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Surgery Isn't Really Better for Weight loss

by Liz Neporent (Subscribe to Liz Neporent's posts)
Mar 6th 2009 1:00PM

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Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and author of 12 fitness bestsellers. She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider.

Staring down a number on the scale you feel is more aligned with a small pony than your dream dress size can be devastating, especially if you feel you've tried everything under the sun to lose weight. Perhaps that's why bariatric surgery -- a group of procedures that restricts stomach size or intestinal length in order to reduce the amount of food the patient is able to eat -- is more popular than ever.

Now, I am not hating on bariatric surgery. Obviously it has helped many people. But I do hope that those thinking about going under the knife understand that it is not a free pass to continue eating garbage and building up their TV remote muscles. As any reputable surgeon will tell you, making a post-op commitment to a healthier lifestyle is the key to maintaining weight loss over the long haul. The best surgery programs screen out candidates deemed unlikely or unwilling to make the requisite lifestyle changes. Surgeons are smart; they know that a successful patient is their best advertisement.

Nor must surgery be the last resort of those truly desperate to un-super size. A growing number of studies prove that diet and exercise alone can be every bit as effective as surgery -- and further, people who choose to lose the old fashioned way tend to be healthier and suffer from fewer side effects.

Take for instance, the conclusions of last year's study done at the Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine in Rhode Island, which followed people who had lost an average of 124 pounds and kept it off for at least five years. Both groups ate about the same number of calories and gained back an average of about four pounds per year. However, the surgery group tended to indulge in more high fat foods (37 percent of their diet compared to 27 percent for the health-conscious group) and skipped many more workouts than the group that lost their weight by effort alone (only a third of surgery patients exercised compared to 60 percent of the other group). Surgery patients also reported feeling more depressed and stressed; 20 percent reported serious complications after their procedures.

The take home message? If you want to lose weight, don't give up on the idea that diet and exercise alone can get you there. That said, I won't lie to you. Going this route will take you longer and you will have to work your butt off (studies prove this) but there are fewer side effects and many, many benefits. If you are considering surgery, get real about the changes you'll need to make in order to keep the weight off. However you decide to shrink yourself, you'll be rewarded with a lowered risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, some types of cancer and many other obesity-related conditions.

I'd like to hear from anyone who has lost a bunch of weight and kept it off for at least two years. What tips do you have to share with the rest of us? Whether you've undergone surgery or dedicated your life to tofu and the treadmill, what are your lessons learned?

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