What is the Safest Form of Weight Loss Surgery
You are in the right place if you are looking for the best weight loss surgery options.
Obesity, as you know, is a dead end.
You can cross the bridge from fat to fit, from obesity to feeling comfortable within your body.
It is the desperation of a person struggling with obesity that compels you to explore weight loss surgery options.
But before making what could be a life-changing decision, you need to understand the latest surgical options offered and their key advantages and disadvantages.
Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Options
According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), 252,000 bariatric procedures were performed in 2018.
Here are some of the most common options for weight loss surgery:
Gastric Bypass Surgery aka the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
This gastric bypass surgery is a laparoscopic procedure that means inserting instruments through multiple small incisions in the abdomen.
Creating a small stomach pouch about the size of an egg that connects to your small intestine is the purpose of this procedure.
The rest of your stomach will no longer be functional.
Adjustable Gastric Band
The adjustable gastric band is an inflatable band wrapped around the upper portion of your stomach.
In this laparoscopic operation, you do not lose your stomach; instead, your doctor gradually adjusts the size of your stomach opening.
Sleeve gastrectomy aka Gastric Sleeve
You lose 80 percent of your stomach in this procedure. What remains is a pouch that resembles a sleeve about the size of a banana.
Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch
Similar to the sleeve gastrectomy, but in addition to losing 80 percent of your stomach, you also remain with a significant bypass of your small intestine.
Pros and Cons of Weight Loss Surgery
All of these weight loss surgeries create a smaller stomach, to force you to eat less.
The irony is that you can learn to eat less without going through surgery if you have a system to follow.
Their differences lie in mortality rates and effectiveness.
But they all have common potential side effects, for example:
On the positive side, as a result of your smaller new stomach pouch:
- You will have to reduce the amount of food you eat and are therefore less likely to overeat on calories.
- And may experience greater satiety with less food.
- Also, patients can initially see a 60 to 80 percent excess weight loss.
- And maintain over 50 percent of your target weight loss over the long term.
These 3 People Went To Mexico For Weight-Loss Surgery, And Now They Regret It
- Postoperative complications, including death¹, are higher after gastric bypass surgery than any other bariatric technique.
- reduce the number of nutrients and calories your body absorbs
- Nausea
- Dehydration
- Constipation
- Dizziness
- Hair loss
- Feel cold with less insulation (fat)
- Anxiety eating out because you will be on a strict postoperative diet
- Loose skin
- Battling food addiction cravings even when you get thin
Weight Loss Without Surgery
I understand the pressure of obesity and the desire to get rid of your fat fast.
At my highest, I was up to 275 pounds, a hundred pounds overweight for my height.
Here are five weight loss surgery alternatives that you might not have considered:
The Top 5 Alternatives to Weight Loss Surgery
#1. Walk 2 to 3 Miles Every Morning
Every morning starting today or tomorrow, when you get up, on an empty stomach (aka fasted cardio), get yourself out of the house or on a treadmill and walk religiously for 2 to 3 miles.
You will feel better.
You are going to get your body moving first thing in the morning and do the right thing for your health.
Of course, weight loss surgeries will help you lose weight faster, but at what cost?
How Much Is Weight Loss Surgery
The average weight loss surgery cost is about $24,000 in the US.
And you can live the strict pre and postoperative weight loss diet plan without incisions into your body and losing your stomach, as well as all of the other associated risks and complications mentioned above.
A daily walk of thirty minutes to one hour is free.
Start this new habit immediately, and within a month, you will be looking forward to your next walk faster than you would have believed.
New Habits
You need new habits that are effective for your health instead of the common habits that got you searching for weight loss surgery options in the first place.
If you are thinking about enriching another doctor’s bank account because you are unwilling to get up off of the couch, that is your choice.
Most likely, you do not move around that much during the day.
- Roll out of bed, and sit
- on the chair to have breakfast,
- in the car,
- at the desk,
- then drive home,
- and sit again
- for dinner,
- on the couch, and
- to watch TV,
- and finally, roll back into bed
A lot of sitting and not enough moving turns into sitting disease!
Before you think of going under the knife, how about taking a walk every day for the next 30 days?
There is no reason to not, at least, give yourself a month to begin some new habits that can help you to lose weight safely.
You can do it.
Start with walking because that is the most natural and accessible form of movement for many people.
If walking is not possible, consider an activity that might be possible like swimming, biking, fitness trampoline, rowing, or rucking.
The point is to break a sweat every morning before breakfast and before starting your day serving others.
Serve yourself and your body first.
All you need is a good pair of walking shoes or sneakers, and you are on the way to cross the bridge from obesity to fitness without weight loss surgery.
#2. Have Oatmeal for Breakfast
Right now, what do you usually have for breakfast?
Do you even have breakfast?
About 31 million people in America skip breakfast every day. ((https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/31-million-americans-skip_n_1005076.html))
But if you are one of these 31 million, you are not in great company.
Because skipping breakfast is associated with several problems, especially your problem of losing weight. Skipping breakfast is associated with an increased prevalence of obesity. ((https://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/158/1/85.full))
So, first of all, stop skipping breakfast.
Next, if you are having muffins, bagels, or boxed cereals loaded with sugar, this also has to stop.
Coffee Only is Not Breakfast
Have oatmeal for breakfast.
Not oatmeal loaded with sugar like the flavored oatmeal that you can find on the supermarket shelf.
Just plain old fashioned oats.
A half-cup of oatmeal provides you with 4 grams of fiber.
- Add a tablespoon of peanut butter, one more gram,
- a banana, two more grams,
- a tablespoon of walnuts,
- and a half an orange for another three grams
- gives you 9 grams of fiber at breakfast alone,
- about 25% of the daily recommendation of 35 grams.
Eating foods with fiber is useful for both weight loss and digestion.
The Benefits of Oatmeal
- Oatmeal is an excellent source of fiber and
- will help you stay full longer because of the slower digestion
- Oatmeal can lower your risk of high blood pressure and
- type 2 diabetes
- Oatmeal also contains lignans, a plant chemical that helps to prevent heart disease
- A cup of oatmeal can improve your cholesterol numbers.
- Oats, oat bran, and oatmeal contain a specific type of fiber known as beta-glucan.
- Since 1963, study after study has proven the beneficial effects of this unique fiber on cholesterol levels.
- Studies show that in individuals with high cholesterol (above 220 mg/dl), consuming just 3 grams of soluble oat fiber per day (an amount found in one bowl of oatmeal) typically lowers total cholesterol by 8-23%.
- This finding is significant since each 1% drop in serum cholesterol translates to a 2% decrease in the risk of developing heart disease ((https://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=54))
- Finally, oatmeal is going to help you lose weight by keeping your blood sugars more stable and preventing the cravings that lead to food binges, the wrecking ball for every person who struggles with obesity.
Obesity is Not Your Fault
You know that, for most cases, your
- lifestyle,
- meals, and
- food choices brought you to this level of obesity.
Of course, you cannot take all the blame.
You do not know any better after being fed a lifetime of advertising and marketing to seduce you into buying more nice-looking packages filled with terrible ‘food’ that is not worthy of the food label.
Real food is your friend and your fuel, and manufactured ‘food’ is not.
How to Make Perfect Oatmeal
Just about anyone can make oatmeal.
Measure out a half-cup of dry oats, such as Uncle Ben’s or Bob’s Red Mill Old Fashioned Oats, which you can get in your local supermarket.
Add a cup of water and bring the water to a boil.
Put the flame on low and add a tablespoon of peanut butter (which only has peanuts, no added sugar), a banana, a tablespoon of chopped walnuts, and half an orange or grapefruit.
You can have the oats raw as well.
An Easy and Healthy Breakfast
You can see below that you have a perfect breakfast with 12 grams of protein and 9 grams of fat and plenty of real food carbs to fuel you through your morning.
Oatmeal is about as American as apple pie.
Wouldn’t you instead consider 30 days of having oatmeal for breakfast before going under the knife?
| Breakfast | Calories | Carbs | Fat | Protein | Chol | Fiber | |
| Giant – Old Fashioned Oats, 40 g dry (1/2 cup) | 150 | 27 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| Smuckers – Natural Peanut Butter – Creamy (2tbsp), 1 TBSP (32g) | 100 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| Banana – Large, 0.5 banana | 55 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Generic – 1 Tbsp Chopped Walnuts, 1 tbsp (8 grams) | 52 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Generic – Naval Orange Large, 0.5 large (184g) | 44 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Add Food | 401 | 56 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 9 |
If you do not like oatmeal, or it is too hot outside, or you just prefer a fresher option, try out some fruit, vegetables, healthy fats, and some dates.
For example, cut up some fresh vegetables, fruit, avocado, include a handful of nuts, and have a few dates.
You will feel refreshed, guaranteed.
If you are still hungry, have some cooked Kasha or a couple of rice cakes with peanut butter or almond butter on top.
#3. Drink Water
When you are hydrated, it will be easier for your liver to process and remove fat from your body.
Better hydration is going to help your thinking and a general sense of well being as well.
#4. Sleep on Time
Get to sleep on time.
The less sleep, the more cortisol, your stress hormone, the more cortisol, the fatter and less happy you will be, so do yourself a favor and get to sleep so you can get a good 8 hours.
You will lose weight while sleeping and dramatically improve your health.
#5. Get Motivated
Get motivated to take back your power.
You can:
- eat healthier
- move your body more
- walk every day, swim, cycle or bounce on a fitness trampoline
- eat more fruits and vegetables and crowd out the processed foods
- boil yourself a sweet potato or cook up some chickpeas or black beans
People who are successful in long term weight loss have several things in common, in that they:
- Are not ‘special’ and no different than you
- Struggle with food addiction, overeating, and binges
- Lost weight on diets only to regain it again Like 95 percent of other folks
- Make up their mind to fully commit to taking back their life – their defining moment
- Stop dieting, and instead, they commit to changing their lifestyle
- Create a system – a lifestyle is a system, something you do every day, not only for three days, ten days, or 12 weeks
- Live on real food instead of processed foods
- Increase their consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein
- Start moving even as simple as walking
- Begin resistance training, either with their body weight or strength training with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or resistance bands.
There are the most effective weight loss surgery alternatives.
Famous people like Rick Ross, and unknowns like this man who lost 400 pounds, and even yours truly, have all gone through the same process.
They are not exceptional, all they did was follow a system.
So, before you go under the knife, give yourself 30 more days, even a week of the above five habits only.
I hope that you, too, will find that surgery is not your only option for weight loss.
Weight Loss Surgery Options – Final Thoughts
The safest weight loss surgery is the one you never do.
All weight loss surgeries carry risks that you don’t have to experience.
Surgery is not the only way to create a smaller stomach.
Every single weight loss surgery option requires that you follow a strict diet and exercise plan.
For example, here are some rules of a typical gastric bypass diet after surgery ²:
- Eat smaller amounts of food six times a day instead of 3 big meals.
- Chew thoroughly
- You will not be able to eat solid food approximately two months after surgery
- Drink in between meals and not with meals
- And drink at least 64 ounces of water a day
- Stop eating as soon as you are full
- Avoid foods high in fat and sugar
- You must take a multivitamin supplement every day for the rest of your life.
Why not change your lifestyle habits now?
If you choose surgery to help you lose weight, you will need to follow a strict diet and exercise plan before and after your surgery.
But if you change your lifestyle now, without surgery, you can only benefit without all the dangerous complications of an operation.
Oh, but I heard on the radio that it is minimally invasive?
Minimally Invasive? – Yeah Right!
The above rules are only some of the hardships you will have to bear after surgery besides the real pain after ‘minimally invasive’ laparoscopic weight loss surgery.
Do Not Be Fooled by the Term Minimally Invasive.
Minimally invasive means that a surgeon professionally stabs you, and you will need at least three months to recover.
I know, because I also had minimally invasive laparoscopic pyeloplasty surgery.
No matter what the ad touts, laparoscopic surgery is painful to bear and requires a lengthy recovery, notwithstanding all of the other risks that you incur by going through with any weight loss surgery.
Morbid Obesity Relief
Morbid obesity is a common reason for choosing weight loss surgery.
And many studies support a surgical option when all other efforts to lose weight fail.
In these cases, the long term outlook for bariatric surgery is superior to remaining morbidly obese.
Because once you lose weight, your risk of many diseases correlated with obesity disappears.
There are even magical benefits of losing 20 pounds, and all the more so for more significant weight loss.
So, in some cases, for example, you can no longer walk due to obesity; there are no other weight loss surgery options.
However, if you can still move, I challenge you to spend the next 90 days preparing yourself to meet the slim you, instead of getting ready for surgery.
What’s Next
Follow SYSTEM 5™, a free and easy plan to lose 20 pounds in 3 months.
If you need to lose 100 pounds or more, all you have to do is repeat SYSTEM 5™ until you reach your ideal body weight.
And once you hit your goal weight, keep living the SYSTEM 5™ lifestyle.
Weight loss is not rocket science.
I was as addicted to processed food, obese, and desperate as you are today.
You are not alone; over 75 percent of the US is overweight or obese.
Before letting a surgeon open you up, try a new way.
Your body wants to get healthy, just get out of the way and let it.
What do you have to lose?
The best weight loss surgery options in the world are no match for SYSTEM 5™.
Shoot me an email if you need support.
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Footnotes:
¹ Cathedral City Mayor Greg Pettis Dies After Bariatric Surgery – Desert Sun 2019
² What to Eat After Gastric Bypass Surgery – Mayo Clinic
Weight Loss Infographic
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Rich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer), an