Think long and hard before you opt for weight loss surgery also known as gastric bypass surgery. Talk to your doctor and explain how you have tried non-invasive techniques, joined fitness clubs, tried eating right and making healthy choices. Discuss with your doctor how being over weight is causing you to be miserable and how you are very serious about going for weight loss surgery.
Not for Vanity Pounds
If your doctor suggests that what you want to lose are just vanity pounds, to make you look skinnier and more like runway models, then weight loss surgery is not for you. He or she will calculate your body mass index (BMI) which will let you know if your weight is in a healthy range according to your height, gender and age. If it is, then you can lose a few pounds by exercising more so that the calorie expenditure is more than the intake.
Health Reasons
If your weight is adversely affecting your heart, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, diabetes or the like and other method have not provided sufficient results, only then your doctor may suggest that you could look in to weight loss surgery.
Attend a Presentation
Before you sign on the dotted line, attend a seminar (most of them are free) and find out exactly what weight loss surgery entails. After all it is a major medical procedure and you will have to stay in the hospital before and after the surgery. Find out if your insurance covers all or part of the surgery and what your financial outlay will be. If possible, get the estimate in writing. Find out what to expect when you emerge from the surgery as far as the pain, stitches, recovery period and long term implications are concerned.
Some weigh loss surgical procedures are non-reversible, others are. Some staple the stomach in a way that you just can’t eat more than a small amount of food at a time. They recommend you eat several smaller meals in a day rather than the regular breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Gastric bypass surgery is not child’s play in any way; medically, financially or socially. Find out all you can about the hospital where you are considering the procedure. Investigate the credentials of the doctors and most importantly ask to speak to patients who have had this weight loss surgery and ask for their honest opinion. Would they do it again? What did they wish they knew that they know now? How has their life changed, both positively and negatively?
Only once you have all your answers should you make a well thought out decision. Good luck!