If you’re considering weight loss surgery or medication, have a conversation with your healthcare provider about both options. An obesity management specialist can help walk you through the options in a way that is tailored to your unique needs. You can find an obesity specialist through the American Board of Obesity Medicine.
“When you’re working with providers who specialize in obesity management, they are going to be able to help meet you where you are,” says Cassetty. “They’re taking into consideration things like your access to food, your culture, and foods you might want to include. They’re really working with you personally to help you get healthier.”
Furthermore, they may be able to tell you about options that you’re not even aware of. “Most people are not aware of the fact that there are actually three major classes of weight loss therapies: weight loss surgery, weight loss medications, and a third option, endoscopic nonsurgical procedures,” says Thompson.
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, for instance, is a relatively new procedure that does not require a surgeon to make incisions in the skin. Instead, doctors thread a tube down the throat into the stomach and then use sutures to create accordion-like folds in the stomach tissue, reducing the amount of room for food.
“Endoscopic nonsurgical procedures are what I would consider the middle option for weight loss. These procedures are less invasive and less risky than surgery and deliver greater and more durable weight loss than medications,” Thompson says.
To find an obesity specialist who can walk you through your options and your benefits and risks: