Comprehensive 
Weight Management

For patients seeking weight-loss options without surgery, we also offer weight-loss medications. We partner with Obesity Medicine specialists and Endocrinologists specializing in Obesity and Metabolic diseases at Montefiore Einstein. The specialists determine the optimal combination of weight-loss medications and create a personalized program tailored to each patient’s needs. Our approach is designed for safety, long-term success and seamless integration with other treatment pathways. We integrate the latest U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved anti-obesity medications with individualized nutrition, behavioral and lifestyle support.

The comprehensive medical evaluation begins with a lifestyle questionnaire completed before the visit. During the visit, the medical team reviews the detailed lifestyle and medical history to devise the best treatment options, including lifestyle changes and medications, for long-term weight loss and improved health.

Our team uses a range of anti-obesity medications, such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (e.g. semaglutide, tirzepatide), bupropion, naltrexone, phentermine, topiramate, and metformin. These are prescribed in alignment with clinical guidelines by our Medical Weight Management team, including physicians and registered dietitians, who collaborate to support medication use alongside lifestyle and behavioral changes to optimize outcomes.

Our combined medication and behavioral programs have been shown to produce greater weight loss and improved cardiometabolic health compared with lifestyle changes alone. Many of our patients achieve clinically meaningful weight loss, reducing the risk of diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea. Patients receive regular progress checks and dose adjustments, counseling for diet and exercise and help navigating potential side effects or barriers to long-term weight maintenance. 

Montefiore Einstein offers a growing array of endoscopic weight-loss procedures that serve as a bridge between medication and weight management surgery for patients who want less invasive or reversible options. Our integrated approach allows us to maximize weight loss and health improvement through innovation, safety and ongoing multidisciplinary support.

Endoscopic options include:

• Intragastric balloons (IGBs): The devices are temporarily placed in the stomach to occupy space and promote satiety.
• Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG): In this procedure, the stomach’s volume is reduced with suturing, mimicking the effect of a surgical sleeve gastrectomy but without incisions.

At Montefiore Einstein, we are committed to using the most advanced, minimally invasive surgical techniques to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients. We use minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, which offers significant advantages compared to traditional surgery, including less pain and scarring, faster recovery and fewer complications after surgery. With laparoscopic surgery, most patients only need to stay at the hospital for one or two days.

To further enhance precision and safety, we may also use robotic surgery in conjunction with laparoscopic surgery. It is important to know that the surgeon always controls the robotic surgery. This state-of-the-art technology provides our surgeons with a high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) view, enabling them to see more easily and operate more precisely. This combination of advanced technology and surgical expertise allows us to provide safer, more effective care, getting you back to your life faster.

Weight-loss surgery changes the way your body takes in and uses food. Restrictive surgeries reduce the amount of food you can eat by stapling, banding or surgically removing part of the stomach. Malabsorptive surgeries reduce the number of calories and nutrients your body absorbs by bypassing a portion of the small intestine. Some surgeries do both.

The Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Weight Management team ensures that every patient receives an individualized evaluation, expert surgical care and extensive support before and after surgery. This comprehensive approach is designed to maximize your safety, long-term health and quality of life. 

If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.

Our approach to laparoscopic gastric bypass (Roux-en-Y) is centered on delivering safe, effective bariatric surgery for patients with severe obesity and its related health problems. We use a minimally invasive technique designed to achieve substantial and sustained weight loss, helping patients achieve long-term health and wellness. Most patients report significant improvement in conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea, as well as an enhanced overall quality of life following surgery.

If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.
Our surgeons use advanced techniques to reshape the digestive tract.

• Creating a smaller stomach: The stomach is surgically divided using staples to create a small pouch. This dramatically limits the amount of food that can be consumed at one time, so patients feel fuller sooner.
• Rerouting the small intestine: The small intestine is then surgically rerouted, and a section known as the “Roux limb” is attached to this new pouch.
• Promoting weight loss: This anatomical rearrangement redirects food, bypassing a significant portion of the stomach and upper small intestine. As a result, the body absorbs fewer calories and nutrients from food, promoting both weight loss and significant metabolic benefits.

We offer laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) as a leading bariatric surgery option for patients with severe obesity. In this minimally invasive procedure, most of the stomach is surgically removed, leaving a narrow “sleeve”. This approach is designed to restrict food intake and promote early satiety, resulting in effective weight loss and significant improvements in obesity-related health problems.

The surgery involves removing approximately 75–80% of the stomach, leaving a small, tube-like sleeve that limits how much food can be consumed at one time. This procedure reduces the production of appetite-regulating hormones, most notably ghrelin, leading to reduced hunger and making it easier to adhere to dietary changes.

If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.

We offer the laparoscopic duodenal switch (LDS) procedure as an option for patients with severe obesity, particularly when maximal and durable weight loss is needed. This advanced procedure combines both restrictive and malabsorptive components, resulting in significant and sustained weight loss alongside improvements in metabolic conditions like type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, lipid disorders and high cholesterol, especially in patients with a body mass index (BMI) over 50.

This unique approach provides both a strong restrictive effect and a potent malabsorptive effect, resulting in greater weight loss than with most other bariatric procedures. The surgery starts with a sleeve gastrectomy, where much of the stomach is removed to create a narrow, tubular pouch. This restricts the amount of food that can be eaten at once. Next, the small intestine is divided and rerouted so that food bypasses a large portion of it. This drastically reduces the absorption of calories and nutrients.

The procedure requires lifelong nutritional follow-up. This is because malabsorption can lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which our intensive aftercare and supplementation programs help prevent. 

If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.
 

Laparoscopic gastric band surgery (Lap-Band®) is one of our minimally invasive bariatric treatment options. This procedure is designed for patients seeking a reversible or adjustable approach to weight loss. While newer procedures have become more common, Lap-Band® surgery remains an effective option for select patients seeking a less invasive, adjustable weight-loss approach. If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.

During the laparoscopic procedure, our surgeons make small incisions to place an adjustable silicone band around the upper portion of the stomach. This band creates a small upper stomach pouch that holds only a small amount of food, limiting food intake, increasing the feeling of fullness after small meals, and leading to reduced calorie intake. The band’s tightness can be adjusted over time by injecting or withdrawing saline through a small access port beneath the skin, allowing personalized control of your weight-loss progress and comfort.

The Lap-Band® system offers a lower operative risk and a shorter recovery time than other bariatric surgeries. When combined with our ongoing medical and nutritional support, the procedure produces steady, moderate weight loss and improvements in conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea. Our comprehensive support includes nutritional counseling, behavioral support and regular band adjustments.
 

Montefiore Einstein’s Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Weight Reduction Surgery Program works in close partnership with the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein (CHAM) to provide specialized care for patients between the ages of 16 and 21 who are considering weight-loss surgery. The Program offers a multidisciplinary support system that helps young adults and their families understand the process and make informed decisions about surgery, ensuring every patient receives individualized attention and education throughout their journey. If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.

The Program offers information seminars with pediatric and adult specialists who provide ongoing behavioral counseling, nutrition guidance and motivational support tailored to each individual and family. Patients undergo evaluation and education to ensure surgery is appropriate for their medical, psychological and developmental needs. This holistic, family-focused approach empowers young adults with severe obesity to take control of their health and future in a safe, compassionate environment.

We offer revisional bariatric surgery for patients who have previously undergone weight-loss surgery but are experiencing insufficient weight loss, weight regain or complications from their initial procedure. This procedure is tailored to each patient’s unique anatomy and medical history. Our expertise gives patients who are struggling after initial weight-loss surgery new opportunities for lasting improvement, restored health and a higher quality of life.

The Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Weight Management team uses advanced, minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic techniques for revisional surgery. These methods have been shown to reduce risk, improve recovery time and lead to better outcomes compared to open revisional surgery in complex reoperative cases. If surgery is recommended as part of your care plan, we’ll coordinate scheduling with our world-renowned surgeons at one of the many locations within our health system.

Revisional surgery can address issues following procedures such as sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or adjustable gastric banding. It may be recommended for several reasons:

• Weight regain or failure to meet initial weight-loss goals
• Surgical complications such as chronic reflux, strictures, ulcers, band slippage or pouch enlargement
• Conversion to a different bariatric procedure to improve outcomes or reduce complications

Patients receive ongoing support before and after surgery, including nutrition counseling and psychological support, to ensure sustained weight loss, improved health and high satisfaction with their care.
 

The Bariatric Surgery Support Group is open to all patients preparing for bariatric surgery and to those who have already had surgery. The goal of this group is to address patient concerns about their upcoming surgery or provide support to patients who have already had surgery. The support group, run jointly by specialists on our clinical team and patients in the community, is designed to help patients identify and cope with different issues related to physical and dietary changes in their lives, fears, body image concerns and emotional issues.