Belly bands were approved in 2001 by the United States Food and Drug Administration as a surgical means of effective weight loss. Also known as a form of gastric bypass surgery, the procedure is designed to help severely obese men and women lose weight quickly, improving their health by lowering risk of heart disease, diabetes and other life threatening conditions.
Risks of Belly Fat
Belly fat comes in two types, visceral and subcutaneous. Visceral fat refers to the belly fat at a deeper level, surrounding your organs while subcutaneous fat is shallower and closer to the surface of the skin. Visceral belly fat is the harder of the two to get rid of through diet and exercise alone due to its deeper roots in your abdomen. Linked to cardiovascular disease and stroke, visceral fat forms from several factors such as decline in hormones, inactivity, improper diet, age and also heredity.
Belly Banding
Belly banding is a less invasive form of gastric bypass surgery to help lose belly fat and increase your overall health. Small incisions allow your surgeon to create a small pouch at the top of your stomach, tying it off with a white band, thus decreasing your normal stomach size. This in turn causes you to eat less as it only takes about a fistful of food to fill this pouch and satisfy your hunger. The band is adjustable and removable, leaving it a more temporary fix than standard gastric bypass surgery.
Precautions
The medical field along with the Food and Drug Administration has laid out guidelines as a precautionary way to help ideal candidates. Candidates for belly banding are required to have a body mass index or BMI of at least 40 to qualify for surgery. Suffering from diabetes or heart complications can drop this requirement to a BMI of 35 to 39. Patients are also required to follow a post-operative diet and exercise program, to ensure a healthy weight loss.
Considerations
Belly banding alone will help you lose weight; however, losing belly fat involves a more hands on approach. Cutting calories and limiting fat intake will prevent you from gaining more belly fat while exercise will help you to burn existing belly fat. Full body workouts as well as target toning for your abdomen are required to build lean muscle mass and burn visceral and subcutaneous fat in your mid-section. Relying on belly banding alone to lose unwanted belly fat is unsuccessful.
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