Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss Timeline – What to Expect

The main goal of going through the Gastric Sleeve Surgery is health and long-term maintenance of weight. However, that is not the only reason to undergo the procedure. The other major benefit of the gastric sleeve surgery is that accelerated the whole journey to a healthier weight. With gastric sleeve you don’t need to spend a year and years trying to reach your goal weight with unsuccessful attempts of dieting and exercising.

If you’re seriously considering gastric sleeve surgery, you’re likely wondering what kind of weight loss progression you can expect following the procedure. Weight loss surgery is significantly more affordable in Mexico than it is in the US, but it’s still not cheap. Keep reading to find out how much weight you may lose, and how fast you may lose it.

Here we are going to show you the expected progression of the process after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery.

During this phase of your weight loss journey, you will gradually transition from consuming only liquids to eating solid food again. As a result, you could lose between 30 and 40 pounds in the first 3 months following surgery.

At this stage, you will have likely lost between 30 and 40 percent of all your excess body weight. In addition, you should be averaging a weekly weight loss of one to two pounds.

Some people reach their weight loss goal within a year or are close to reaching it, but not everyone will. And it’s impossible to determine exactly how much weight you will lose within the first year. At this point, your weight loss will greatly depend on your starting weight and whether or not you experience any setbacks caused by overeating or health-related complications.

The 18-month mark is the point that you’ll start to max out your weight loss. It’s also important to note that when you undergo other weight loss procedures, such as gastric bypass, you’ll lose the majority of your excess weight in only 12 months.

However, losing an excessive amount of weight that quickly is not always better; it’s less natural and can result in more visible stretch marks and flabby skin.

Although the amount of weight loss after bariatric surgery varies greatly from person to person, there is a way to estimate how much weight you could lose. It’s a simple, two-step process:

1. First, determine how much excess weight you want to lose by subtracting your goal weight from your current weight. If – for example – you currently weigh 300 lbs and your goal weight is 150 lbs, subtract 150 from 300, which gives you an excess weight of 150 lbs.
2. Next, multiply your goal weight loss by 60 percent – the expected percentage of excess weight people lose, according to The Obesity Action Coalition – using this equation: 150 × 0.6. That gives you 90, and if you lose 90 pounds following surgery, you would then weigh 210 lbs, down from 300.

There are a number of reasons why some people lose more weight or lose weight faster than others following gastric sleeve surgery, but there are two primary factors:

1. Quality of the surgery: if a surgeon fails to remove enough of a patient’s stomach during surgery, it may not have enough of an impact on the patient’s appetite. That will decrease the amount of weight the patient can expect to lose following surgery. More experienced surgeons are less likely to make those kinds of mistakes.
2. Pre-existing conditions: these should be addressed prior to surgery to ensure they don’t impact the effectiveness of the procedure.

Based on a U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) study, more than 50% of individuals who had gastric sleeve surgery experienced greater long-term weight loss and fewer complications up to three years following their procedure compared with other forms of weight loss surgery.

In order to maximize the effects of your procedure, you must strictly follow a post-op nutritional plan. A healthy diet, combined with exercise and possibly even post-op counseling will facilitate a speedy recovery and help you maintain long-term success.