Why do People Think Bariatric Surgery is Their Only Option to Lose Weight?

The use of bariatric surgery to lose weight has become increasingly normalised in recent years. It used to be the case that the only way to lose weight was to go on a diet and to do more exercise. However, as the number of obese individuals has increased, so have the number of options available to deal with a weight problem. If you're struggling with your weight to the extent that it is damaging your health, surgery is now an option. It is a rather tempting option, as well, when you are able to achieve huge amounts of weight loss within a relatively short space of time.

When you have lots of weight to lose and your life is at risk because of your size, then of course you're going to want to take the quickest route to weight loss that exists. There are many documentaries that have featured morbidly obese individuals who basically had no life before they had bariatric surgery. After surgery, they lose weight rapidly and can do all the things they had so much difficulty with beforehand and their health improves. When you are in a situation where you can't live the life you want, you obviously begin to consider your own options.

The trouble with these documentaries is that you rarely see the downsides of bariatric surgery. There are risks associated with going under the knife, particularly when you are obese, and the heavier you are the greater these risks. There is always the chance that you may not even make it out of surgery, but you might have reached a point where you think that taking a gamble is your only option, because that is how desperate to lose weight and live a normal life you are. Yet, when being obese has been your normal life for many years, adapting to something new can be difficult.

You may be able to lose weight after having bariatric surgery, but you will never be able to eat in the same way as before. After your stomach has been reduced you will only be able to consume small quantities of food and you will have to supplement your diet with vitamins, because otherwise you could develop health problems. Clearly, you become obese due to an unhealthy relationship with food and this relationship isn't going to just disappear because you've had surgery. You may not think through the repercussions, though, when you're depressed and desperate.

Bariatric surgery seems like the easiest option when you have lots of weight to lose weight and your health is already suffering because of your size. You may feel as though you are unable to control your eating habits, and so surgery appears to be the most effective way of restricting your calorie intake. Surgery can lead to rapid weight loss, but it isn't really the easiest option. That would be to not allow yourself to get so heavy in the first place, though clearly once you have reached this stage you have to do something. Desperation may therefore lead you to think that surgery is your only option, because you're so down about your size that you can't see any other way out.