The intra-gastric balloon is a Non-Surgical approach for weight loss. It was approved by the FDA in 2015. It is placed by means of upper endoscopy, similar to endoscopy used to evaluate if someone has an ulcer or gastritis. It is mostly done as an out-patient procedure, meaning that patients will go home shortly after placement.

In gastric bypass surgery, your stomach is reduced in size and then attached directly to the middle portion of your small intestine. The upper portion of your small intestine is bypassed, which means a lot of the calories you consume pass through your body without being absorbed, resulting in significant weight loss. As a result, gastric bypass surgery falls under a category of weight loss surgery called malabsorptive.

Also called gastric band surgery, this technique uses an adjustable band placed around the upper portion of your stomach to decrease its size. The band is attached to a thin tube that’s connected to a specially designed injection port located under your skin. Your doctor will use the port to adjust the size of your stomach, injecting saline solution through the tube and into the band to shrink your stomach or removing solution to increase its size. Lap band surgery has the advantage of being reversible.

In this procedure, a large portion of your stomach is removed, leaving a banana-shaped tube or “sleeve”-shaped stomach. Gastric sleeve surgery works by decreasing the size of your stomach as well as decreasing production of the hormones that make you feel hunger.