How can gastric banding surgery help me lose weight?

Gastric banding surgery can help patients to lose weight when they are following dietary recommendations and exercising daily. They have to avoid unhealthy foods and snacking. Meals consist of healthy well rounded foods and are eaten slowly. Patients will only lose weight if they eat properly and are living an active life style.

The amount of weight you lose with gastric banding depends on your motivation and commitment to a new lifestyle and eating habits. Gastric banding can help you achieve longer lasting weight loss by:

• limiting the amount you can eat
• reducing your appetite 
• slowing digestion.

With gastric banding surgery, you are restricted on how much you can eat at one meal. In fact, most people can only eat one-half to one cup of food per meal before they feel too full or ill. Also, after undergoing gastric banding surgery, you will need to eat very soft food or chew your food many times before swallowing. The surgeon can loosen or tighten the gastric band as needed in the doctor’s office.

Most people who undergo Lap-Band surgery have less dramatic weight loss when compared with gastric bypass surgery. In addition, with Lap-Band surgery, you may be more likely to gain the weight.  Also, because the amount of food you can ingest is limited, a common problem with Lap-Band Surgery is vomiting if you eat too quickly or too much.