Lose weight BEFORE surgery? 

Now that's crazy! 

There are several reasons why your surgeon wants you to lose weight prior to surgery.

Safety first

A medical study of 881 patients who had weight-loss surgery found that the more weight patients lost before surgery, the less likely they were to suffer post-op complications, such as infections, blood clots, and kidney problems.

In the study, pre operative weight changes varied among the 881 patients, ranging from modest weight gain to weight loss of more than 10 percent of excess body weight.

The post-surgery complication rate was nearly twofold higher in patients who gained weight before surgery relative to those who lost weight before surgery, Dr. Peter N. Benotti of the Saint Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey and colleagues report in the Archives of Surgery.

"Insider" information

The main purpose of losing weight before weight loss surgery is to reduce body fat in the abdomen region, especially in and around the liver. By reducing the size of the liver, the operating time for laparoscopic surgery is shortened and the procedure is safer. In some instances, a bariatric surgeon may postpone surgery if a patient's liver is too large. Now, a lesson in biology, your stomach is located just underneath your liver, so if your liver is smaller, it's more manageable to move during surgery, making surgery safer and faster.  

Preparing for the after-surgery-lifestyle:

After weight loss surgery your lifestyle will be dramatically different than before surgery. This time before you undergo surgery, will serve to prepare your body for surgery, improve recovery, and increase the rate of weight loss. The time leading up to weight loss surgery is not the time to splurge on your diet and let your health worsen, but it’s the time to start making changes and preparing for the upcoming surgery and your new lifestyle change.  

It's crazy, but the advantage is in your favor, the more you weigh the more it helps you lose.

Help with the impossible

This time, putting forth your best effort will reap great rewards. Hang in there, you can know that "surgical help" is on the way. 

Prior to surgery, your surgeon will offer you help and advise on losing weight, nutritional counseling as well as preparing you (physically and mentally) for your pre-operative surgical needs and experience. Pre-op nutrition is a "must"... not just learning how to eat before surgery, but after surgery as well.  More about pre-op diet go to "pre-op food phase".

Yes, you can, you have many more miles to go!

For more about the pre-surgery diet: see "pre-op food phase". 

For more information on how your liver works, search an earlier blpg post entitled "know your liver".