Life after Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery does not bring immediate results, however it is a large step in your journey towards a lifestyle change. After surgery, the physical change in your body will help you adjust your eating and lifestyle habits. Your support group and team of professionals will help guide you along the way. Following their instructions, you will start seeing positive results in your body, weight, and health, but you must be patient during the process.

In The Recovery Room

Following surgery you can expect to feel some discomfort. This may last for several days, and you may feel worse before you start to feel better. Check with your doctor if these feelings of discomfort last longer than expected.

Risks

All surgeries carry risk, and weight loss surgeries carry the short-term risks of bleeding, infections, blood clots, lung problems (pneumonia, pulmonary embolisms), strokes or heart attacks, anesthetic complications, and blockage or obstruction to the intestines. These risks are greater in patients that have been diagnosed as morbidly obese. Some of these surgical side effects may be life threatening; however, the mortality rate among weight loss procedures is less than 1%. Please consult your physician for a list of complete risks.

Post Surgery Diet

Weight loss surgery requires patients to make permanent changes in their eating habits. Your physician and support team will provide post-surgery dietary guidelines you should follow. These guidelines may be different depending on your surgeon and the type of procedure that was performed, but here are some of the basic post-surgery guidelines that you can expect:

• Do not drink fluids while eating. These fluids may fill you up before you have ingested enough food and may induce vomiting. Drinking fluids while eating may also lead to you feeling hungry sooner after eating.
• Dumping syndrome can occur if you eat too fast at mealtime. Dumping syndrome happens when the small intestine fills too quickly with undigested food from the stomach.
• Early dumping begins during or right after a meal; symptoms include nausea, vomiting, bloating, diarrhea and shortness of breath.
• Late dumping happens one to three hours after eating; symptoms include weakness, sweating and dizziness.
• When eating solid food, chew your food slowly. It is important to wait a few minutes after swallowing before taking your next bite. Tougher foods such as steak or other large chunks of meat will not be digestible if they are not ground properly.
• Do not eat desserts or foods with more than three to five grams of sugar.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Avoid carbonated drinks and high-caloric drinks such as milk shakes, fatty foods and foods with no nutritional value.
• Minimize snacking between your meals.

*This material is for informational purposes only. Before making any decisions regarding your healthcare you should consult a licensed physician.