Steve Bidgood, a co-owner of the Salt Creek Grille in Rumson, is featured in a story about gastric bypass surgery in today’s Asbury Park Press.

Gastic bypass operations shrink the stomach to the size of a golf ball and re-route the digestive plumbing. Two years after the minimally-invasive gastric bypass procedure Bidgood opted for, which included the insertion of an adjustable cinch around his stomach, he’s close to 200 pounds under his pre-surgical weight of 422 pounds.

Press writer Michael Riley notes that weight-loss surgery is only for the morbidly obese, carries serious risks, and requires psychological screening to determine if a patient is up for the lifestyle changes that the surgery demands. Riley also cites data on the long-term effectiveness of the operations.

The American Society of Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) says weight loss usually reaches a maximum between 18 and 24 months postoperatively. But what about the ability to keep the weight off?

The ASBS states the after five years the loss of the excess weight ranged from 48 to 74 percent for gastric bypass and from 50 to 60 percent for banding procedures. What that means, according to [Dr. Frank Borao, of Monmouth Medical Center], is that on average, a patient who needs to lose 100 pounds will have lost anywhere from 50 to 75 pounds…

In a study of more than 600 patients following gastric bypass, the amount of excess weight loss still still exceeds 50 percent at 14 years.

Bidgood tells the Press that he used to be on his feet all day, in pain, popping up to 10 Aleve a day. He’s got no regrets about the surgery. “I see the operation as a tool to help me maintain this lifestyle change,” he told Riley.

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