THE PATIENT JOURNEY
Prepare for bariatric surgery. Implement sustainable lifestyle changes. Meet with your team of board-certified surgeons, nurse practitioners, dietitian nutritionists, and psychologists. Get ready to live your healthiest life.
Before your weight loss procedure or surgery:
Just by being here, reading this, your journey to a healthy weight has already begun. Our team of South Florida weight loss experts is here to support your wellness goals with a comprehensive medical approach that involves psychologists, registered dietitian nutritionists, nurse practitioners, and the board-certified weight loss doctors and surgeons from our team.
- Receive psychological counseling to help you prepare for a new life – physically and emotionally. These sessions are required by the hospital and most insurance providers. We are centrally located in a clinic near Miami, or you can take advantage of our telehealth appointments.
- Meet with expert bariatric dietitian nutritionists to analyze not only what you eat but how you eat. Get strategies to modify and moderate food choices and develop healthy eating behaviors. Moreover, post-surgery, you will have a detailed eating plan to support surgery success. These sessions will set the foundation for a lifetime of health and continued success after your bariatric procedure.
- Our medical staff will evaluate your cardiovascular, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal health to recommend the best procedure for you and your wellness goals.
- Participate in bariatric surgery support groups to connect with other candidates who are going through the same process. This can help you prepare for and receive ongoing support for both the physical and emotional challenges you might experience before and after your weight loss surgery.
- Prepare to live your healthiest life.
Achieve meaningful weight loss
Reduce risk of obesity-related conditions like stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure.
Reduce hunger, cravings, and improve portion control.
Develop healthy, sustainable lifestyle and eating habits.
Improve fertility.
Live your healthiest life.
What will happen on the day of your weight loss surgery?
After years of weight cycling and struggling to reach a healthy weight, your surgery day has arrived. It’s normal to feel nervous. Our South Florida staff is here to help make you feel comfortable, safe, and supported. We have worked with thousands of patients over the years, and we recognize each person’s journey is unique. We are here for you.
10 Things to Expect on the Day of your Surgery:
- Please come to our bariatric center, near Miami, with a friend or family member.
- You will need to fill out some paperwork. Someone from our staff will accompany you to make sure you understand everything.
- We will help you change into your hospital gown – for surgery and post-surgery recuperation. Your clothes and belongings will be kept safe in your hospital room or with your friend or family member.
- During surgery, we want to monitor your heartbeat. We will put sticky pads on your chest. This is normal. Likewise, you will wear an oxygen mask.
- You will have an IV drip with pain medication and anesthesia.
- Depending on the procedure, your weight loss surgery can last between twenty minutes and three hours. You will be under the expert care of our South Florida board-certified surgeons and medical staff.
- Post-surgery, you will wake up in the recovery room where we will ask you to walk around or, perhaps, take a sip of water.
- You may be discharged the same day as surgery or need to stay in the hospital for several days, depending on your weight loss procedure. Your healthy recovery is our priority.
- Upon discharge, you and your friend/family will receive detailed instructions, a follow-up appointment date, and pain medication, if needed.
- Remember the diet plan you developed with your bariatric dietitian nutritionist – this will support your healing.
We look forward to working with you.
Recover post-surgery and achieve meaningful weight loss:
- You may be able to go home the same day as your weight loss surgery or need to remain hospitalized. Our doctors will monitor your progress. Your health is our priority.
- A follow-up appointment after your bariatric procedure will be scheduled a week to ten days after your surgery. Throughout the first year after your surgery, we will set up several appointments to monitor your wellness and progress.
- Activities: We recommend you start moving as soon as possible. Incorporating movement into your everyday life will be a key piece of recovery and long-term surgery success. Start with short walks and build up to longer ones. If you are taking any medication for pain, we recommend you do not drive.
- We recommend you continue working with your bariatric Registered Dietitian Nutritionist to develop diet plans and supplement protocol that will support your post-surgery success. Initially, your diet will have restrictions, and working with an RDN will give you the support you need to meet your nutrient needs.
- Lifestyle changes, eating behavior modifications, and a diet plan are critical pieces of weight loss surgery success and a healthy life.
- Don’t miss any follow-up appointments! There will be several that first year, then an annual appointment every year thereafter.
- You are not alone. We are committed to you, partners with you, to keep you on track to a life of wellness. Helping you achieve and sustain a healthy weight is our priority!
Meet the Team
How it Works
Are you a candidate?
Make an appointment and meet with your weight loss doctor. Find out if you are a candidate for bariatric surgery or medical weight loss treatments.
Choose the best option
Whether you’re having bariatric surgery (gastric bypass, Lap-Band®, the sleeve, the gastric balloon) or medical weight management, our team is here to prepare you, including psychological counseling, nutrition coaching, and supplement protocol.
Begin your treatment
Expert bariatric surgeons and weight loss doctors provide you with the best care. Excellence in individualized patient care.
Receive ongoing support
Get the tools you need to live a life of wellness and health. Sustain weight loss with meaningful lifestyle changes with support from our team. We are committed to your health.
We Accept Insurance
We proudly accept several common insurance plans. Click below to learn more.
We are proud members of ASMSB. Being a member of the ASMSB provides our board-certified medical staff and surgeons with access to the best resources, information, and support to advance the science of metabolic and bariatric surgery. Members of ASMBS are committed to continually improving the quality and safety of care and treatment of people with obesity, recognized as authorities and resources on metabolic and bariatric surgery.
Achieve, and sustain, a healthy weight. Start today!
