Presurgery expectations

If your healthcare team members recommend weight-loss surgery, they work with you to create a treatment plan. This may include:

• Nutrition guidelines. The dietitian will help you with nutrition guidelines, vitamin supplements and menu planning. The guidelines include changes before and after surgery.
• Exercise plan. A nurse, occupational therapist or other specialist will help you learn appropriate exercises, develop an exercise plan and set goals.
• Weight loss. You may be encouraged or required to lose some weight through diet and exercise before surgery.
• Mental health services. You may be encouraged to begin treatment for substance use or other mental health therapy for an eating disorder, depression or other mental health condition. Your therapy may include learning new coping skills or talking about your body image or self-esteem concerns.
• Smoking. If you smoke, you'll be asked to quit smoking or join a program to help you quit smoking before surgery.
• Other treatments. You'll need to follow treatments for other health conditions.

These requirements can help you reach the best possible weight-loss outcomes after surgery. Some weight-loss surgery programs may recommend or require you to take part in programs to help change your lifestyle before your surgery. Also, your ability to follow through on these plans to change your lifestyle will show your team how motivated you are to follow long-term lifestyle guidelines after surgery. This may affect whether you're considered a candidate for surgery.

Your healthcare team may delay or cancel your weight-loss surgery if:

• You're not mentally or physically ready for surgery.
• You have a current drug or alcohol use disorder.
• You have other health conditions, such as heart disease, that make anesthesia or surgery unsafe.
• You are pregnant or want to get pregnant before weight-loss surgery. Healthcare professionals typically counsel people desiring pregnancy to wait for their weight to stabilize after weight-loss surgery, which can take 1 to 2 years.