So, you’ve tried it all – you’ve been through so many diets, so many gruelling exercise regimes and so many miserable weekends restricting yourself from your favourite foods and feeling unable to let go control and just enjoy yourself. But the fact remains that you aren’t happy with your weight, and perhaps it’s even the case that you’re at a size which isn’t healthy for you and you want to slim down on the advice of a healthcare provider.

Luckily, you haven’t exhausted all your options as there are many different types of weight loss surgery available to you. Surgery is a viable option, but remember that it is only recommended for patients who need to achieve drastic weight loss and have exhausted all other options – it’s an effective option but not an easy one to be taken lightly! 

So what are the different types of weight loss surgery?

Gastric Bypass

Gastric bypass is a more ‘traditional’ version of weight loss surgery which consists of rearranging the stomach into two smaller pouches and connecting the small intestine to both. It’s a highly effective weight loss surgery, but has a lengthy recovery time due to its complexity.

Gastric Balloon

The gastric balloon  is a non surgical weight loss option. The balloon is a small silicon balloon, filled with saline and water, which is inserted into the oesophagus down to the stomach where it occupies the space of about half your stomach. This has the effect of making you feel full sooner, so you reduce your portion size and overall intake of food. It usually results in a 2-3 stone weight loss over the first six months.

Gastric Sleeve

This type of weight loss surgery involves removing about 80% of the stomach and is also known as a sleeve gastrectomy. It’s actually the highest-growth weight loss surgery in the USA, having been approved for cover on health insurance in 2010 and offering a wealth of self pay gastric sleeve options. It allows significant weight loss with very low complication rates. One particular benefit of this surgery to patients is that removing such a significant portion of the stomach actually resulted in lower hunger because it caused less of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, to be produced.

These are just a few of the options if you are looking into achieving significant weight loss – there are many more out there and you should always discuss your options carefully with your healthcare provider.  Good luck out there!