The information below may help you:

Diet

Immediately following surgery, you will be on a very restricted liquid diet. The diet you must follow will be discussed with you in detail prior to surgery so you can shop for the types of food you will be able to eat.

However, even after your initial recovery from the surgery, the modifications made to your gastrointestinal tract will require permanent changes in your eating habits that must be adhered to for successful weight loss. Postsurgery dietary guidelines will vary by surgeon. It is most important that you adhere strictly to your surgeon’s recommended guidelines.

The following are some of the generally accepted dietary guidelines a weight-loss surgery patient may encounter:

• When you start eating solid food it is essential that you chew thoroughly.  You will not be able to eat steaks or other chunks of meat if they are not ground or chewed thoroughly.
• Don’t drink fluid while eating.  They will make you feel full before you have consumed enough food.
• Omit desserts and other items with sugar listed as one the first three ingredients.
• Omit carbonated drinks, high-calorie nutritional supplements, milk shakes, and high-fat foods with high fiber content.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Limit snaking between meals.

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.  Many patients return to full pre-surgery levels of activity within six weeks of their procedure.  Patients who have had a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure may be able to return to these activities within a few weeks.

Birth Control and Pregnancy

It is strongly advised that women of childbearing age use the most effective forms of birth control during the first 16 to 24 months after weight-loss surgery.  The added demands pregnancy places on your body and the potential for fetal damage make this a most important requirement.

Long-term Follow-up

Although the short-term effects of weight-loss surgery are well understood, there are still questions to be answered about the longer-term effects on nutrition and body systems.  Nutritional deficiencies that occur over the course of many years will need to be studied.  Over time, you will need periodic checks for anemia (low red blood cell count), Vitamin B12 levels, folate and iron levels.  Follow-up tests will be conducted frequently throughout the next year and annually thereafter.

Support Groups

The widespread 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 health that the years of morbid obesity might have caused.  Most surgeons have 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. Click here to learn about Surgical Associates' Bariatric Support Group.

Long-term

Roux-en-y gastric bypass has been performed in the United States for over 20 years.  Published statistics reveal excellent, sustainable weight loss and improved health. However, surgery by itself will not guarantee long-term success.  While difficult to achieve, it is possible to defeat the surgery by ignoring program guidelines and suggestions by drinking high calorie liquids, continual snacking, and sedentary living.  What this surgery will do is provide a tool that allows you to feel satiety and help you choose a healthy lifestyle.

Further Along

Initial follow-up will be more frequent.  You are strongly encouraged to keep postoperative visits (with laboratory studies as ordered).  These visits assist in the ultimate success of your surgery.  You will need to commit to all postop visits recommended by your physician.

Success achieved by patients of Surgical Associates and the data collected during their surgical treatment may be recorded with the International Bariatric Surgery Registry, documented and reported in the surgical literature.  While preserving patient confidentiality, we add the experience of all patients to this database.