Why is it so hard for me to lose weight?
It’s well known that losing weight is no easy task. It takes effort and determination to stick to a weight loss plan, and there are often medical or genetic reasons why some people find it harder to lose weight than others.
It’s always best to follow healthy eating advice and get plenty of exercise to shift excess pounds, but if you’ve tried to lose weight and found nothing that works for you, surgery could be the key to changing your life. Our team takes great care to assess your medical history and current state of health when you visit him, and he’ll order tests to check for underlying health issues.
How does weight loss surgery work?
There are two key approaches to weight loss surgery:
Restrictive surgeries
Restrictive surgeries reduce the size of the stomach, so there is less room for the food you eat. The reduced capacity means you feel full after eating smaller portion sizes, helping you to avoid consuming too many calories.
Malabsorptive surgeries
Malabsorptive surgeries act to reduce the number of calories your body can ingest, so the food you eat is not fully absorbed by the body.
Surgical procedures most commonly use the restrictive method alone or in combination with the malabsorptive method.
What kinds of weight loss surgeries are available?
There are three main types of surgery for weight loss:
Gastric bypass surgery
Gastric bypass surgery involves Christopher Reilly, MD, FACS, Steven M. Thomas, MD, FACS, or Genna Lubrano, MD making alterations to the gastrointestinal tract so that what you eat doesn’t enter the stomach and first section of small intestine. It combines malabsorption with restriction, as you feel full more quickly after eating and what you consume isn’t fully absorbed.
Gastric sleeve surgery
Gastric sleeve surgery involves our team removing a large portion of your stomach to make it permanently smaller, meaning you don’t need to eat very much before feeling full.
Lap-Band procedure
In a Lap-Band® procedure, our team places a laparoscopic gastric band around the top of your stomach, restricting its size and limiting how much food you can eat.
There is also a nonsurgical option, the Orbera® Intragastric Balloon.Christopher Reilly, MD, FACS, Steven M. Thomas, MD, FACS, or Genna Lubrano, MD uses an endoscope to insert the balloon, which takes up space in your stomach and leaves less room for food. The Intragastric balloon is a fully reversible option for those who don’t want or need a permanent solution to weight loss.
If you need to lose weight and you aren’t making any progress, call OakBend Medical Group today, or book an appointment online.
