How Much Weight Can You Lose from a Gastric Sleeve?

Obesity has a long history of being a problem around the world and it continues to be an even bigger problem here in the U.S. today. Many overweight people often look to the medical field for solutions when exercise and dieting alone no longer work. “Well, why can’t we all just lose weight by dieting and exercising alone?” you may ask.

Lose Weight from a Gastric Sleeve

How much weight can you lose from a gastric sleeve

The answer is in science which tells us that as a person gains weight, the hunger hormones in their body grow out of their control after gaining too much weight. This leads to uncontrolled hunger and ultimately unhealthy eating habits or cravings.

With uncontrolled hunger leading to obesity, a person only has a few options that could really help them recover from obesity. That answer is bariatric surgery, especially with the ever-so-popular gastric sleeve surgery. “Well, just how much weight can gastric sleeve surgery help me lose?” you may ask. Let’s dive into what research tells us about the weight loss results others have achieved.

Gastric Sleeve Surgery

Gastric sleeve surgery is a safe surgery that shrinks a patient’s stomach to a tiny size, so it can no longer hold as much food. This newly shrunken stomach has an impact on the body’s hunger hormones by reducing hunger, which makes a person less likely to have cravings or want to eat as much after surgery.

People have this surgery done because it has been shown to aid in long-term weight loss even when every other tried-and-true option before has not worked for them.

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Gastric Sleeve is the Top Choice for Weight Loss

Gastric Sleeve is the top choice for weight loss since it offers some of the best results among the different types of bariatric surgery. It has even been shown to successfully help the most extremely obese people who did not themselves believe anything could ever work for them!

From the benefits of curbing your appetite to fixing many of your pre-existing medical conditions (like heart problems, cholesterol levels, diabetes, and more), to improving your body appearance, wellness, gastric sleeve is an attractive weight-loss surgery.

Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss

Gastric sleeve weight loss has been proven safe and with good results! People are often pleased with their body image after surgery due to the great amount of weight loss they experience. To better understand just exactly how much weight loss you can expect to experience with gastric sleeve surgery, let’s look at the gastric sleeve weight loss chart

Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss Chart

Gastric sleeve weight loss chart helps simplify the expected results at different stages and per percentage weight loss patients can expect to experience after having gastric sleeve surgery. After gastric sleeve surgery, patients can expect an average weight loss per week of about two to three pounds. This adds up to an expected average weight loss of about 10 to 12 pounds per month!

Time (months) Average weight loss (%)
3 25-35%
6 45-55%
12 65-70%
18 70-75%

Gastric Sleeve Research

Gastric sleeve research helps us better understand weight loss results experienced by real patients. Let’s take a look at some real numbers (in pounds) patients have achieved after having done gastric sleeve surgery.

In a study published in 2016 in Surgery For Obesity And Related Diseases, 162 patients were studied after having done various types of weight loss surgery, including gastric sleeve surgery. After one year of having gastric sleeve surgery:

  • Patients lost on average between 22.1-24.4 kg (or 48.6-53.7 pounds).
  • Patients also reduced their body mass index on average from about 7.3-7.9 points.
  • Patients had an excess weight loss of between 26.7-27.6 %.
  • Weight loss achieved by patients after one year of having gastric sleeve surgery was between 20.2-21.5%.

As you can see, research shows patients (on average) can experience a weight loss of about 50 pounds after just one year of gastric sleeve surgery!

Factors Limiting Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss

Factors limiting gastric sleeve weight loss are often issues patients themselves can control or change. One of the most common reasons why some people do not achieve the expected or near the expected amount of weight loss is because they chose to not follow the nutritional instructions and the specific diet plan patients must follow after surgery to ensure their safety and quality recovery.

It may be helpful to remember all patients are unique. Patients each come with their pre-existing medical conditions, many of which are caused by obesity, such as diabetes, lung disorders, or even heart problems. Sometimes a patient’s pre-existing conditions can make weight loss a little harder to achieve.

  • A doctor and/or nutritionist helps educate patients on a personal level more on the required diet plan before and after gastric sleeve surgery to ensure success to meet their weight loss needs.
  • Patients are required to slowly re-introduce foods at different steps over time after surgery.
  • A patient’s commitment to a new healthier lifestyle is an important part of maintaining weight loss after gastric sleeve surgery.
  • Exercise helps keep a person’s weight down after surgery by ensuring good blood flow and helps with arthritis as well since it allows fluids to move freely throughout the body joints nourishing them.

Final Thoughts

Final thoughts on gastric sleeve weight loss are that weight loss is possible after surgery, but not guaranteed pound-by-pound on how much you as an individual will lose. That part is up to you! There are expected numbers we can refer to in pounds and percentages to gain a better understanding of weight loss success after gastric sleeve surgery. However, a patient has to be able to commit to weight loss as a lifestyle change after surgery to keep their weight down over the course of their lifetime.

Without following the correct nutritional instructions after surgery, it is possible a patient may not see the same expected weight loss results as other patients in research studies have seen. Weight loss starts with a decision for change. Then when deciding if gastric sleeve surgery is right for you, weight loss can come fast. But it is important to make diet and exercise changes after gastric sleeve surgery to help keep the weight off for good.