If it is an option, weight loss without surgery is ideal for many reasons. To begin, surgical intervention is permanent and often comes with a myriad of health risks even in the best of circumstances. Secondly, weight loss surgeries might limit your options in the future should you need another weight loss procedure. Despite what many think, extreme weight loss without surgery is an option. Once you understand how it works, you can decide on which weight loss procedures without surgery may be best for you.
What are the Weight Loss Options without Surgery?
Weight loss without surgery is more than just diet and exercise; there are many procedures and interventions that are effective at helping people of all weight ranges lose weight without surgery. Endoscopic gastric intervention like a gastric balloon or endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty are all ways to help those who are overweight or morbidly obese with weight loss without surgery.
While pills and programs and even weight loss retreats are options, they have mixed success rates due to the fact that different bodies respond differently to different diets. Further, diet alone is generally not enough for extreme weight loss—it usually takes more than one approach, one that includes gastric intervention.
How Do the Options for Weight Loss without Surgery Work?
Each weight loss method above has the same underlying aim, which is to deceive the stomach into believing that it’s fuller than it is, so you ultimately consume fewer calories and lose weight. Importantly, the effectiveness of these weight loss methods is contingent on exercise and diet. In some cases, getting therapy or counseling to examine your relationship with food is also merited to ensure that the weight stays off.
To better understand, look at each weight loss method more closely.
Gastric Balloon
The gastric balloon is a tried-and-true extreme weight loss intervention that enables those who are overweight and obese to lose a substantial amount of weight while the balloon is inserted and after it is removed. While initial weight loss is a goal of the gastric balloon, sustained weight loss is the ultimate aim and is often achieved because the gastric balloon is used in conjunction with a diet, exercise, and a counseling plan in most settings.
The balloon is inserted endoscopically during an outpatient procedure during which you’re mildly sedated. After the balloon is inserted, it’s inflated; this is what creates the sensation of fullness in your stomach. You are in and out of the clinic within an hour. While the balloon is inserted, you will be inclined to eat less—fewer calories. If the foods you do eat are nutrient-rich and low in dense calories, you’ll experience even more weight loss. Most balloons are removed at the six-month mark; only the Spatz3 Adjustable Gastric Balloon stays in up to 12 months (8 months in the US). Equally unique, the Sptaz3 is adjustable, meaning it can be dialed up or dialed down to help you get the most out of the intervention.
At the end of six, 8, or 12 months, the balloon is removed. Most people lose 10% or more of their starting weight and continue to lose weight after the balloon is removed due to dietary and lifestyle changes established and reinforced during the intervention. Unlike with weight loss surgery, no part of your body is permanently altered.
Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is technically a non-surgical intervention that involves folding part of the stomach and stitching it to create a smaller sack. It’s a reversible intervention. While the endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is a non-surgical weight loss option, there are more health risks including:
- Leaks from the stomach fold
- Stomach blockage if folds are too right
- Damage of the stitches if the stomach expands
Stomach expansion is very possible with this and surgical interventions. In other words, even if you had surgery to remove part of the stomach, the remaining part could expand over time and result in gaining weight. Never believe there is a method of weight loss surgical or non-surgical that guarantees permanent weight loss without the added support of diet or exercise.
Why Weight Loss Without Surgery?
Because neither surgical nor non-surgical methods can guarantee a life of weight loss, it’s important to choose a weight loss method that has high rates of effectiveness that will not negatively impact your lifestyle. Any surgery has the potential for complicated side effects and for lifelong impacts.
For example, the most common bariatric surgeries for weight loss carry side effects of:
- Acid-reflux
- Esophageal dilation
- Infection
- Abdominal or bowel obstruction
- Dumping syndrome (a condition that leads to nausea and dizziness)
- Malnutrition or vitamin or iron deficiency
- Organ injury
- Ulcers
- Hernias
- Intestinal perforation
- Pulmonary or cardiac problems
- Blood clots (gastric sleeve)
- Gallstones (gastric sleeve)
In addition to potential complications associated with weight loss methods without surgery is the fact that the weight can be regained. Your stomach expands, and if you don’t stick to the diet and exercise plan designed for you when you lose weight, you run the risk of re-expanding your stomach and regaining the weight that you lost.
It is thus advisable when attempting extreme weight loss to choose the least invasive method possible. A non-surgical weight loss method such as a gastric balloon will provide results without lasting risks to your overall health and wellness; this is what makes this the best weight loss without surgery option.
When choosing a weight loss method, you want to choose one with proven results, but equally, you want to choose one that will allow you to safely enjoy the rest of your life while enjoying your new, healthier body. We at Spatz Medical understand that, which is why we created the Spatz3 Adjustable Gastric Balloon, a revolutionary non-surgical weight loss method that helps you safely lose a significant amount of weight.
