Weight Re-gain after Bariatric Surgery

The lowest weight after bariatric surgery occurs one to two years after surgery. It is normal to expect some weight regain.

This may happen due to a number of reasons, including changed patient habits, metabolic adaptation, and adaptive changes in the intestine or stomach. Some patients do gain a significant amount of weight after bariatric surgery, where this is usually defined as >25% of total body weight lost. Many patients feel helpless, and they often blame themselves and feel ashamed. It is important to realise that much of this is a normal physiological process, with multiple influencing factors such as:

Anatomic surgical failure
e.g. gradual enlargement of the stomach/gastric pouch

Mental health issues/Binge eating

Physical inactivity

Grazing eating behaviour. Choice of energy-dense foods

Change in metabolism

Alcohol intake

Even after all these issues have been addressed/ruled out, some patients can still re-gain weight, with a small group of patients who go back to their pre-surgery weight or even above this weight.

It is important to realise that the response to surgery can be variable and it is not always your fault that you have re-gained a significant amount of weight. If you have gained a significant amount of weight after bariatric surgery, we must take the following steps to address weight re-gain:

1.

Ensure your nutrition is not suffering and revisit your diet with an experienced bariatric dietician. You must ensure that you are still taking your essential multivitamins.

2.

Psychological intervention to address the possible underlying low mood, anxiety, an eating disorder, or stress/boredom related eating.

3.

Rule out an anatomical cause for ‘failure to lose weight’ or ‘weight re-gain’.

4.

Consider medications/revision surgery if above fails.

At Medical Weight Solutions, we have experience in dealing with patients who suffer from weight re-gain after bariatric surgery.

Please do not hesitate to contact us early. It is much easier to treat weight re-gain early in its course compared to much later.

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