Bariatric surgery benefits beyond weight loss

Bariatric surgery is a powerful tool that helps in treating obesity and obesity-related diseases, but it's just one piece of your health journey.

Factors leading to obesity

Obesity is complex disease. Defined as excessive fat accumulation, obesity can put you at risk of other health concerns. Many factors can lead to obesity, including causes outside of your control.

Factors leading to obesity outside of or very difficult to control:

• Hormones
• Genetics
• Financial barriers
• Food accessibility
• Stressful work environment
• Physical inactivity at work

Factors leading to obesity that you can control:

• Diet
• Physical activity at home (exercise)

What is bariatric surgery?

Bariatric surgery is one way to help treat obesity and obesity-related conditions. It is not, however, a quick fix to lose weight fast.

Surgery can be an effective tool, but its benefits aren't permanent. Over time, those effects may diminish, and it becomes essential for individuals to take responsibility for maintaining the progress they've made. Long-term success depends on personal growth, lifestyle changes, and ongoing commitment after the procedure.

Because bariatric surgery is about gaining health, you work with a multidisciplinary team to help create personalized lifestyle changes. Your care team can include:

• Bariatric surgeon
• Behavioral health expert
• Cardiologist
• Diabetes expert
• Dietitian
• Physical therapist
• Plastic surgeon
• Primary care provider
• Sleep medicine expert

Do you qualify for bariatric surgery?

How bariatric surgery works

The most common primary bariatric procedure of choice in the U.S. is the sleeve gastrectomy. This is a procedure where 70-80% of the stomach is removed. While this surgery makes the stomach smaller, that’s not the only way the procedure leads to weight loss.

So how does bariatric surgery work? The real surprise here is hormones!

Hormones play a significant role in regulating appetite and eating patterns. The gastric sleeve procedure temporarily disrupts these hormonal signals, giving the body a better chance to respond positively to healthier food choices and new eating habits.

Benefits of bariatric surgery

Bariatric surgery is so much more than weight loss. Many obesity-related health conditions can be significantly improved including:

• Acid reflux
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• Joint pain
• Pulmonary disease
• Sleep apnea

Bariatric surgery patient stories

Bariatric surgery success starts with food

Exercise is encouraged and supported, but diet is the key to losing weight and keeping it off after surgery.

“Our focus really is on the diet because that makes a much greater impact on weight overall than exercise,” says Jenna Niccolls, PA-C, at MercyOne Cedar Falls Weight Loss Center & Bariatric Surgery.

While not for everyone, a well-known diet that works for many is a low-carb diet. Variations of low-carb diets allow patients to lose weight as well as decrease medications for high blood pressure or diabetes. There are many names for low-carb diets such as ketogenic, Atkins and paleo, but the most important thing about these diets is mindful eating and know what a carb is, what a sugar is and how it impacts your health.

Within those first years after surgery, building a healthy lifestyle is what will help see continued benefits.

Eventually, hormonal activity returns, often with intensity. By that point, the hope is that healthy eating and regular physical activity have become part of a sustainable routine. No matter how small the stomach is made during surgery, lasting weight loss depends on maintaining those habits—because without learning how to eat well, the procedure alone won’t lead to long-term success.