Your weight loss journey

If you are struggling to lose weight, the best thing to do in the first instance is to inform your GP. Your GP will be able to assess if weight loss is appropriate for you. They will assess if losing weight could be beneficial to your overall health. Your GP will use your weight, height and medical history to make this decision. If you meet the referral criteria, the GP will then refer you to our Weight and Wellbeing service. 

Weight and Wellbeing is a holistic approach to weight loss. This means we will give you advice on diet, psychology, physical activity, and potentially start you on medication which will aid weight loss. All of these treatments will be individual to you, as we recognise everyone has very different struggles when it comes to losing weight. We will help you set a realistic weight loss goal, and support you in achieving it.

Whilst in the Weight and Wellbeing Service (this is sometimes referred to as Tier 3) you may have appointments with Nutritionists, Registered Dietitians, Specialist Nurses, or Consultants. These appointments may take place in person, or over the phone. They may be individual or as part of a group education session.

Some patients may also meet the criteria for our Tier 4 service. This service is also called the Bariatric Service, and works on preparing patients for weight loss surgery. This team is made up of Registered Dietitians, Specialist Nurses, Bariatric Surgeons, and Specialist Psychologists.

Initially patients attend an information session. This is a really good opportunity to understand a little bit more about weight loss surgery. In this group session, hosted by surgeons, dietitians and nurses, you will learn about the different surgery options, their benefits, and potential risks. You will also learn a little bit about the dietary advice you are expected to follow before and after weight loss surgery. At this appointment, it is likely that a member of the team will weigh you. This will help us to arrange a future appointment which is most suited to your needs.

Once you have met the weight loss target set in Weight and Wellbeing, you will have a full dietary assessment with a dietitian. This appointment can take up to an hour. The dietitian will ask you lots of questions about your diet before you made any changes and your diet now. This will really help us get to know you. At this point we will assess if you are ready for surgery from a dietary perspective. However, it is important you are ready for all aspects of surgery. In addition to checking your weight and diet, you may be referred to other specialists to ensure you are mentally and physically well enough for surgery.

The benefits of losing weight

If you are obese, even small amounts of weight loss can be really beneficial for your health.

Below are some examples:

3% weight loss

  • Increase insulin sensitivity and decrease HbA1c, essentially this means improved diabetes control.
  • Lower cholesterol

5% weight loss

  • Decrease in blood pressure
  • Decrease in triglycerides
  • Imporved liver function (for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease)

7% weight loss

  • Decrease in osteoarthritis symptoms
  • Improvement in obstructive sleep apnoea symptoms

10% weight loss

  • 57% patients see type 2 diabetes remission

15% weight loss

  • 86% patients see type 2 diabetes remission

Surgeries we offer

We currently offer 3 weight loss procedures - Gastric Bypass, Gastric Sleeve, Gastric Balloon (only offered under certain circumstances) and Endosleeve (only offered under certain circumstances).

Bariatric surgery

Bariatric surgery is a treatment option for people with obesity if all of the criteria are fulfilled.

Bariatric surgery is a treatment option for people with obesity if all of the following criteria are fulfilled:

  • They have a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or more, or between 35 kg/m2 and 40 kg/m2 and other significant disease (for example, type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure) that could be improved if they lost weight.
  • Meeting weight loss target (5% of the base weight if BMI<50 or 5kg if BMI>50)
  • All appropriate non-surgical measures have been tried but the person has not achieved or maintained adequate, clinically beneficial weight loss.
  • The person has been receiving or will receive intensive management in a tier 3 service (3 months for BMI >50kg/m2, 12 months for BMI <50kg/m2)
  • The person is generally fit for anaesthesia and surgery.
  • The person has made significant lifestyle changes.
  • The person commits to the need for long-term follow-up.
  • The person is over 18 years old
  • The person is a non-smoker

The liver reducing diet

Prior to your weight loss surgery, you will be asked to follow a liver reducing/shrinking diet. This makes the surgery both easier for the surgeon and safer for you. Please do not follow this diet without guidance from a Specialist Bariatric Dietitian.

Prior to your weight loss surgery, you will be asked to follow a liver reducing/shrinking diet. This makes the surgery both easier for the surgeon and safer for you. Please DO NOT follow this diet without guidance from a Specialist Bariatric Dietitian.

We encourage our patients to watch this video and read the relevant information leaflet for more information on the liver reducing diet. If you would like some more ideas, please read the 7 day example menu we have created.

If you are having bariatric surgery, and doing the Liver Reducing Diet with the team and need to get in contact with us please call: 01388 455200 and select option 3.

Diet following bariatric surgery

After bariatric surgery, your diet will change dramatically. Find our more below.

After bariatric surgery, your diet will change dramatically. Initially after surgery we will assist you to build from liquids to solid foods over a period of around 6 weeks. You can expect your portion sizes to be much smaller following weight loss surgery. 

We encourage our patients to watch this video for more information what to eat after bariatric surgery.

Please DO NOT follow these diets without guidance from a Specialist Baratric Dietitian, following weight loss surgery.

You can also view some ideas for puree diet recipes.

If you have had bariatric surgery with the team and need to get in contact with us please call: 01388 455200 and select option 3

Medications for obesity

Medical treatments for obesity are available as part of our Tier 3 Specialist Weight Management Service. To access these you will need to be assessed by a Consultant Endocrinologist, Specialist Dietitian and Specialist Nurse. Once receiving treatment it is important to continue engaging with the team for optimum weight loss. For patients who have had discussions with a consultant regarding use of Saxenda, please consider watching this video for more information.