Bariatric surgical procedures are generally limited to those who suffer from obesity or severe difficulty in achieving natural weight loss.  Whilst you may think that bariatric surgery sounds like a desirable solution for minor weight loss issues it is important to remember that it is a procedure (or procedures) that have many risks and should only be undertaken following the advise of your GP, dietician and surgeon.  Obesity is a serious problem that needs to be treated in a careful and precise manner, and as such those who are deemed suitable for surgery may have to undergo psychiatric, dietary and medical evaluations prior to being allowed the operation.

There are a few ways that the need for such surgery is clarified.  One of the simplest measures of clinical obesity is the Body-Mass Index (BMI), a calculation that takes into account your height and weight.  Unfortunately BMI measurements are not always accurate as the calculation does not take into account muscle weight and age.  BMI rankings can deem those with a large muscle mass as being overweight and elderly patients with frail bones and no muscle mass at all as being healthy.  BMI rankings are also different for men and women - men are meant to have less fatty stores than women, therefore the thresholds between healthy, overweight and obese will be lower than what they are for females.