Some people do believe that it’s a “quick fix,” and that’s why patient education is so important. It’s really not - it’s very hard work, even after you’ve had the surgery. Education, close follow-up, and attending support groups are all equally important. By the time patients are ready for the surgery, they really understand this. They’ve made big changes and adopted a specific diet. Almost all of our patients lose weight during the period between enrolling in the surgical program and having the surgery.

Another common myth is that people gain back all of their weight. Actually, fewer than 20% of patients gain back their weight. Those are the patients who veer off of the post-bariatric surgery diet. The nice part about having bariatric surgery is that the vast majority of patients really don’t feel that hunger that they felt before surgery. That’s partially due to the fact that there are a lot of hormonal changes that take place.

There’s also the belief that there are a lot of complications from bariatric surgery. Complications actually only occur in a minority of patients. The average bariatric surgery patient does very well, and in fact, is back on their feet the same day, starting to drink sips of water, and they go home in about two days. If someone is 100 pounds overweight prior to surgery, we expect them to lose 60-70 pounds within the first year post-surgery.