Medically Supervised Weight Loss for Bariatric Surgery
Medically supervised weight loss programs offer education and resources to those who are seeking treatment for weight loss. Before bariatric surgery, the patient is closely followed by licensed healthcare professionals including their healthcare provider, bariatric surgeon, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, dietitian, and physical therapists. Each patient will have their own individual needs. This means that one person may consult with one professional while another will consult with the healthcare team as a whole. Your bariatric clinic may require you to consult each of them while others don’t. Your insurance payor will have a set of requirements as well, reason why is important to meet all consults required by your clinic and your insurance. One way or another, the overall goal is get you ready for surgery and have long term sustained weight loss.
Why does health insurance require diet consults before weight loss surgery?
A person’s weight is a crucial factor in determining their health insurance eligibility. With the increasing obesity rates, it has become necessary for health insurers to assess the risk of a person’s weight before they offer a plan.
Health insurance requires diet consults before weight loss surgery because it is important for them to know whether the patient is healthy enough to go through with the surgery. Weight loss surgery requires diet consults before weight loss surgery because it is important for them to know whether the patient is healthy enough to go through with the surgery. .As a result, many patients are required to lose weight before surgery in order for their insurance companies to cover the costs. Many patients are required to lose weight before surgery in order for their insurance companies to cover the costs. The health benefits of weight loss surgery vary depending on individual factors such as metabolic syndrome and diabetes complications .
How to Optimize Your Nutrition Plan for a Successful Bariatric Surgery Weight Loss Journey
Weight loss surgery is a medical procedure that helps people who are obese or overweight to lose weight. It involves the surgical removal of part of the stomach or intestines and has been shown to be effective for many people.
A bariatric nutrition plan is designed by your dietitian. Before you undergo surgery, it is important to understand what you can eat before the surgery, what you can eat after the surgery and how to maintain a healthy weight after bariatric surgery and recover faster from surgery.
The approach to medically supervised weight loss can vary depending on the needs of the patient, with diet and exercise increasing in popularity. Since you are contemplating bariatric surgery, the medically supervised weight loss approach is streamlined to prepare you to qualify for surgery and to be successful long term after the procedure.
Techniques used for medically supervised weight loss:
Behavior Modifications
One weight loss option is diet and exercise behavior modification. There are tools available that help people manage what you eat, when you eat, the types of foods you eat, and cope when being deprived of certain foods, coping mechanisms with emotional eating and/or stress eating. New exercise routines can be given that is custom tailored to your body and fitness level, and physical limitations.
Diet and Nutrition
When considering weight loss surgery, it is imperative and mandatory to consult with a dietitian before surgery.This will help you get all nutrition questions answered and make sure you are following the recommended diet plan before weight loss surgery. Insurance companies most likely require a pre-surgical consultation with a dietitian as well before approving your bariatric surgery, so it is important to be aware of this requirement when applying for insurance benefits.
A medically supervised weight loss program based on meal replacement plans such as protein shakes or pre-packed meals provides patients with a restrictive calorie approach that will help with weight loss or prevent weight gain in the pre-operative process. It works through phases and also includes education and support on transitioning back to self-prepared meals. There are eating behavior modifications you will need to learn and the bariatric dietitian will help you understand concepts and help you adapt to ease the transition once you have surgery and prevent nutrition risks associated with weight loss surgery.
Pharmacotherapy
Pharmacotherapy is available for patients who have been unsuccessful with diet and exercise alone, patients with medical conditions or other pharmaceuticals prescribed that prevents them from losing weight. A prescription medication can help patients when combined with behavior modifications and diet plan. There currently several products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including phentermine products (Adipex-P® or Suprenza®) for short-term use, and orlistat (Xenical® or alli®), lorcaserin HCI (Belviq®), naltrexone HCI AND bupropion HCI (CONTRAVE®), phentermine- topiramate ER (Qsymia®), and liraglutide injection (Saxenda®) for chronic use.
In conclusion, medical weight loss programs are recommended by healthcare professionals because they provide a supportive environment for patients to lose weight and get healthy. These programs also help with the high cost of prescription drugs, provide a healthier lifestyle, and have better outcomes after weight loss surgery. Weight loss surgery is still a tool and is important that the patient engages in an effective medically supervised weight loss program that fits your individual needs.