Weight-Loss Surgery: Is It for You?
             For most people, a combination of diet and exercise is the best way to lose weight. However, if you've tried everything and still can't shed excess pounds or keep them off, you may want to consider weight-loss surgery. Obesity is defined as being 100 or more pounds over a healthy body weight. Gastric bypass surgery is a procedure that shrinks the size of the stomach so the patient cannot eat as much, hopefully causing them to lose weight. This procedure is usually performed on fully developed adults who have tried every other option to lose weight. Surgery is an aid to dieting and assists individuals in altering their eating habits by restricting food intake or limiting absorption of ingested food. These procedures assist a patient in reducing food and caloric intake. Of course each procedure is associated with medical risks and benefits, which vary in the anticipated chance of success in losing weight.
             Individuals who undergo weight-loss surgery can lose 60% to 70% of their excess weight within the first 12 to 24 months. As long as patients follow the food and exercise guidelines, they keep off at least 50% of the weight they lost 10 years after surgery. After surgery, blood sugar levels improve in up to 47% of those with type 2 diabetes. More than 50% of people with high blood pressure also have fewer symptoms. Other benefits include: improved self-esteem, body image, increased activity level and reduced depression and anxiety.
             But some people may experience uncomfortable side effects and potentially life-threatening complications, including: nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, nutritional deficiencies, bleeding stomach ulcers and intestinal obstructions. You have to remember that in a gastric bypass, the part of the intestine where many minerals and vitamins are most easily absorbed is bypassed. Because of this, you may have a deficiency in iron, calciu
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