Most doctors recommend a combination of diet and exercise for obese patients. Eating a calorie restricted diet of whole foods, plus some moderate exercise, is an extremely effective way to lose weight.
However, it has a low compliance rate and it doesn’t always work for everyone.
For this reason, bariatric surgery is an amazing innovation for patients who are very obese, suffer from medical problems as a result of their obesity, and have tried diet and exercise with no success.
So what makes bariatric surgery so powerful?
It Addresses The Root Cause: Caloric Surplus
Bariatric surgery typically shrinks the size of the stomach while also redirecting the way food is digested. As a result, people cannot eat nearly as much in a single sitting while also being unable to digest most of the food eaten.
Because of this inability to eat as much, and the altered absorption, bariatric surgery patients end up eating at a caloric deficit.
It Forces Commitment
After bariatric surgery, at least for the first two months, patients can get seriously ill if they try to eat foods that aren’t approved by their surgeon.
For this reason, the patient is pushed into specific eating habits that cause them to be more mindful of their food choices.
Of course, this isn’t perfect. Some patients find that they end up back to their old eating habits after a year; however this is not a likely result.
It Has Other Benefits
Bariatric surgery patients find that, regardless of weight lost, they had added benefits.
Their blood sugar and blood pressure went down, and most patients find that their Type 2 diabetes mellitus goes into remission. Many patients are able to go off their previously prescribed medications with their doctor’s approval.
In Summary
- Bariatric surgery works when a lifetime of trying diets and exercise protocols fail to cause sustained weight loss.
- Bariatric surgery makes it so that patients cannot eat as much as they would want to otherwise.
- Patients find that other comorbidities, such as high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, reduce or go away entirely after surgery.
