Dieting, however, is rarely successful in the long term, especially if a person is morbidly obese. The success rate for dieting is approximately three to five percent. These programs typically do not use outside resources for individualized or personalized care. Program materials may or may not be produced with guidance from health care providers. The medication and surgery clinical programs offer help to overweight individuals who have been unsuccessful with other approaches.
Data show that anti-obesity drugs help some people to lose weight and maintain weight loss.
The MSO Program is a surgical weight loss program specializing in the treatment of obesity through gastric stapling. This is an excellent option for people who are considered morbidly obese as it is very effective and has a high long term success rate. Weight loss resulting from operative procedures for obesity varies according to the type of procedure. The weight loss results following surgery are not guaranteed, and are dependent upon how effectively the patient follows the recommended program. Articles authored by S. Ross Fox, M.D. , et al., regarding the success rates of obesity surgeries can be found in past issues of Obesity Surgery , the official medical journal of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and the Amercian Society of Bariatric Surgery.