Losing excess weight makes a big difference in reducing co-morbidities. In many cases, existing diseases will improve or the risk of developing a disease will be reduced when the obesity is reversed. Diabetes is also a major concern among obese patients, which is why Olsofka says that “we tell our patients that with successful weight loss, long term, the majority will have improvement in their diabetes and a significant portion will get off medication.”
Losing the Weight
The best approach to weight loss is a program that includes healthy eating, exercise, behavioral modification and if necessary, drug therapy. But these programs have not proven successful for everybody. “It’s amazing when patients give us a history of what they have tried,” says Olsofka. “Often they have made extensive and multiple attempts throughout their lives.”
Weight loss surgery is a proven, effective way to help people not only lose the weight, but maintain the weight loss for the long term. Doctors and patients are recognizing the benefits, and the introduction of safer, less invasive procedures explain why the number of weight loss surgeries performed in the United States grew by 450 percent from 1998 to 2002.
Surgical Options
There are different types of weight loss operations, but the two most common are adjustable gastric banding and gastric bypass.
