The "You Tried it, Here's Why it Didn't Work Series:" Bariatric Surgery

The Emotional Eating (and Everything Else) Podcast

We're continuing the "You Tried it, Here's Why it Didn't Work" Series on this week's podcast with a discussion of bariatric surgery.

And first off, let me just say that if you've had bariatric surgery and felt it was a success, congratulations! It's a very difficult process, and I'm thrilled that it worked for you.

My guess is though, that you are well-aware that not everyone has had that experience. And that's who this week's episode is geared toward.

This episode is also for you if:

• You've been considering the surgery
• Your doctor has ever brought up surgery to you
• You're a clinician who has clients who have had the surgery

Now, if you've been listening to my podcast for awhile, you probably know that I spent many years working with bariatric surgery patients. And I've seen firsthand how helpful and how harmful the surgery can be. And for many people, it just doesn't work.

It's not easy to find exact numbers in terms of success rates of the various surgeries. And for the most part, "success" is only defined as weight loss. Which is an extremely limited definition of success. Sure, you may have lost a significant amount of weight, but you may have developed an eating disorder, other health issues, or severe nutrition deficiencies. I would not call that successful!

But here are a couple of results that I found that stood out to me:

• Within 10 years, 25% of surgery patients regain all of their lost weight
• Only 40% of patients maintain a 30% weight loss after 12 years

Considering how incredibly grueling the process is, these results are not what most would hope for.

There are multiple factors that can lead to weight regain following the surgery, the first being that the entire process is really f***ing hard!! I don't know how anyone does it! And most importantly, there are numerous factors that influence weight. Just limiting how much food you can eat doesn't address nearly all of those factors. Yes, the surgery can also impact hormones that are involved in your hunger/fullness system, but even that doesn't cover it all.

Add to those two things nutrition deficiencies, head hunger, emotional eating, excess skin, and negative body image, and it's a wonder that it works for anyone at all.

In this week's episode, we're discussing all of the reasons why surgery doesn't work. So if you've undergone it and it wasn't successful, if you're considering doing it, or if you're a therapist with clients who have done it, please take a listen!