Researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor analyzed data from 15,275 bariatric patients who had weight loss surgery between 2006 and 2009 in Michigan. The study included data from three common procedures performed by 62 bariatric surgeons at 25 different hospitals across Michigan.

Researchers found that 3.6% of gastric bypass, 2.2% of sleeve gastrectomies and 0.9% of laparoscopic gastric band surgeries resulted in serious complications. The most common complication was infection, which occurred among 4.4% of gastric bypass patients.

People considering weight loss surgery may be interested to know that bariatric surgeons and hospitals with the most procedure volume had the lowest rate of complications. “Risk of serious complications was inversely associated with average annual bariatric procedure volume,” the researchers noted, adding that, “Serious complication rates were about twice as high (4 percent) for low-volume surgeons at low-volume hospitals than for high-volume surgeons at high-volume hospitals (1.9 percent).”

Obese people investigating weight loss surgery and bariatric surgeons are often advised to ask potential surgeons about how many procedures they have performed as well as inquire about their individual complication rates. Other bariatric surgeons who reviewed the research data agreed that frequency and repetition often improve weight loss surgery results.

Exercise Tips For Before or After Weight Loss Surgery

• Focus on low impact exercises. Exercises like running can be painful and potentially dangerous if you’re significantly overweight. Avoid high impact activities that stress your joints and opt for walking, swimming, water aerobics, elliptical machines, or biking.
• Use free weights or resistance bands for strength training. If you’re concerned about using weight machines immediately before or after weight loss surgery, a set of resistance bands can be used in the comfort of your own home to strengthen your muscles.
• Start out slowly. If you haven’t exercised in a long time, it’s important not to over exert yourself. Working too hard could jeopardize your health. Keep an eye on your heart rate and breathing and always stop immediately if you’re in pain.

Before starting a new workout routine before or after weight loss surgery, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor. Discuss your individual risks and a safe target heart rate for your current fitness level.

Chances are, you already know that exercise can help you lose weight more quickly and improve many health conditions. However, many obese people find it difficult to engage in traditional exercise programs because their weight interferes with mobility. How do you get past these hurdles so that you can achieve your goals after weight loss surgery?

3 Tips For Exercise Soon After Weight Loss Surgery

1. Live more actively: You don’t need to be in a gym or in front of a workout DVD to burn calories. Concentrate on adding lots of small movements into your everyday life. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Stand instead of sit at a party. Wash your dishes by hand, and permanently hide your TV remote. These small changes add up when made consistently.
2. Avoid high-impact exercises: Running and jumping may not only be difficult but painful and dangerous. Experiment with exercises that won’t stress your joints, like bike riding or swimming.
3. Focus on endurance: Instead of trying to walk as quickly as you can or find the most strenuous workout, concentrate on building up to 60 minutes of exercise a day. Go for long walks. Swim as many laps as you can, even if you’re swimming slowly. Low- to moderate-intensity aerobic activity is actually best for weight loss, especially if you can increase the time you spend doing it.

Doing a little bit more each day will keep you moving towards your goals after weight loss surgery. Concentrate on being consistent rather than pushing beyond your physical limitations.

Some people who have carried an excessive amount of body weight for a long time find that losing weight results in a lot of sagging skin folds. If you have lost weight and are unhappy with skin that has not retained it’s elasticity, a few plastic surgery options are available.

• Body Lift: This plastic surgery procedure can tighten the the buttocks, abdomen, waist, hips, thighs, and arms with one operation. A single incision is made in the abdomen to remove excess skin and fat. This surgery can provide permanent results if you can maintain a consistent weight.
• Abdominoplasty: More commonly known as a “tummy tuck”, this surgery creates a smoother and firmer looking stomach. During a tummy tuck, skin and excess fat is removed and the abdominal muscles are often tightened.
• Mastopexy: If your weight loss has left you with sagging or deflated looking breasts, a mastopexy, or breast lift, can lift and reshape your breasts. This operation may involve a breast implant to improve the shape, as well as nipple repositioning.

Plastic surgery after weight loss may be a good option if your weight has stabilized and you are physically healthy enough to undergo major surgery. It’s important to discuss with your doctor what type of results to expect so that you have realistic goals for your operations.

In the study, 18.4% of the smokers who had bariatric surgery had complications such as marginal ulcerations, strictures, and gastrogastric fistulae. Only 5.6% of the non-smokers who had bariatric surgery reported any complications. The study is the first to look this thoroughly at the impact of smoking on surgical outcomes, but further information is still needed, since the risk of complication may also be affected by the type of surgery more than whether or not the patient is a smoker.

The researchers encourage bariatric surgeons to offer counseling and access to programs to quit smoking before they will perform a procedure on a patient, perhaps even making it mandatory for a patient to quit smoking first. Because many people associate smoking with appetite suppression, it can be difficult to quit smoking when obese or overweight. Many adults are concerned that if they quit smoking, they will begin to gain weight again. Counseling and support from a bariatric surgeon before performing the procedure could make significant strides towards alleviating those concerns with the benefit of also reducing the risk of complications even further.

Vitamin D is converted to its active form through sunlight. For good Vitamin D conversion, twenty to forty minutes of sun exposure on your hands, arms or face three times per week, is all that is needed.

After bariatric surgery, the absorption of Vitamin D may be impaired and bariatric patients may require a different amount of supplementation. It is important that you take your vitamin supplements as ordered by Dr Stewart. It is equally important that you have your labs checked routinely so that your supplementation can be altered as needed. 

Research:

According to research by Diamond, et al, 50 participants were studied in India after receiving a yearly mega dose injection of Vitamin D (600,000 Units). All participants were shown to have normalized Vitamin D levels that remained over 50nmol/L over 12 months. They concluded that yearly Vitamin D is an effective therapy for deficiency.

In another study by Clay, et al, 30 post bilio-pancreatic diversion (Duodenal Switch) participants were studied in Australia.  They found that a once yearly D3 600,000 Unit injection IM (intramuscular) injection as an adjunct to oral supplementation appeared safe and effective.

According to a study by Heikinheimo, et, al, 479 participants were followed in Finland after mega yearly injection of Vitamin D3 600,000 Units. These participants, aged 75 and greater, showed a decrease in fracture rates without toxic side effects.

Overcoming 3 Obstacles To Daily Exercise

1. Fear of the gym: If you haven’t worked out in a while (or ever), stepping into a building filled with healthy people who know what they’re doing can be intimidating. But keep in mind that many of the people in the gym started off in the same situation you’re in now, and they became more confident and fit over time. More importantly, most of the people in a gym are there to do their workouts and get out, not compare themselves to you. If you need a confidence boost, consider hiring a personal trainer to get you started, joining a gender-specific gym, or going with a friend.
2. Don’t enjoy exercise: While some people seem to genuinely enjoy a strenuous workout, other people just don’t. If you really can’t find any pleasure in hitting the gym, you’re less likely to stick to an exercise routine long-term. Instead, find a type of physical activity you enjoy. Consider taking a kickboxing class, swimming, or joining a sporting league in your community.
3. Lack of time: Most people have full schedules these days, yet many busy people find the time to exercise. In fact, exercising might be even more important if you’re extremely busy, because it can give you extra energy and the mental clarity to get more done. But where can you find the time to exercise? Consider doing shorter exercise routines throughout the day, like a fifteen-minute walk in the morning and fifteen minutes of resistance training at night. You might also get up earlier and work out before you start your day, or swap a sedentary activity, like TV-watching, with an active one.

After weight loss surgery, you will only be able to eat a small amount of food at a time. It’s true that you might be able to lose weight eating small amounts of unhealthy foods because your portions have been drastically reduced. However, you might find yourself feeling tired or run down because of vitamin deficiencies if you’re not eating enough whole foods.

What are whole foods? Whole foods are fruits, vegetables, grains, and animal products that have not been chemically altered or processed. With the exception of dried grains, whole foods often have a much shorter shelf life than other foods because they haven’t been manufactured to last an unnaturally long period of time. These whole foods contain the vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients that your body needs to function at its best. Because you can only eat a small amount of food, it’s crucial that whole foods make up the bulk of your diet.

Many bariatric patients rely on multi-vitamins and nutritional supplements to provide their bodies with vital nutrients. While this may help ensure that you’re getting enough of specific vitamins, obtaining these chemical compounds organically through eating is still believed to be the most effective option.

Move more.

Your body needs activity to stay healthy. In addition to reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, regular movement keeps your muscles, joints, heart, blood vessels, and lungs working properly. Unfortunately, our technological advances over the last several decades have made moving our bodies almost completely unnecessary. We have labor-saving devices that allow us to live our entire lives without moving more than a finger or thumb on a keyboard. With so many reasons not to move, it’s no wonder our bodies are collectively getting larger and less healthy!

Again, we need to move more.

Exercising on a regular basis has become a common way for people to counteract the reduction of movement in everyday life. However, you don’t need to join a gym or buy workout clothes to lose weight and get healthier if you find ways to simply be more active on a regular basis. Instead of focusing on burning calories or “working out,” look for ways to simply move your arms and legs more often. A great way to find excuses to move is to think about the things in your life that are designed to make life more “convenient,” and ask yourself if using them less often will get you moving.

For example:

These are just a few simple things you can do every day to move your body more. Instead of focusing on getting more exercise, work on becoming more aware of new opportunities for you to get moving every day.