The weight loss comes from you. When you consume fewer energy calories (less energy) than your body requires each day, your body is forced to use up the extra weight to provide the energy it needs to function.
Many people wonder, "Why then do you need to have surgery, if the weight loss is achieved only because you are eating less?" It sounds like just another diet.
The answer to this question is exactly the same as the answer to the question. "Why don't diets work?" it is nearly impossible to limit the amount of food you consume when it is working against your body's natural "set points," which tell you physiologically and subconsciously that you need to be eating more.
The Lap-Band and Sleeve Gastrectomy are simply tools to make you more comfortable eating a shockingly small amount of food each and every day. These are restrictive procedures.
How digestion works....
Starting with the mouth, the food is broken up and moistened. When you swallow, food is pushed from your mouth into your esophagus, or food pipe. The esophagus is a muscular transportation tube that pushes the food to your stomach. Your stomach is a strong muscle and serves as a storage organ for the meal you have eaten. In the stomach, food is both physically and chemically broken up. The broke-up food then leaves the stomach and arrives in the small intestine, where bits and pieces are absorbed.
In comparison, for gastric bypass, food from the stomach is re-routed around some of the small intestine where digestion occurs. This is called a malabsorptive procedure for that reason. Some of the food that you eat (and its calories) will not be absorbed and will be passed out of your body.
It is essential to understand that the restriction's primary effect is controlling hunger, not preventing food from passing through your stomach.
Eating should be approached as, "How little can I eat and stay comfortable?" Not, "How much can I cram in there if I chew well?"
Lap-Band Companion Handbook
Mark J. Watson, MD
Daniel B. Jones, MD
