Choosing weight loss surgery is never an easy decision. If you’ve struggled with your weight and can’t ever seem to get the scale to move in your favor, weight loss surgery may be for you. Gastric sleeve surgery has become a popular choice for those who choose bariatric surgery. Here are several things you should consider when considering whether gastric sleeve surgery is right for you.
Why Choose Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
Are you the clinical definition of morbidly obese? Do you have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 40 or higher? Or do you have a lower BMI between 35 to 39.9 but have one or more chronic health conditions? If you answered yes to any of these questions, and have consistently tried and failed to lose weight and keep it off, then you may be an excellent candidate for gastric sleeve surgery.
Benefits of Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Outside of saving your life, gastric sleeve surgery can also significantly improve your quality of life. Weight loss surgery can help relieve chronic joint and back pain that occurs because of all the extra weight you’ve been carrying around. It can help alleviate sleep apnea, allowing you to sleep through the night without a CPAP machine. You’ll also see a reversal of chronic health issues such as diabetes, depression, high-blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Eating After Gastric Sleeve Surgery
After bariatric surgery, your entire relationship with food has to change. Not only will you have to eat considerably less after surgery, how you eat will change as well. For example, you will no longer be able to eat and drink at the same time. According to bariatric surgery nurse Karen Schulz, “Patients should drink their fluids at least 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after eating, but it doesn’t take long for most people to adjust.”
Other changes include mainly eating protein, eliminating sweets and learning how to handle your emotions without turning to food. After surgery, you will also need vitamins and supplements to make up for nutritional deficiencies in your new diet.
Dangers of Ignoring Gastric Sleeve Diet
It is crucial that you follow the strict diet given to you by your doctor after having gastric sleeve surgery. If you stray from the diet, you may experience some serious and life-threatening complications. Complications can include vomiting, plugging, a sensation that feels like food is stuck in the upper digestive tract and minimum to no weight-loss. More severe complications include a perforated stomach, which is a leak in your gut, and septic shock, which, if not caught early, can kill you.
