Over the years I’ve worked with many people who’ve had weight loss surgery; gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, lap band surgery. They came to me for coaching when they were regaining the weight they’d lost right after surgery…and they were scared…realizing their problem with emotional eating was not fixed by surgery…a very difficult place to be!
Many were also disappointed that their expectation of significantly improved health, post surgery, had not panned out.
Now, what I and many of my colleagues have observed, has been studied and published, Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Healthcare Costs of Obese Persons published in JAMA Surgery
Almost 30,000 cases were reviewed and the news is not great. The study found Bariatric surgery did not reduce healthcare costs over the long term when surgery patients were compared with matched obese patients who did not have surgery.
Read some of the study highlights in MedPage Today article, Study Questions Cost Savings of Weight Loss Surgery
This is further proof that Weight Loss Surgery is not the panacea that those who market it would like us to believe. Buyer beware; tough to look at realistically when desperation to lose weight and the promise of “permanent weight loss” (not so) colors everything…
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Ellen Shuman is a Life Coach who specializes in empowering people who are working on emotional and binge eating recovery. She is the founder of A Weigh Out & Acoria Eating Disorder Treatment, Immediate Past President of the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), and Co-Founder of the Academy for Eating Disorders Special Interest Group on “Health at Every Size”, ellen@aweighout.com
