Gastric Bypass: Is it REALLY the easy way out?*

Why work hard if you can win the lottery? Why eat right and exercise when you can get gastric bypass? While some peoples? circumstances are worse than others, there are many who use gastric bypass, or the less intrusive version, Lap Band surgery, to lose a drastic amount of weight.

The mere thought of dieting an exercising to lose an extreme amount of weight is exhausting in itself. However, the quick fix comes with its share of risks: ?Gastric bypass surgery has the potential for numerous side effects, including blood clots, dumping syndrome, gastric leaking and even death. Dumping syndrome causes food to move too quickly through the digestive track. Gastric leaking is the leaking of gastric fluid at the incision site,? according to Livestrong.com.

In gastric bypass surgery, the stomach is reduced to the size of a walnut. As a result, one can only hold about an ounce of food at a time. For Lap Band surgery, which is actually reversible,

In addition, The American Heart Association (via Dr. Oz’s website) states that ?bariatric surgery should be reserved for patients who have severe obesity? and only when medical therapy has failed and surgery is a safe option.

As a final note given by Livestrong.com, “dieting without gastric bypass should truly be exhausted before attempting a risky surgery. People looking for a quick fix will soon be shocked to discover that gastric bypass surgery requires lifelong dieting. In choosing a diet, avoid quick-fix diets that involve extreme fasting, eating only one food or exclusion of entire food groups. Diets like those almost always fail in the long run. Instead, the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests that choosing a diet that can be followed long term and permanently changes your eating habits will result in greater weight loss. Any amount of weight lost by fasting can easily be regained with the return of old eating habits.”

All in all, surgery can be a great temporary fix, but if you are not prepared to change your lifestyle, nothing will change. Old habits will return and your body will adapt to the way it used to be.

* Disclaimer: Individual results are not guaranteed and may vary. Exercise and proper diet are necessary to achieve and maintain weight loss and muscle definition.