Is Weight-loss Surgery Right For You?
There is a difference between knowing the path and walking it. Everyone knows “If you want to lose weight, you must eat less,” but this is easier said than done, especially if the excess weight has crept up on you slowly over the years. Eating large meals regularly causes your stomach to stretch and grow larger. Hence, when you start reducing your portion sizes, the need to eat more is not just in your mind (psychologic), but in your body (physiologic) as well.
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is one of the newer, incision-less, weight-loss procedures that reduces the size of your stomach. It is a fairly simple procedure where an endoscope (a thin flexible tube with a camera and a suturing device) is passed through your mouth into your stomach. The size and shape of your stomach is then altered by a few strategically placed stiches making it physically impossible to have a large meal. The procedure is done under general anesthesia so you will not feel a thing. The total time taken is about 1-1/2 hours, after which you will be monitored in the recovery room for any complications. Most likely, you will be able to leave the hospital on the very same day!
Following the procedure, you will be started on a liquid diet and slowly progress to healthy solid foods over a 4-week period. Your doctor will recommend a simple program of diet and exercise to maximize your weight loss. To continue the journey of self-improvement, you could join a support group to help you through rough patches when you might be tempted to fall back on emotional eating or comfort food. Stick with the program and in few months, you are going to see big changes in the way you look and feel. In a research study conducted on people with an average BMI of 45 who underwent endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, the approximate weight loss in the first 6 months after the procedure was an incredible 73 pounds.
If you have tried to lose weight unsuccessfully using other methods, perhaps it is time to kickstart your healthy lifestyle with endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty.
