. Your physician can help you decide on the option that’s best for you.

Connect With Your Bariatric Team

It takes a team to lose weight and keep it off with bariatric surgery, and you are the leader. Even with bariatric surgery, healthy lifestyle changes and choices will help you succeed for the long term.

To help you stay motivated, prepare for surgery and maintain your ideal weight post-operation, you’ll work with a dedicated care advocate who will help you connect with our wide-ranging network of specialists, dietitians and providers to guide you through recovery and beyond. Your team will help you schedule appointments, find exercises you enjoy and create a healthy meal plan. We’ll make it safe for you to continue your journey with follow-up appointments as recommended by your physician.

Take Charge of Your Weight Loss Journey

Your trust in us is an honor, and we do everything we can to support and protect your whole health on your weight loss journey.

Learn more about our expert Bariatric and Weight Care.

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