Who Qualifies for Bariatric Surgery?

Cut­ting carbs, hit­ting the gym, using weight loss medications…it seems like you’ve tried any­thing and every­thing under the sun to lose weight. Yet no mat­ter how hard you try, the weight just won’t come off.

For many peo­ple, lifestyle changes are enough to get to a healthy weight. But for peo­ple who are obese, there’s a treat­ment that might be even more effec­tive: surgery. 

At a Glance: Bariatric Surgery 

• Qual­i­fy­ing fac­tors: Surgery is usu­al­ly rec­om­mend­ed for a BMI ≥ 35 kg/​m², or ≥ 30 kg/​m² with meta­bol­ic dis­ease such as type 2 dia­betes or hyper­ten­sion. For Asian pop­u­la­tions, it may be con­sid­ered at BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/​m² with comorbidities.
• Health impact: Bariatric surgery can dra­mat­i­cal­ly improve or resolve con­di­tions like dia­betes, high blood pres­sure, and heart dis­ease — often elim­i­nat­ing the need for medication.
• Long-term suc­cess: Patients receive life­long sup­port from a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary team to main­tain weight loss and over­all health.

Bariatric surgery (also called weight loss or meta­bol­ic surgery) changes how your diges­tive sys­tem works to help you lose weight. It can help you low­er your risk of dia­betes, poten­tial­ly life-threat­en­ing prob­lems (like heart attack or stroke), cer­tain can­cers, and high blood pres­sure. It can also help you man­age exist­ing type 2 diabetes. 

Despite its many ben­e­fits, bariatric surgery is under­used. Many peo­ple aren’t sure who qual­i­fies for bariatric surgery or if it’s a good option for them. 

Inter­est­ed in bariatric surgery, but not sure if you’re a can­di­date? Here are eight ques­tions to ask yourself.

1. What Is My Body Mass Index (BMI)?

BMI is a mea­sure­ment based on your weight, height, and sex, and it indi­cates if you’re over­weight or obese. While BMI doesn’t always tell the full sto­ry about your health, it is crit­i­cal to deter­min­ing if you’re a can­di­date for bariatric surgery. 

A BMI of 30 or high­er is con­sid­ered obese, but not every­one who is obese qual­i­fies for surgery.

Also read: Know Your Num­bers: How to Cal­cu­late Body Mass Index 

2. Am I Hav­ing Trou­ble Man­ag­ing Type 2 Diabetes?

For peo­ple with type 2 dia­betes who are also obese, bariatric surgery is one of the most effec­tive treat­ments – some­times even more effec­tive than just tak­ing med­ica­tion or mak­ing lifestyle changes. In addi­tion to help­ing with weight loss, bariatric surgery can low­er blood sug­ar and elim­i­nate or reduce the need to take medication. 

Weight loss surgery improves dia­betes man­age­ment in almost every case – 78% of peo­ple with type 2 dia­betes who get bariatric surgery stop need­ing dia­betes medication. 

Also read: 6 Things to Know About Type 2 Dia­betes and Bariatric Surgery

3. Have I Tried Oth­er Ways to Lose Weight?

Bariatric surgery is high­ly effec­tive, but it isn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly the first line of treat­ment. Before qual­i­fy­ing for surgery – espe­cial­ly if your BMI is below 35 – your insur­ance com­pa­ny may require you to have tried oth­er meth­ods, first. 

A Word from Our Doctor:

“For many patients, bariatric surgery is the cul­mi­na­tion of a long, dif­fi­cult jour­ney — often filled with self-blame, failed diets, and frus­tra­tion. But it does­n’t have to be that way. Bariatric surgery remains the most effec­tive long-term solu­tion for sig­nif­i­cant weight loss, often out­per­form­ing med­ica­tions alone.

Our team has per­formed over 1,000 min­i­mal­ly inva­sive pro­ce­dures—includ­ing gas­tric sleeve, gas­tric bypass, duo­de­nal switch, and com­plex revi­sion­al surg­eries — all using laparo­scop­ic or robot­ic tech­niques. Every pro­ce­dure is per­formed at a Cen­ter of Excel­lence – des­ig­nat­ed hos­pi­tals, ensur­ing the high­est stan­dards of safe­ty, out­comes, and patient care.

In fact, more than 90% of our patients are able to go home the very next day.”

- Dr. Jihad Kudsi, MD, MBA, FACS, Board Cer­ti­fied Sur­geon and Obe­si­ty Med­i­cine Physi­cian, Chair of Surgery and Clin­i­cal Board of Direc­tors at Duly Health and Care & Med­ical Direc­tor of Bariatric Surgery at UChica­go AdventHealth LaGrange Hospital

4. Am I Ready to Make Sig­nif­i­cant Lifestyle Changes After Surgery?

Your abil­i­ty and will­ing­ness to change your diet and exer­cise habits after surgery is key to suc­cess. With­out ded­i­ca­tion, it can be easy to slip back into old pat­terns and regain weight. That’s why, if you’re not ready to make those changes, surgery might not be the best option just yet.

There are oth­er lifestyle changes besides diet and exer­cise that you should be pre­pared to make after surgery. You will like­ly need to:

• Take vit­a­mins and min­er­al sup­ple­ments for life
• Avoid or severe­ly lim­it alco­hol use, espe­cial­ly with­in the first year of surgery
• Have reg­u­lar fol­low-up vis­its with a bariatric spe­cial­ist (every few months for the first year, and every year for life)

Mak­ing lifestyle changes after bariatric surgery is a jour­ney, but you won’t be doing it alone. Our bariatric team includes sur­geons, nutri­tion­ists, psy­chol­o­gists, and spe­cial­ized nurs­es who will sup­port you every step of the way. 

Ready to see if you’re a can­di­date? You can sched­ule an appoint­ment online, or call 630−790−1700 to deter­mine if bariatric surgery is appro­pri­ate for you.

Sched­ule an Appointment

5. How Is My Men­tal Health?

Many health sys­tems and insur­ance com­pa­nies require a psy­cho­log­i­cal exam before being cleared for surgery. 

Dur­ing your exam, you will dis­cuss top­ics like your psy­chi­atric med­ical his­to­ry, behav­ior pat­terns (like poor impulse con­trol), mood dis­or­ders, his­to­ry of eat­ing dis­or­ders, or past trau­mas. You will also be asked about alco­hol and drug use. Depend­ing on your respons­es, you may need to get men­tal health coun­sel­ing before surgery or delay surgery until you get treat­ment for con­di­tions like sub­stance use disorder. 

It’s crit­i­cal to be hon­est dur­ing these eval­u­a­tions. The eval­u­a­tions aren’t designed to stop you from get­ting surgery. They are there so that your provider can be armed with the infor­ma­tion and tools they need to set you up for suc­cess and keep your men­tal health in check after surgery. 

Also read: Robot­ic Bariatric Surgery 

6. Will My Med­ical His­to­ry Affect Whether or Not Surgery Is Safe and Successful?

Some med­ical con­di­tions, like severe heart or lung dis­ease, can make any surgery risky. There are also con­di­tions like Crohn’s dis­ease or cir­rho­sis that may come with addi­tion­al risks. 

Just like your men­tal health, hav­ing oth­er med­ical con­di­tions doesn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly mean you can’t get surgery. Your provider will look at the risks and ben­e­fits and may have you take some extra precautions. 

In some cas­es, hav­ing anoth­er con­di­tion might actu­al­ly make your provider even more keen on rec­om­mend­ing surgery. Bariatric surgery can often help improve symp­toms of con­di­tions such as asth­ma, sleep apnea, or migraine dis­or­ders in peo­ple who are obese. 

Also read: The Head-to-Toe Ben­e­fits of Bariatric Surgery

7. What Are My Goals for Fam­i­ly Planning?

Being obese can decrease both female and male fer­til­i­ty. It can affect ovu­la­tion in women and reduce testos­terone pro­duc­tion and sperm count in men. Bariatric surgery is known to help women get preg­nant, so it may be a great option if you’re hop­ing to conceive.

That said, your fam­i­ly plan­ning goals do need to be tak­en into account when decid­ing whether or not to have surgery. Women should be at their low­est pos­si­ble weight and have good nutri­tion, so it’s rec­om­mend­ed that they do not get preg­nant with­in 12 to 18 months after surgery. If they’re look­ing to get preg­nant ASAP, it’s a good idea for them to hold off on the surgery. 

8. Do I Know How to Get Sup­port After Surgery?

Hav­ing a sup­port­ive fam­i­ly or social cir­cle can make recov­ery and weight main­te­nance eas­i­er, but there are oth­er ways to receive sup­port. 

Also read: Sup­port­ing A Loved One’s Weight Loss Journey

Many bariatric surgery pro­grams nev­er dis­charge their patients, which means you will have life­long med­ical care. You can see a team of spe­cial­ists, such as your sur­geon, dieti­tians, and psy­chol­o­gists. Health­care sys­tems often hold reg­u­lar sup­port groups where you can talk with oth­ers who have also gone through surgery. 

When­ev­er you need sup­port – whether it’s before the surgery, the day after surgery, or years down the line – your team is there for you. You don’t have to go through the chal­lenges or cel­e­brate the suc­cess­es alone. 

Want to learn more about bariatric surgery? Sched­ule an appoint­ment with a Duly Health and Care provider or call 630−790−1700 for more information.

Sched­ule an Appointment