Recovery and Beyond

Recovery and Beyond

Weight loss

Your weight loss begins immediately after the operation. The majority of people will continue to lose weight for approximately 12 months. The amount of weight a patient will lose every month will vary depending upon the height and weight prior to surgery. A reasonable expectation is to expect to lose 50% or more of your excess body weight.  In general, the weight loss is complete within 12 months and may plateau unless you institute an exercise program. The percent of weight loss among different patients varies and depends upon a number of factors such as exercise, food choices, and daily calorie requirements.

Long Term Expectations

A slow period of adaptation and relearning occurs during the months following surgery. Your new stomach pouch will gradually expand to accommodate larger amounts of food. If you begin binge eating and ignore your own discomfort, the pouch can overdistend and a failure to maintain weight loss can occur.

What should be expected is a dramatic change in your eating habits. Meals, in general, take at least 30 minutes to allow for thorough chewing of very small bites of food. An average meal, one year after the operation, should be a balanced one that includes vegetables and protein rich foods. Lunch may consist of half a sandwich, dinner a chicken wing and a small salad. These small meals should be enough to keep you feeling full and satisfied so that between meal snacking is not necessary.

There is every reason to believe that with a moderate, consistent exercise program and a solid nutrition plan in place, the commitment to a healthy lifestyle should bring continuing rewards for a very long time. In the years following surgery, it is common to regain some lost weight. Some few patients may regain it all. Of course, your diet and activity level after surgery will have an effect on how much weight you ultimately lose.

Results from long term follow–up data of hundreds of gastric bypass patients show that over a 5-year period, patients lost 58% of their excess weight. Over 10 years the loss was 55% and after 14 years, excess weight loss was 49%, while there is a slow tendency to regain some of the lost weight, there is still a significant continuing weight loss over a long period of time.

The benefits to your health are dramatic. The majority of patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, urinary incontinence, limb swelling, and chronic joint and back pain are substantially improved, and more often than not are cured of these ailments within months of their surgery.

Plastic surgery

When people lose large amounts of weight, there are three areas of the body that may have excess skin. These are the abdomen, the back of the upper arms, and the thighs. While an exercise program will help tone muscle and assist in reducing the amount of redundant skin, it may not completely solve the problem. The most common area to be affected is the abdomen. If this is a problem after weight loss is complete, a plastic surgery procedure (a “tummy tuck”) may be necessary.