St Louis Bariatric Surgery Anticipated Results – Dr Van Wagner
With a laparoscopic gastric bypass, patients lose a lot of weight and they lose it quickly. At one year after the gastric bypass, we expect patients to lose on an average about 75% of their excess body weight. So, if you are 100 pounds overweight, we would expect you to lose about 75 pounds in the first year. With the Lap-Band, the weight loss is a much more gradual, gentle weight loss and patients typically lose about one or two pounds a week. That may not sound like a lot of weight, but if you even lose one pound a week, that is about 50 pounds in one year and the good news with Lap-Band is patients can lose weight from months and years after surgery. If you look at a large series of Lap-Band patients, on average a Lap-Band patient will lose about 40% of their excess body weight in one year. So, if you are 100 pounds overweight, we would expect you to lose about 40 pounds in the first year. By years three and four, the gastric bypass and Lap-Band surgeries are fairly similar, at about 60 to 65% of excess body weight loss.