We have many patients come into our office after having researched bariatric surgery thoroughly. A common theme of patient research is both the before and after of gastric bypass surgery. Patients want to know what to expect from a gastric bypass before they undergo surgery. They also want to know what to expect after 1 month, one year, and even longer. These questions are great ones. Here’s what you can anticipate from weight loss surgery.
Phase 1: Research
Many of our patients research the after-effects of gastric bypass surgery before going in to even talk to their doctor. If you’ve stumbled upon this page, you’re likely considering weight loss surgery yourself.
Weight loss surgery, or bariatric surgery, has positively impacted many people. Bypass surgery can make patients feel more confident in their skin. It can also resolve other medical problems that many people with obesity struggle with on a day-to-day basis. For more information on the medical conditions you can resolve after bariatric surgery, visit our webpage to see if bariatric surgery is right for you.
If you are considering weight loss surgery, you’ve probably also wondered how that transformation will make you look, in addition to how it will make you feel. Gastric bypass before and after pictures are plenty, but after photos don’t always do the transformative process justice.

You can hear more from our patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery on our testimonials page. There, you can find before-and-after pictures from real patients who are happy to share their stories! Some patients have even captured their experience on video. Some of our patients have shared their experiences of having gastric bypass after pregnancy, a duodenal switch, or even a lap band failure.
Phase 2: What to expect before gastric bypass surgery
After thoroughly researching, we encourage you to come in and discuss your weight loss surgery options with the CBSI team. Some patients will have to go on a diet before surgery to be approved to use their medical insurance to cover the cost of surgery. If you fall under this category, our office will work with you to fulfil the six-month medically supervised diet plan before surgery. This is a great opportunity for patients to learn how to prepare for their new diet after surgery and overall gastric bypass aftercare.
Gastric Bypass Before and After Diets:
For five days before bypass surgery, patients must be on a clear liquid or Optifast shake diet to prepare their system for surgery. CBSI patients have a choice to either drink only clear liquids or take Optifast protein shakes. Patients can also benefit from nutrition classes through Peak Medical Weight Loss Clinic before surgery to prepare for the after-surgery diet, which will be different from what many people are used to.
Phase 3: Post-operative Care
Sticking to a medically supervised weight-loss plan or attending nutritional classes before surgery has helped CBSI patients stick to healthy diets after surgery. If you stick to the healthy habits learned before surgery and implement them into your daily diet, you shouldn’t suffer from any problems after gastric bypass surgery.
CBSI takes care to meet with each of the patients multiple times before and after surgery. He will answer your questions thoroughly before and after surgery. The most rewarding part of his job is seeing patients thrive after surgery and watching the co-morbidities and medical conditions they had before surgery disappear afterwards. In order for this to happen, of course, you will have to stick to the recommended diet plan post-operation. If you do, you’ll likely start seeing drastic results even after 1 month.
If you have had a gastric bypass and are vomiting after eating, please call your doctor right away. In some cases, this could be a sign of complication.
Additional Resources
For more information on how CBSI performs Roux-en-Y surgery, check out our YouTube page, where you can see YouTube videos of gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgery. CBSI offers gastric sleeve, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and, in some cases, revisional surgery at CBSI. We also have informational videos that answer questions about before-and-after diets and potential after-problems or effects of gastric bypass surgery. Here is a YouTube Gastric Bypass and another video of gastric sleeve surgery.
Photos and videos can be helpful tools when learning more about the roux-en-y procedure. You may have already seen photos of celebrities after getting gastric bypass surgery, but we’ve included the following celebrity gastric bypass before and after photos as an additional resource:
If you feel prepared to take your research to the next level, call our office and make an appointment to see our doctor today. He will happily walk you through the gastric bypass procedure, both what to expect before and after surgery. If you’re not yet sure if surgery is the right option for you, we suggest taking a look at a medical weight loss therapy clinic, like Peak Medical Weight Loss Clinic. They share the office with CBSI and offer non-surgical approaches to medical weight loss.