Bariatric surgery is a treatment for severe obesity. It helps people lose weight and keep it off because the stomach is smaller after the surgery and can’t hold as much food.

This article explains what bariatric surgery is, how it works, the risks and benefits of different types of bariatric surgery, and how you can find a doctor who performs this type of procedure.

Gastric bypass is the most common type of bariatric surgery. It involves making a small pouch in the stomach, connecting it directly to a section of the small intestine, and then dividing up the rest of your stomach as well as leaving out some parts of your small intestines. This creates a smaller stomach pouch (the size of a banana) than you originally had, which can hold only about 1 ounce of food at one time.

Gastric sleeve surgery is a restrictive bariatric procedure that reduces the size of your stomach. The sleeve surgery is less invasive than gastric bypass, but still restricts the amount of food you can eat at one time. This will result in weight loss over time because your stomach will only be able to hold about a cup of food at a time rather than the usual three cups.
Your doctor will advise you on how many meals per day to eat after this procedure has been performed on you.

Adjustable gastric banding (AGB) is a type of bariatric surgery that uses an inflatable band to create a small pouch at the top of your stomach. This reduces the amount of food you can eat and feel full. The band is placed around the upper portion of your stomach, under your skin but over muscle.
The surgeon fills the band with a saline solution using a needle placed through an access port in your abdomen (the area beneath your belly button). After this procedure, you may be able to walk right away or go home after being given pain medicine by mouth.
The size of your pouch depends on how much fluid you've had in it: if there's too little liquid in the bag (less than 50 cc), then it isn't working properly; if there's too much liquid for what should be inside there after eating normally (more than 100 cc), then this means it might be too big for optimal results; and if everything seems fine between those extremes, then nothing needs changing at this point.