Weight Loss Specialist

Having excess body fat can result in health complications, mobility issues, and even exacerbated mental health issues. Weight loss can treat conditions caused or worsened by excess body fat but may not be easy to accomplish independently. 

Florida Lakes Surgical offers comprehensive medical weight management plans and can provide weight loss surgery for patients who need it to reach their goals. They work with you to design a plan with lasting results, so you won’t gain the weight back quickly or easily after you lose it. 

A healthy weight loss regimen typically requires dietary changes, like watching what you eat and reducing your portion sizes. Exercise and fitness can supplement your weight loss plan and help you burn more calories than you consume. 

In some cases, providers can prescribe appetite suppressants and other medications to help with weight loss or the complications of being overweight or obese. However, it’s important to evaluate their risks before you take them. 

Your provider makes sure your weight-loss treatment plan carries less risk than your weight itself. 

How does weight loss surgery work?

Florida Lakes Surgical offers gastric sleeve surgery, also called sleeve gastrectomy, to qualifying patients who cannot reach their weight loss goals without this significant step. 

During sleeve gastrectomy, your surgeon reduces the size of your stomach by 70-85%. To do so, they remove the greater curvature of your stomach, which is on the left side. The surgery also reduces the production of ghrelin, a hormone that regulates your appetite. 

After the surgery, you’ll feel full after eating much smaller portions of food. 

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is a less invasive version of the surgery that uses small incisions with a laparoscope, a long tube with a lighted camera. It involves smaller scars, less bleeding, a shorter recovery time, and other benefits. 

Am I a good candidate for weight loss surgery?

Florida Lakes Surgical works with you closely to determine whether or not you’re a candidate for weight loss surgery. However, they usually recommend you try non-surgical approaches first.

One way to determine whether or not you’re a candidate for gastric sleeve surgery is to measure your body mass index (BMI). 

The Florida Lakes Surgical team calculates your BMI using your height and weight. While it’s not an accurate scale to measure the amount of fat on your body, it can indicate whether or not you’re overweight or obese. BMI ranges include:

• Less than 18.5: Underweight
• 18.5 - 24.9: Normal range weight
• 25.0 - 29.9: Overweight
• 30.0 or higher: Obese

If you’re interested in bariatric surgery, you should have a BMI of over 40. You might also qualify if your BMI is 35 or over and you have a weight-related medical condition like diabetes or osteoarthritis. 

Weight loss is achievable for anyone above a normal weight range, and surgery can help in some cases. For a comprehensive weight loss plan of your own, call Florida Lakes Surgical or schedule a consultation online today.