LIFE AFTER SURGERY
Responsibilities and Expectations
Successful long-term weight loss depends on your dedication to a new lifestyle. Patients will be required to significantly modify their eating habits, and follow a strict diet during the first few weeks of recovery. Patients must also commit to follow up visits with their physician, limit alcohol intake and eliminate all use of nicotine products. A patient’s rate of weight loss will vary depending on their commitment to make life-changing modifications to their diet and exercise routine.
Patients can expect to lose approximately 80% of their excess weight over time after a laparoscopic Gastric Bypass surgery.
Average weight loss with the LAP-BAND® system is moderate yet consistent. If you follow the physician's guidelines, you can usually expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week in the first year after the operation. After one year, weight loss will usually continue and gradually decrease.
Long Term Commitment
Weight Loss Surgery is a lifelong commitment that goes far beyond adjusting your lifestyle and sticking to a healthy diet. Patients must meet with the physicians on a regular basis for the rest of their lives. Missing office visits could compromise the outcomes of your weight losssurgery. Long-term follow-up care is mandatory for success!!!
Going back to Work
Your ability to resume pre-surgery levels of activity will vary according to your physical condition, the nature of the activity and the type of weight loss surgery you had. Most patients return to work within one to three weeks after their laparoscopic gastric bypass. Patients who have had an open procedure do so about six weeks after surgery.
Birth Control and Pregnancy
It is recommended that women of child bearing age who are still menstruating, should use two (2) different birth control methods for two (2) years after their weight loss surgery. Birth control pills alone or hormone therapy along may not be enough to prevent pregnancy. The change in weigh may affect the pills or hormones ability to prevent pregnancy. That is why two (2) different forms of birth control are strongly recommended. It is strongly recommended that if a woman insists on using a birth control pill (or hormone therapy) that she also use a barrier contraceptive (such as a male condom, a female condom, diaphragm, or intra-uterine device-IUD). It is recommended that women wait for two (2) years to become pregnant after weight loss surgery. Pregnancy and a baby will interfere with weight loss surgery. Women who become pregnant after weight loss surgery should have no problem as long as they follow their doctor’s advice of diet, vitamins, and exercise. Women who do not follow the post-Bariatric surgery diet recommendation, who do not continue taking vitamins and supplements and who do not maintain a healthy exercise regimen will suffer problems with their pregnancy and can harm the fetus. There are thousands of women in the USA who have had healthy pregnancies and delivered healthy babies after their weight loss surgery. That is because they have followed their doctor’s advice.
Weight Loss Surgery Support Groups
The use of support groups has provided weight loss surgery patients an excellent opportunity to discuss their various personal and professional issues. Most learn, for example, that weight loss surgery will not immediately resolve existing emotional issues or heal the years of damage that morbid obesity might have inflicted on their emotional well-being. Our hospital has support groups in place to assist you with short-term and long-term questions and needs. Most Bariatric surgeons who frequently perform weight loss surgery will tell you that ongoing post-surgical support helps produce the greatest level of success for their patients.
For more information about our local support group at Wise Regional Hospital, please click here.
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