Benefits Of Bariatric Surgery
INTRODUCTION
Why Diet and Exercise Might Not Be Enough
For most obese patients, the prescription is to reduce calories and increase exercise. While this works well on paper and is a good prescription for most patients, it tends to have a low success rate. The primary reason for this is poor adherence, which can be attributed to unrealistic expectations, environmental factors, and difficulty caused by weight-related stigma.
Severely obese patients often report trying to lose weight with diet and exercise, but failing to achieve their weight loss goals. What’s worse is that for severely obese patients, their weight will eventually become a matter of life and death. This means that other interventions will become necessary to prolong life and improve quality of life. Because of this fact, surgeons and researchers developed surgical procedures that are meant to restrict food intake and reduce the body’s ability to absorb excess calories from food.

Health Benefits of Bariatric Surgery
Reduced All-Cause Mortality
Remission of Obesity-Related Diseases
Improved Quality of Life
Frequently Asked Questions
How Bariatric Surgery Works ?
Bariatric surgeries typically have two components: a restrictive component and a malabsorptive component. The restrictive component restricts how much food a patient can ingest in one sitting, and is usually done by reducing the size of the available stomach. The malabsorptive component aims to reduce the body’s ability to absorb calories for energy, causing the patient to rely more on fat storage for fuel. This is usually done by bypassing a part of the intestine.
Different procedures do this in different ways. Gastric sleeve, for example, does not have a malabsorptive component but instead works by removing a portion of the stomach responsible for producing hunger hormones. This reduces the overall hunger response while also reducing the total amount of food the patient can eat in one sitting.
Who Should Get Bariatric Surgery?
The requirements to get bariatric surgery are strict because bariatric procedures change the way your digestive system works. It is not something to be prescribed lightly, and for this reason, bariatric surgeons require that their patients meet the following criteria:
- A body mass index (BMI) of over 40, OR
- A body mass index (BMI) of over 35 AND the presence of one or more obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or sleep apnea, AND
- A demonstrated inability to lose weight using diet modifications and exercise alone
If you meet these criteria, then bariatric surgery may be right for you. You can get bariatric surgery in Tijuana for much less than it would cost in the USA. Schedule a consultation with Dr. Ramos Kelly to learn more about your options!
