Being overweight can be a major risk factor for several health issues including heart disease and cancer. If you’ve tried different diets and workouts and none seem to work in helping you lose weight, you may want to consider bariatric surgery.
What is bariatric surgery?
Bariatric or weight loss surgery refers to a number of procedures that aim to do one thing – help you lose weight.
These procedures can do it by reducing the size of your stomach (which could lead to a reduction of the amount of food you can have), affecting how your body absorbs nutrients or a combination of both.
This isn’t just another surgery where you’ll have it and move on. You’ll have to do your part after the surgery to sustain the weight loss. Hence, patients who sign up for bariatric surgery are expected to commit to the lifelong changes associated with it.
Am I qualified?
Bariatric surgery isn’t for everyone. There are qualifications to meet and procedures to follow before you could undergo bariatric surgery.
General qualifications for most types of weight loss procedure include:
- A BMI of > 40 or over 100 lbs overweight
- A BMI of > 35 and have at least one obesity-related condition (e.g. hypertension, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea)
- Unable to achieve a healthy body weight even with medically-supervised dieting
Although some bariatric procedures can be done laparoscopically, the procedure can still exhaust your body’s reserves. Hence, it’s also important not to have so many health issues that may make the surgery a more risky thing to do.
At New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery in Knoxville, we want our patients to be well-informed of both the risks and benefits of bariatric surgery. Our first step in the process is to attend or view one of our FREE info sessions.
*Our New Life In-Person bariatric seminars are temporarily suspended in an effort to protect our patients and staff from the spread of COVID-19. Patients interested in weight loss surgery are urged to watch the online session from the safety and convenience of their homes.
You can register to view the New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery online seminar here.
After you have completed your registration, please call us at (865) 694-9676 to confirm that we have received your registration information. You can also call us at that number if you have any other queries regarding bariatric surgery or our process.
New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery is part of Premier Surgical Bariatrics in Knoxville, Tennessee. New Life is affiliated with the Parkwest Center for Bariatric Surgery, a member of Covenant Health Bariatric Services.