It's pretty common knowledge for those who access the Internet, that weight loss surgery is not only ineffective but risky.
But recently, Dr "Now" of "My 600 lb life" admitted on TV that weight loss surgery isn't effective after 5 years, a telling admission for him since he actively, is pursuing clients for his surgery although there is some evidence that he might be doing the safer gastric sleeve, more than the gastric bypass.
Weight loss surgery, all of it, is based on an idea we now know to be false i.e. that the appetite center is in the stomach.
The appetite center is in the brain which is why weight loss surgery isn't effective unless you diet and exercise which of course, causes a weight loss without surgery!
The inventor of the gastric bypass, Edward Mason, found, in the 1960's, his ulcer surgery patients were losing weight and thought he could do similar surgery on overweight folks with the same results. Thus began a long era of surgeons quite literally, going to the bank, doing weight loss surgery procedures. Because there was so little followup, surgeons were neither aware of the high rate of regain nor the alarming number of deaths and/or repercussions.
When one procedure proved ineffective as well as risky, another one came into vogue. Right now, the gastric sleeve, a surgery which calls for the permanent removal of up to 90% of the stomach is the surgery "du jour".
Trouble is, the remaining "thumb sized" stomach which results from a sleeve gastrectomy, probably does not digest B12, fats or proteins really well. And this surgery, although safer than the gastric bypass, is not reversible.
In a society where the medical profession is profit making, abuse is common. Thankfully, the internet can inform people but sadly, many people either don't have access to the Internet or cannot really utilize their access well enough to do research.
Less than 5% of dieters can keep the weight off and that number who can keep off weight, is only 2% higher among weight loss surgery patients...that is less than 7% of weight loss surgery patients can keep off all of their weight for any amount of time.
Bottom line, if you want to take off weight, you might be best to just do the diet and exercise part and skip the surgery. (Diet, unless you do it very carefully, has its own set of risks).