Long Term Success Requires
Permanent Lifestyle Changes

Weight loss surgery is an excellent tool to help patients who would benefit from weight loss. It is not a quick-fix, however. It is essential that surgery be paired with adoption of a healthy lifestyle including regular physical exercise and healthy food choices. A healthy lifestyle also includes smoking cessation. We are happy to assist you in your attempts at smoking cessation.

Follow Up Essential

Following up with your surgeon after weight loss surgery is important to monitor your progress and ensure you heal properly. After all weight loss surgery procedures, your diet will be advanced from liquids to regular food depending on your progress. Follow up after Lap-Band focuses on ensuring appropriate restriction from the band, making sure that you feel full after eating small portions. This may take several appointments to get your band to the right adjustment. Patients who have the best success with their Lap-Band follow up 3-4 times per year. Follow up after the Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass focuses on ensuring you are healed inside before eating coarse food. Yearly follow up is needed to evaluate for nutrient deficiencies after the Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass.

Support Groups

Monthly support group meetings are held at Sanford USD Medical Center with topics focusing on areas such as exercise, nutrition and portion control. Patients find the support group assists them in dealing with challenges that may occur as their life and health change.

Meetings are attended by old and new patients or anyone investigating weight loss surgery options as well as family and friends. Meetings are held monthly at the USD Medical Center, please contact the Bariatrics Coordinator for specific dates and times.

Attendance is highly recommended for individuals interested in weight loss surgery.

For more information, call our Bariatrics Coordinator at (605) 333-2249.

Additional support information, resources and testimonials are available at ObesityHelp.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

According to the National Institutes of Health, the minimum requirements to qualify for weight loss surgery are:

• BMI of 40 of greater.
• BMI of 35 or greater with one or more obesity-related health conditions. Find out what your BMI is »

Yes. A small number of patients can suffer a relapse and regain weight. Surgery is only one part of the process. Patients can regain weight if they take in too many calories. Drinking high-calorie beverages, eating high calorie soups or grazing throughout the day can results in weight gain. Maintaining a healthy diet and exercising frequently will significantly impact whether the health transformation after surgery is a long-term or short-term change.

Recovery times will vary according to the type of weight loss procedure and depending on whether your procedure was done open or laparoscopic. Length of stay is usually 1-3 days and most patients can return to work in 1-2 weeks.

Yes. After surgery, most patients are unable to eat like they did before surgery. Weight loss surgery options help patients feel satisfied sooner and with less food. Patients will not lose a significant amount of weight if they continue to choose foods that are high in calories and fat. A balance, low-calorie diet is required for long-term weight loss and better health.

In the weeks immediately following surgery, many patients will not have much of an appetite. Their stomachs are healing and they may even want to skip meals. As patients heal and are able to tolerate solid foods again, some patients experience many cravings and may think about food quite a bit. These patients experience success by taking the focus off of food and spending more time with hobbies, family and friends and recreational activities. The Sanford Weight Loss program has support resources to help patients who experience difficulty with thoughts of food.

Sanford Weight Loss program recommends you avoid carbonated beverages, sugar, fat, and alcohol as much as possible. These foods and beverages are high in calories and low in nutritional value and may impede weight loss if consumed regularly. Consumption of these foods and beverages is highly discouraged for these reasons.

No. After surgery, patients eat or drink a few ounces at a time for the first three to four weeks. This allows the stomach to heal properly from surgery. Once patients are transitioned to solid foods and are following a typical weight loss surgery diet, they are able to eat more, but not as much as they could before surgery. Most patients are able to eat about 1 cup of food comfortably while maintaining their weight loss.

All weight loss surgery patients must take a daily multivitamin in chewable or liquid form. Protein supplements are not required if the patient can obtains the required daily amount from their diet.

As with any surgery, there are operative and long-term complications and risks associated with weight loss surgical procedures that should be discussed with your doctor. Risks can be unique for each procedure.

Possible risks include, but are not limited to:

• Bleeding
• Complications due to anesthesia and medications
• Blood clots (deep vein thrombosis)
• Infections
• Marginal ulcers
• Pulmonary problems
• Dehydration
• Band Slippage or erosion (for Lap-Band patients)
• Gallstones
• Injury to other organs
• Leakage from staple or suture lines

A procedure that involves transecting and stapling your stomach to create a small pouch, restricting the amount that can be eaten at one time. The small intestine is cut below the duodenum and reattached to the new stomach pouch, leaving a shortened path for food to travel through.

Lap-Band is as a laparoscopic procedure where a silicone band is placed around the upper part of the stomach making a small gastric pouch. This pouch can be adjusted to increase or decease the amount of food. There is no cutting or stapling of the stomach or intestine with this procedure.

The sleeve gastrectomy, newest weight loss surgery procedure, is a laparoscopic procedure that removes approximately 75% of the stomach leaving behind a smaller, tube-shaped stomach or “sleeve.” The new smaller stomach limits the amount of food that is required to feel full and leads to weight loss.

Coverage varies with insurance policies. Our insurance specialist can assist you in determining if your policy will cover the costs. We encourage you to contact your insurance company to ask about those requirements. Our insurance specialists can also assist you with that process.