Are You a Candidate?

Weight loss surgery is not for everyone. Our team of doctors and weight loss specialists are committed to helping you decide if weight loss surgery is right for you.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), if you weigh 20 percent or more above your ideal body weight then excess weight becomes a risk to your health. Today 97 million Americans, more than one-third of the adult population, are overweight or obese. An estimated 5 to 10 million of those are considered morbidly obese.

Obesity becomes “morbid” when it reaches the point of significantly increasing the risk of one or more obesity-related health conditions or serious diseases (also known as co-morbidities) that result either in significant physical disability or even death. These co-morbidities could be high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, heartburn, high cholesterol and lipid levels, degenerative joint disease, back pain, etc. Morbid obesity is typically defined as being 100 lbs. or more over ideal body weight or having a Body Mass Index of 40 or higher. Morbid obesity is a serious disease and must be treated as such. Its symptoms build slowly over an extended period of time.

Are you morbidly obese?

There are several medically accepted criteria for defining morbid obesity. You are morbidly obese if you are:

• More than 100 lbs. over your ideal body weight, or
• Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40, or
• Have a BMI of over 35 and are experiencing severe negative health effects, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, related to being severely overweight
• Unable to achieve a healthy body weight for a sustained period of time, even through medically supervised dieting

If you do not meet the BMI or weight criteria, you still may be a candidate surgery if your BMI is at least 35 and you are suffering from serious health problems related to obesity.