Important Facts About Obesity and Weight Loss Surgery


The benefits of weight loss are measured in more ways than just waist size. A healthy weight also improves overall health and quality of life. If you’re overweight, you increase your risk for many health conditions. Getting down to a healthy weight can stave off those dangerous health conditions and put you back where you belong.  It’s never too late to make a healthy change — just think how you could be living. If being overweight ever becomes a part of your life that you can’t seem to conquer, we can help you make a change. Patients who choose bariatric surgery to help them lose weight can achieve long-lasting weight loss. Here you’ll find important facts about obesity and bariatric surgery.

Facts about obesity

  • Approximately 15 million Americans have life-threatening obesity
  • Life-threatening obesity is defined as 100 pounds above ideal body weight or a BMI (body mass index) greater than 40
  • America is the heaviest nation in the world
  • 25 percent of U.S. children are overweight
  • Patients with life-threatening obesity die an average of 12-15 years earlier than people of normal weight

Patients with life-threatening obesity suffer from multiple medical conditions that affect nearly every organ system in their body, including:

  • Type II diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • Elevated cholesterol
  • Arthritis
  • Depression
  • Cardiac disease

Facts about weight loss surgery

  • Bariatric surgery is the cure for life-threatening obesity
  • Patients choose bariatric surgery to live longer, healthier lives
  • Bariatric surgery is a tool to help patients lose weight
  • Bariatric patients succeed when they are a part of a comprehensive program that provides lifelong follow-up, dietician support, support groups, and exercise specialist services
  • Bariatric surgery requires a major, lifelong commitment to changing diet and behavior
  • The risks of bariatric surgery are far less than the risk of living with life-threatening obesity
  • Diet and exercise alone have shown long-term effectiveness in only 5 percent of patients
  • Bariatric surgery provides long-lasting weight loss
  • Successful weight loss from bariatric surgery can eliminate other medical conditions in patients
  • This successful weight loss translates into lower healthcare costs, more productive workers, and patients who "have been reborn"

Get started today 

To learn more about our bariatric program, please call our program coordinator, Brenna Calabrese, MSN, at (805) 940-2765. To find a Dignity Health weight loss specialist that’s right for you, please use our online search tool:

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