Weight Loss Surgery & Nutritional Options

There are many differences between the two but the main one is that surgical weight loss falls into a category we call Bariatrics.

Bariatric surgery is recommended to patients that are dangerously obese suffer from comorbidities or diseases brought on by another condition. Many people who are obese deal with type 2 diabetes which is often brought on by obesity. Other conditions that stem from obesity include sleep apnea which can not only ruin your health but some employers won’t even hire a potential employee with sleep apnea. Aside from all of these painful diseases many women dreaming of starting a family cannot give birth safely because of the effects obesity has on the labor process and the expecting mother.

Bariatric Surgery is the surgical procedure that reduces the stomach size allowing the patient to feel full reaching healthy levels of food intake. It is also the only known procedure to completely cure type 2 diabetes, cure sleep apnea, and allow women who might not have been able to give birth the chance to.

Many of our patients have tried multiple diets, gone through personal trainers, and purchased multiple bestselling books only to come out short of their goals by no lack of effort on their part.

Medical Weight loss requires that a patient be on a low calorie diet and meet up with their doctor regularly to assess their progress and look at various ways of improvement. Bariatric patients are the same in that there is a lifetime commitment to healthy living and regular physical activity once they undergo the procedure.

The deciding factor between the two is going to depend on the patient’s history, and current health. I’m about finding the shoe that best fits the patient and allows them to overcome what might’ve been a lifetime of obstacles. I often hear patients thank me for giving their life back and my life is giving theirs back.

-Nilesh A Patel, MD, FACS

Weight Loss Surgery

The primary focus of Texas Bariatric Specialists is in fact, Weight Loss Surgery. We are a practice dedicated to surgical weight loss based upon the fact that our founder Dr. Nilesh A. Patel feels that weight loss surgery is perhaps one of the most life altering surgeries that a surgeon could possibly ever perform. Weight loss surgery achieves two things at the same time; it gives back a patient quality-of-life and at the same time quantity of life.

Cancer surgeons try to provide quantity of life and only succeed up to 50% of the time depending on the type of cancer. In cancer surgery, there may not be any type of dramatic improvement in quality of life if one considers mastectomies and colostomy bags. Plastic surgeons try to improve quality of life with various implants, nips and tucks but don’t necessarily impact quantity of life in anyway whatsoever.

Weight loss surgery provides both of these life changing benefits. It helps you to appreciate the small things in life like crossing your legs, painting your toenails, tying your shoes and fitting in with the busy lifestyles of your kids and/or families. It also lets you celebrate big things like getting married in your moms wedding dress, walking on the beach with your grandchildren or children, not being a diabetic anymore, driving in a Corvette for the first time, going on a roller coaster ride for the first time and not being judged by anyone merely based on looks or weight. Being judged inappropriately is unfortunately in almost every aspect of your life; whether it is at your work, by your significant other, your children, and sometimes by you personally.

At the same time, weight loss surgery provides a definitive improvement in the quality of life and life expectancy of an individual who suffers from obesity. Surgery also provides a dramatic improvement in diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

With all this being said, weight loss surgery is not for everybody and one has to commit to it with their whole mind, body and soul. Texas Bariatric Specialists remains one of your best sources for help in South Texas. Our lifelong follow-up program, surgical expertise featuring Fellowship trained surgeons and our dedicated practice to weight loss surgery sets us apart from all other groups in Texas. Our commitment to local support is exemplified by multiple outreach clinics in San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, Killeen, Del Rio, Laredo, Boerne, New Braunfels, Seguin, and Temple. If surgery is not your best option at the moment, consider our Medical Weight Loss Program.

How Do I Start on the Road to Wellness Today?

Trusted, professional help with your Weight Loss Surgery options are just one click or phone call away.

We offer a variety of easy ways to help you regain your health and improve your quality of life:

Nutritional Weight Loss

Texas Bariatric Specialists also provides a medical weight-loss program. The program was developed for two purposes.

• We acknowledge that surgical weight-loss is not necessarily the best option for all patients. This may be based upon your overall weight-loss goals, based upon the risks of weight loss surgery or maybe based upon the fact that you’re just not “ready” yet and as a result medical weight-loss is it is still a very good option for many patients.
• Many surgical weight loss patients will either plateau too early or succumb to weight regain.

Our program is a comprehensive program with a full time nutritionist. We are strongly committed in minimizing the amount of medications given for weight-loss and try to instill a new lifestyle. These behavioral changes will be better suited for long-term weight loss. We will perform a nutritional evaluation and then come up with a customized weight-loss program which is based upon your strengths and weaknesses. You’ll be able to interact with our office via an online portal. This portal will assist us to provide for you a customized meal plan. In addition, you will be offered metabolic testing to completely evaluate your basal metabolic needs. This testing is available at all of our offices and with our partner company JK fitness.

Back on Track Program

Our Back on Track Program is a program that is especially designed for patients with our practice and from other practices whose weight loss has plateaued too early or you suffer with weight regain after having a weight-loss surgery. Neither one of these two situations is hopeless, however, prompt recognition and immediate intervention via our office is required in order for us to make the biggest difference.

Our Back on Track Program includes a nutritional evaluation, micronutrient assessment, possible metabolic testing and possible customized meal plans in order to be able to come up with a customized plan of care. Often weight regain and premature plateau of weight-loss occur due to just not doing the basic things anymore in terms of meal sizes and supplements. Sometimes inadequate lap band fills or mechanical issues that need to be addressed by a surgeon can lead to these issues as well. The Back on Track Program is supervised by Dr. Patel himself to assure the most aggressive care plan as possible. To get started please fill out our Contact Us Form.