Weight loss surgery is not the easy way out. Surgery is the last ditch effort after everything else has failed. People don't decide to have gastric bypass surgery as their first attempt to lose weight. Those who choose surgery are people who have been battling their weight for years, sometimes their whole lives.

Gastric bypass surgery is an appropriate alternative for patients who have tried all conservative measures to control their weight and have failed. When people are more than 100 pounds over their ideal body weight, they can suffer psychologically, socially and physically. Their risk for hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, lung disease, arthritis, cancer, gallbladder disease, shortness of breath, chronic back pain, sleep disorders, fluid retention and early death are increased.

The prospect of having an operation to solve a weight problem is a big step, but it often takes a big step to solve a big problem. One of the weight loss treatment options offered today to patients who are severely overweight is gastric bypass surgery.

The concept for the surgical treatment of obesity came about somewhat accidentally. In the course of removing large portions of the stomach or small intestine in patients with cancer or severe ulcers, surgeons noticed an interesting trend. The patients tended to lose weight.

The gastric bypass surgery has been performed with minor variations since 1968. It has been shown to be effective in controlling morbid obesity in the long term.

The goal of weight loss surgery is to help patients lose weight by limiting the stomach's ability to store large amounts of food. Stapling and dividing the stomach accomplishes this. The "new stomach," also called the pouch, is only about 5-10 percent the size of the "old stomach" and holds less food. The pouch is about the size of a golf ball as opposed to a normal stomach, which is about the size of a football. The pouch is designed to be permanent, although it is reversible.

When food enters the pouch, it must have a way to leave. An opening is made from the pouch to the small intestine. This opening is called a stoma and is about the size of a dime. The opening is made small so that food empties slowly and the sensation of being full or satisfied lasts longer. Because the opening leaving the pouch is small, you must cut your food into small pieces and chew it well for food to be able to pass easily.

The three mechanisms by which patients lose weight after the gastric bypass surgery are:

1. The pouch is very small and holds only a tiny portion of food.
2. The size of the opening, called the stoma, allows food to empty only slowly from the pouch.
3. A large number of patients have the inability to tolerate large amounts of refined sugar.

When pills and diets don't work, weight loss surgery is often the last resort for people who are morbidly obese.