Bariatric surgery is not a sprint but a marathon.

Your success after bariatric surgery is going to be decided by choices made after the operation. Maintaining healthy lifestyle choices is imperative if you wish to achieve full and lasting benefits from your bariatric surgery.

The human microbiome comprises all the microorganisms living on and in the human body. Though the significance of microbes as mediators of health and disease has long been established, recent advances in genetic sequencing are providing new insights into the function and composition of what is now recognized as an additional human organ. In particular, the microbial inhabitants of the gut (the gut microbiota) are thought to play a part in the development of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy requires changing the stomach from the size of a football to the size and shape of a banana. A small gastric reservoir is created that reduces the stomach size to 60-150 ml. 

How Does a Gastric Sleeve Affect Dieting and Help Weight Loss?

The goal of all bariatric surgery is to provide a physical change in the digestive system that helps people lose substantial weight.

This video demonstrates Dr. Belsley performing a laparoscopic retrocolic, retrogastric gastric bypass with a hand-sewn gastrojejunostomy. Please note that this video contains scenes from a real operation and therefore contains images that could be unsettling. Please watch at your own discretion.

This new stomach pouch is then attached to a piece of cut small intestine that is connected directly onto the pouch. When you eat after a gastric bypass, food enters into this small pouch of stomach and then passes directly into your small intestine. Food bypasses most of your stomach and the first section of your small intestine, and instead enters directly into the middle part of your small intestine.

There are major changes to the digestive system, changes that make this approach to bariatric surgery very effective in significant weight loss. Post-operation, the diet is typically all-liquid for several weeks and then only soft or mashed foods until the post-surgical swelling in the digestive system heals. At the same time, a gastric bypass is more than a surgical procedure; it is also part of a lifestyle change.

Although not essential to health, scalp hair can be important to self-image and hair loss or alopecia may lead to significant psychological distress. Some degree of hair loss is relatively common following bariatric surgery, usually occurring 3 months or more after surgery and affecting around athird of all patients. The precise causes of post-bariatric hair loss are unknown; factors including changes in nutritional status and the impact of surgery upon the hair growth cycle are thought to be involved. In most cases, hair will begin to regrow without intervention once weight has stabilized.

It’s good to keep in mind that you’re on the final stage of returning your body to a healthier, better-looking condition. To help you through this stage you can consider body contouring and excess skin removal to improve the shape and tone of your underlying tissue. Although the skin incisions are significant, the result is a more normal appearance to the body, with smoother contours.