Why do People Have Gastric Bypass Surgery?

Gastric bypass surgery can help with weight loss, as it reduces the size of your stomach and makes it very difficult to eat large quantities of food. An increasing number of people are opting for gastric bypass surgery because they can see no other way out. They may have tried various diets in the past and have ended up heavier than before. Clearly, being extremely overweight is bad for your health and can shorten your lifespan, so that rapid weight loss is what people seek. However, gastric bypass does come with risks and there can be complications.

Dieting hasn’t worked
Many people who are battling their weight come to believe that gastric bypass surgery offers them the best possibility of losing weight. When you have gone from diet to diet in the past, alternating between virtual starvation and your usual calorific diet, it is no wonder if your body’s metabolism goes haywire. If you deprive your body of calories and then consume an excess number of calories it is going to affect your ability to control your weight. People generally lose weight whilst they are following a diet, but do not adopt the healthier habits needed for them to keep the weight off.

If you have a gastric bypass, you become full after eating only small portions and so it is easier to control your calorie intake, although the stomach can stretch to accommodate a greater quantity of food again. You may not necessarily consider this when you’re desperate to lose weight, though.


Health problems
If your health is starting to suffer because you’re carrying so much weight and dieting has failed you have to consider all the options available. Most people would prefer not to go under the knife, but those who have gastric bypass surgery often feel that they have no other choice. There is always a chance they could die on the operating table, but there is an even greater risk that if they keep on going the way they are going, they will die before their time, anyway.


Impatience
When you have large amounts of weight to lose, losing one or two pounds here and there isn’t going to make much of a difference. It is hard to keep yourself motivated when you have 100 pounds or so to lose. After gastric bypass surgery, your appetite will not be as large as it was before, making it easier to stick to a very-low calorie diet that will help you achieve rapid weight loss. Unfortunately, you can be left with excess skin when you lose lots of weight quickly, but that is the price many are prepared to pay.

Is surgery really the answer?
It is up to the individual to decide whether gastric bypass surgery is the best option for them, but, whether you have surgery or not, the only way to achieve weight loss is by reducing your calorie intake so that it is lower than your calorie expenditure.