The most common approach for losing weight is to eat less, eat more sensibly, and exercise more. However, if you are severely obese, this approach may not be enough. Sticking to a diet and exercise plan is hard and sometimes painful. Many of our Toronto, Ontario gastric balloon patients tell their previous diets were unsuccessful and they quickly gained the weight back. This leads to more diets, or taking special drinks that replace a meal, or using a so-called “wonder pill.” The cycle of losing weight and gaining it back is called the yo-yo effect. While temporary weight loss can help, the yo-yo effect can also make it harder to lose weight in the future.

Published scientific reports document that non-operative methods alone have not been effective in achieving a medically significant long-term weight loss in morbidly obese adults. The average medical weight reduction trial is a 10-12 week study with average weight loss of 2.5 kg.

The use of behavior modification, diet and exercise, show that the initial optimistic results have not been sustained, with a 30% drop out rate and a final average weight loss of only three pounds in those who were followed for the four years of the study. Dietary weight loss attempts often cause depression, anxiety, irritability, weakness and preoccupation with food. The treatment goal for morbid obesity should be an improvement in health achieved by a durable weight loss that reduces life threatening risk factors and improves activities of daily living.