Success after Bariatric Surgery

A recent article we've stumbled upon sheds light on the lifestyle related challenges facing patients after bariatric surgery. I was particularly interested in the story of Shirley the nurse, who had been obese her entire life. But after having had bariatric surgery, she ended up smaller than she'd been in her entire life. At the moment, she's 60 years old and able to run marathons! It's absolutely heartwarming.

As I see it, it underlines the importance of a healthy lifestyle following bariatric surgery.
has been performed. For starters, the patient will obviously need to adjust his or her current eating habits in order to witness significant results. The good news is that, after having either the gastric sleeve procedure, the Lap Band, or any other form of bariatric surgery, the patient will notice that he or she feels fuller much faster, even with consuming a much smaller portion of food. Both of these procedures work by reducing the capacity of the stomach. An added benefit to the gastric sleeve is that it significantly reduces production of the hormone ghrelin, which sends that notorious "I'm hungry!" signal to the brain. Therefore, it has a two-fold effect.

So, even though the surgical procedures set patients on the path to success, they'll need to keep moving one foot in front of the other, literally and metaphorically, in order to attain their weight loss goals.

Cure-alls and Fad Diets are Nothing New

The struggle to lose weight and improve one's figure is nothing new to our generation. In fact, an interesting yet very telling article sheds some light on dieting trends in America since the 1800s. It appears that everything from whale-bone corsets, cigarette smoking, and even vibrating belts have been marketed and sold to improve peoples' lives - with the promise that such devices and habits would help people meet their weight loss goals.  Even in our era of unparalleled knowledge of the human body, people are still uncertain about what works and what doesn't. 

Yet we still see similar trends and fad diets come and go. And while we now have a better understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet and lifestyle, people with significantly high amounts of weight to lose experience a great degree of difficulty in achieving their weight loss goals. Fortunately, bariatric surgery is the only approach proven to help people with severe obesity lose weight and keep the pounds off.

We at Dr. Feiz & Associates have a comprehensive understanding of the struggle that obese patients endure in their weight loss journeys. When diets fail and exercise doesn't seem to be helping, bariatric surgery, while not a cure-all or miracle pill, is actually proven to to work.

Weight Loss and Mental Health

Lately, there has been a great deal of press coverage of a recent study indicating that bariatric surgery may offer some hope for severely obese patients who are also dealing with depression, and perhaps other psychological issues relating to eating. This is good news, of course, but there's no getting around the fact that the close relationship between our physical and mental health makes for a highly complex topic, so there's not always a direct correlation between a successful weight loss procedure and positive outcomes for issues like depression.

That's one reason why, whether a patient is receiving a gastric sleeve or a Lap Band, it's important for patients to have realistic expectations. At times, patients may tend to ascribe nearly all of the difficulties they face in life to their obesity. However, when it it comes to psychological matters especially, it's often the case that patients are surprised to find that many of the issues they were facing before their procedure are still a problem even after they have lost all of their weight. For example, while losing weight might well help an individual feel somewhat more confident, there are still plenty of thin people whose self-esteem could use a little support.

At Dr. Feiz & Associates, we place great importance on providing careful follow-up regarding progress both in terms of weight loss and their overall well-being and state of mind. Overall, while bariatric surgery is no magic wand, we're happy to say that we've found that weight loss procedures have led to consistently good results in terms of patients overall happiness, as well as their health.

Good Health is Not Out of Reach

While it is certainly true that our society puts a lot of cosmetic value on being slim, the majority of bariatric surgery patients are concerned about their health long before these more superficial concerns come into play. Of course, successful weight loss patients can reap the rewards of both of these benefits, dropping both inches from their waistline and potentially dangerous medical conditions from their bill of health. Patients of Dr. Feiz & Associates have seen tremendous health benefits from their bariatric surgery including remission of type 2-diabetes, and significant reduction in the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

To many, this reality of living a healthy lifestyle seems simply out of reach. Yet, Weight loss surgery has been proven time and time again to help patients lose a significant amount of weight, even if they had failed many previous attempts at diet and exercise. While every patient is different, and no results are guaranteed, potential patients should start by learning more about weight loss surgery by calling our offices today, and asking about one of our free seminars.