Gastric bypass procedures can help most morbidly obese -- more than 100 lbs. overweight -- individuals lose about 70 percent of their excess weight within the first 12 to 15 months, according to the Obesity Action Coalition. Because the surgery...
If you're having bariatric surgery for weight loss, your doctor may want you to follow a specific pre-operative diet to lose some excess weight before surgery. Losing even a small amount of weight helps shrink a fatty liver, which reduces the...
Weight loss surgery might seem like the solution to obesity, but this type of surgery has serious risks. Those who undergo gastric bypass have an increased risk for gallstones, vitamin deficiencies, dehydration, hernias, kidney stones, bleeding...
Gastric banding is a type of bariatric surgery in which a silicon strap is placed around the stomach to create a pouch that holds small amounts of food. The tightness of the band controls the passage of food into the lower stomach. Adding or...
Bariatric surgery, or weight loss surgery, can help morbidly obese individuals improve their health and quality of life through significant weight loss. However, only 1 percent of the approximately 15 million Americans with morbid obesity--a body...
Bariatric surgery refers to a variety of surgical treatments for obesity that structurally alter the digestive system for the purposes of extreme weight loss. Because bariatric surgery involves significant preparation, cost, potential health...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, reports that more than 34 percent of Americans were considered obese in 2007-2008. Obesity can take its toll on your body, from head to toe. The extremely obese are more likely to have...
Also known as weight-loss surgery, bariatric surgery involves special surgical techniques to restrict the size of your stomach or the absorption of your food. Although weight loss varies with surgical technique, patients who undergo bariatric...
Bariatric procedures are a type of surgery that can be used to help patients who are clinically obese (for men who are at least 100 pounds overweight and for women who are at least 80 pounds overweight). There are a variety of bariatric...
Lap-Band surgery involves placing a saline-filled ring around the upper portion of the stomach. This ring closes off the larger, bottom portion of the stomach and leaves a small pouch in the upper portion. This small pouch is now where the food...
As the number of Americans who are overweight has grown, so have the numbers of bariatric surgeries. About one-third of U.S. adults are now overweight or obese. In 2008, an estimated 220,000 extremely obese Americans underwent bariatric surgery to...
Obesity is rapidly developing into a nation-wide epidemic. Responsible for an estimated 10 percent of health care costs, over one-third of American adults are obese, according to "The New York Times." Obesity can significantly affect your quality...
Gastric banding surgery (also called "lap band" after the brand name of the device used in the United States) restricts the size of the stomach, limiting the amount of food that the patient can take in. The surgeon places a silicone band around...
Gastric banding, also referred to as laparoscopic gastric banding, is a reversible weight-loss surgery that involves placing a band around the upper portion of your stomach. This band creates a small pouch that stores food, while preventing food...
Obesity in the U.S. has reached alarming levels. No age group is unaffected. According to the Centers for Disease Control, only the state of Colorado and the District of Columbia demonstrated a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent of their...
Gastric bypass is a type of weight loss surgery generally recommended for those with 100 or more pounds to lose, have a body mass index, or BMI, of 40 or higher, and have failed to lose weight with diet and exercise. There are various types of...
Bariatric surgery is a method of inducing rapid weight loss in patients who are morbidly obese, meaning 100 lbs. or more overweight. The surgery can be a life-saving procedure, but it comes with a commitment to healthy eating for a lifetime....
About one in six people in the United States go on a diet every year, according to Colorado State University. Obesity is a growing health problem, with two out of every three people considered overweight or obese. Extreme liquid diets seem to...
According to the Weight-control Information Network, or WIN, bariatric or weight reduction surgery is an option to help the severely obese to lose weight when weight loss cannot be achieved by diet and exercise. By limiting the amount of food...
A study published in the "Journal of The American Medical Association" reports that obesity rates in 2008 among American women was 35.5 percent and men was 32.2 percent. The Lap Band procedure, a bariatric (meaning weight loss) surgery, aims to...
When diets and exercise aren't helping you shed excessive weight, bariatric surgery can give you a jumpstart on your weight-loss program, allowing you to envision a healthier lifestyle. The Centers for Disease Control notes: "Obesity is a costly...
The term band surgery refers to particular types of bariatric, or weight loss, surgeries, designed to help obese individuals and people at risk for obesity-related diseases, lose weight. When successful, weight loss surgeries reduce a person's...
More than one million gastric bypass surgeries have been performed in the past 15 years in the United States, according to the Ohio State University Medical Center. The majority of patients do find success after this weight loss surgery, but 10 to...
If you are dieting, the number on your bathroom scale probably is not the only one you're keeping an eye on. Losing weight also helps you put up healthier numbers in key areas such as your cholesterol levels, advises the Centers for Disease...
Laparoscopic gastric banding, also known as lap band surgery, is a type of weight loss surgery. This procedure, which uses a surgically implanted band to restrict the stomach's volume, limits the amount of food that patients can eat and has some...
The endocrine system maintains the organs that release hormones. Hormones influence mood, affect sexual function, stimulate growth and regulate energy, among other functions. The major organs of the endocrine system include the brain, thyroid,...
Patients who are super obese are at a significantly higher risk of serious obesity-related health conditions. If you fall into the super-obese or morbidly obese categories, talk to your doctor about resources available to you for weight loss....
While a safe plan to lose weight requires a nutritious diet and physical activity over a sustained time period, in some cases rapid weight loss is desired or becomes necessary. People often seek fast weight reduction through fad diets or herbal...
Bariatric surgeries alter the digestive system to promote weight loss by reducing the amount of food the stomach is able to hold. There are many risks involved in bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is recommended only after all other methods of...
