Are you thinking about possible surgical methods to lose weight? If so, you should know that one of the most effective procedures performed today happens to be gastric banding. It is also commonly referred to as the Lap-Band. The procedure involves a silicone device being placed around the top of the stomach in order to reduce the amount of food that can be consumed at one time. Studies have shown that this procedure works well for patients that have a BMI between thirty and forty and also suffer from an obesity-related medical condition. As a result, patients tend to lose seventy-five to one hundred pounds in the first year and medical issues, such as sleep apnea and diabetes, tend to improve with time.
While getting the gastric banding is important to the weight loss process, it's important to try and stick to a healthy diet after you get the operation done. You'll be able to still eat good sized portions of food, but you may not have much success if you don't change your eating habits. Working on a good post-op diet is important, because it gives you the chance to lose even more weight if you're eating small portions of healthy food. Make sure you take the time to create a meal plan with a dietician or a doctor before you return home. People who take the time to adjust how they eat tend to lose more weight with the gastric banding. You may not realize it, but the post-operative phase is just as important as the surgery itself.
If you think that the gastric banding operation will work for you, make sure you take the time to find a qualified surgeon in your area that can perform the procedure. There are plenty of doctors who can boast their abilities as a weight loss surgeon, but you want to make sure you find somebody who has a good reputation of performing the operation with little room for error. There are some complications that are involved with this weight loss surgery, so you want to find a doctor who understands the complexity of the entire process. See if you can get a recommendation from a friend who has also had this surgery. If you don't know anybody else, you can search around on online forums and read stories of people who have had positive experiences with the surgery. There's a good chance they can give you the name of somebody who is more than qualified.
Once you've decided that gastric banding is the right choice, you'll need to sit down with the surgeon and discuss your previous medical history. Make sure you disclose all of your issues in the past, as you want to ensure that any current or past ailments will not interfere with the surgery. You'll also be given instructions to follow in order to prepare for the operation, so make sure you make all the necessary life changes in order to be ready to go under the knife.
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