Is a Low-Calorie Diet Safer than LAP-BAND® Surgery?

The LAP-BAND® Adjustable Gastric Banding System is a bariatric surgery less invasive than gastric bypass. It is a safer and often cheaper alternative that often is reversible.

The lap band is also adjustable to fit the individuals needs. It requires the recipient to follow a low calorie diet. Patients can lose up to 60% of their excess weight within two years.

The lap band is an adjustable gastric band that goes around the stomach, creating a smaller pouch at the top. This makes the patient feel full when the upper pouch reaches it's food intake limit. It is inserted laprascopically and adjusted with air through a port located under the skin at the top of the abdomen. The adjustments can be done in the doctor's office.

Complications include slippage to a less desirable location as weight is lost, leakage of air from the band, and the stomach outlet can become blocked. Sometimes the lap band erodes inward to the stomach's insides. These complications are rare, but when they happen, they require a second surgery to correct. Other complications include infections and bleeding.

Lap band surgery has a history of successful outcomes. Typically patients eat a 500-1000 calorie per day diet depending on the band adjustment. Patients feel full sooner and have no feelings of starvation. A patient must have a BMI of 40+ or a BMI of 35 and serious medical conditions in order to qualify for this surgery. Most insurance companies require a documented 6 month or more history of failed weight loss attempts.

Many people try alow calorie diet instead of any type of weight loss surgery, but the results are not usually very positive. A low-calorie diet consists of eating proteins, fruits and vegetables in small portions. Liquid intake should be water or unsweetened drinks such as tea. All food needs to be accounted for in the calorie chart. This diet will cause hunger pains, and may contribute to food cravings and even clinical depression (which is also a complication that may follow gastric bypass surgery).

Low calorie diets should always be supplemented with vitamins to ensure proper nutritional intake. The biggest complication of a low calorie diet is the dreaded will power. It takes a strong will to be able to ignore the urge to eat. Most people cannot sustain long term low calorie diets due to cheating and accidental overeating of calories, and the food cravings may persist even after the diet is over, which can cause increased weight gain.

Studies show that people who did stick to the low calorie diet had comparable outcomes to the lap band group. However, the success rate for any low-calorie diet is less than 5%, so the odds are very much against you if you decide to take this route. For the reasons why low-calorie diets fail so many people, click here. (Other types of diets may be very safe and effective alternatives to gastric bypass surgery).

The gastric lap band is a safer alternative than the gastric bypass, but still comes with it's share of complications. A low calorie diet may not be the most effection alternative option because the success rate is so low. If you have the will power and stamina to maintain a low calorie diet, you can save yourself a lot of money and the pain of surgical recovery, but a better alternative is to follow a diet that has been proven to work better than reduced calorie diets.

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More Articles About Alternatives to Gastric Bypass Surgery:

• Insurance Company Looks for Gastric Bypass Alternatives
• Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD)