Gastric bypass surgery is a surgical procedure that not only will help you lose weight but it’s a long-term solution for chronic obesity. During gastric bypass surgery, your surgeon will effectively make a major alteration to your stomach’s structure. The results from the operation will end up affecting the way you digest food and the amount you are capable of actually eating.
Most of us understand obesity as simply a weight problem but it is so much more than that. Obesity if chronic condition akin to chronic illnesses. Multiple factors within your body both physical and psychological will push the obesity afflicted person to eat more on a consistent basis. This might continue even after they transitioned to a more manageable weight through less permanent methods. Effectively making them relapse and notably increase their BMI once again.
The surgery effectively changes the way you process your food and also reduces your stomach capacity. Thus, you will be able to eat much less than what you would normally make much harder for you to lose weight. The surgery also carries the benefit of triggering a massive weight loss immediately after it. As much as 60% to 80% of your weight goes away the first year after undergoing it.
How Can A Gastric Bypass Surgery Help You Lose Weight?
The gastric bypass surgery is first and foremost a restrictive procedure. It consists of actually limiting your stomach’s capacity to digest food, thus, limiting the amount you can actually eat.
The larger part of your stomach remains alive and well, yet, you will not use it to hold any food after the procedure. The newly developed pouch to the small lower intestine route will handle the process instead.
By having the surgery change the size of your stomach, the total amount of food and therefore, calories you absorb drops dramatically. And, since you are not going to need anywhere near as much food to feel full ever again, you will feel less hungry. After the procedure, your body produces much fewer hunger hormones than it would otherwise. That and the fact you will be getting that feeling of being ‘full’ much faster and with much less food than you previously would.
Who’s Meant to Undergo Gastric Bypass Surgery?
The general profile of someone that is an exact candidate for gastric bypass surgery is someone that is overweight. Yet, not all overweight people are fit for the procedure. Candidates for gastric bypass surgery must fulfil the following criteria:
Be extremely obese – The amount of fat inside the body measures using the body mass index (BMI) scale. If someone happens to have a verified BMI of over 40, that person is considered very obese. If that the case, this surgery might be for you.
Have difficult losing weight – For most extremely obese people, losing weight is an almost never-ending uphill battle, so, they can rarely win. If dies and exercise fail to make a significant change on you and reduce your BMI level, the gastric bypass surgery might do it for you.
Have weight-related health problems – Severe chronic conditions like high blood pressure, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, kidney disease, and many others are associated with being overweight. For such cases, patients whose BMI is less than 40 have high chances of qualifying for the gastric bypass surgery.
Have Type 2 Diabetes – If you are overweight and also suffer from type 2 diabetes which has required you to take insulin for less than 8 years. The surgery can help you ease the symptom of it. An observed secondary benefit of the gastric bypass surgery in the small intestine begins to produce the molecule GLUT-1. This molecule confidentially helps the body manage glucose levels. Thus, the procedure has life-long benefits for patients of Type 2 Diabetes.
You are willing to adopt several lifestyle changes – As with any weight-loss surgery, maintaining the results of it and your general health after undergoing it requires some changes. This includes the taking of recommended supplements and vitamins to compensate for your more direct digestion after the procedure.
Gastric Bypass Surgery Procedure
The surgery happens under general anaesthesia so you will be fast asleep while it all happens.
The surgeon and their theme make four or five incisions across the abdominal area in order to insert laparoscopic devices. These are instruments use to perform abdominal surgeries through smaller incision rather that one very long incision. Laparoscopic devices also make abdominal surgery much easier. They employ Inert gases of the like of carbon dioxide to ‘inflate’ the abdominal area. This has the effect of separating organs, muscles, and tissues making it easier to operate in a much larger area than what it normally is.
From those incisions, the surgeon proceeds to divide the top part of the stomach, separating it from the rest of it. They then create a pouch out of the tissue they just separated from the rest of your stomach. The pouch, or gastrointestinal pouch, is very small, little bigger than the size of a chicken egg.
Meanwhile, they proceed to have your small intestine bisected, separating it into two distinct parts. The surgeon then takes the lower portion of the small intestine, moves it up much higher and attaches it to the pouch. This creates an entirely new route for you to process the food you eat. And, thanks to it, allows you to effectively bypass as much as 90% of your stomach which remains alive and well, just unused for here on out. The surgeon will also take operate on the remaining, upper part of your lower intestine. They will attach it to the lower part of your small intestine but further down than where it used to be. Thus, you will still process the bile and pancreatic fluid from your remaining, unused larger part of the stomach. Afterwards, they apply suture and finish the surgery.
After A Gastric Bypass Surgery
Immediately after the surgery, you will not be able to eat solids so you will consume only liquid food. Your surgeon will tell you when you can east solids again by recommending you a mandatory diet for a couple of months. Checkup regularly with your surgeon to have them tell you when exactly you can start reproaching your usual dietary habits. In the meanwhile, your surgeon will also prescribe you to take several vitamins and supplements. Some of these vitamins and supplements you will need to take regularly for the rest of your life after having the surgery. You will see a loss of 60% to 80% of your total weight during the first 18 months after the surgery. And likely will never have as much weight either. Since most patients of a gastric bypass surgery rarely regain back 50% of the weight they’ve lost thanks to the surgery.
Gastric Bypass Surgery FAQ
Q: How much weight can I expect to lose thanks to the gastric bypass surgery?
A: You will lose between 60% to 80% of the weight you originally had before the surgery.
Q: Will they open my whole abdomen for the procedure?
A: No, they will not. The gastric bypass surgery uses laparoscopic devices that enter through small incisions. There will be no long scar after it.
Q: Do I have to abandon my favourite foods forever after the procedure?
A: No, you do not. After you’ve completely recovered, you can return to eat whatever you want. Only now you will eat much less than what you used to thanks to the procedure reducing your stomach capacity.