Weight-Loss Surgeries Extend Lives

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That means that in-depth consultation with a doctor is crucial to make sure that weight-loss surgery is right for you, Adams added.

For many severely obese people, weight-loss surgery will be the correct choice -- and earlier is often better, the other experts said.

"It virtually eliminates your risk of getting diabetes if you haven't already got it -- and if you are morbidly obese, eventually you will get diabetes," said Fielding.

Fielding speaks from personal experience: Besides being a bariatric surgeon, he also underwent the procedure eight years ago.

"I was about 310 to 315 pounds at the time, and I'm now 210," he said.

Before the surgery, he added, "I was on 11 different drugs, I had all of these diseases except diabetes" -- and diabetes was not far away.

Fielding noted that the recent disclosure of weight-loss surgeries by such celebrities as Today show weatherman Al Roker and singer Carnie Wilson is helping ease the stigma surrounding the operation.

And just last Friday, lawyer and TV talk-show host Star Jones disclosed that she had undergone weight-loss surgery four years ago, although she was reticent to say so at the time. She told CNN's Larry King that she has dropped half of her weight post-surgery and maintained that weight loss.

Fielding said he understood Jones' reticence.

"I think that it's normal not to talk about it until you are confident that you have done well with it," he said. "I think that a lot of us fat people expect everything to fail, because nothing else has ever worked."

All of the experts agreed that eating sensibly and exercising after surgery is the real key to long-term success.

"Bariatric surgery is a tool, and the patients who are most successful -- who are able to keep their weight off for the long term and keep their health problems at bay -- are those who marry that tool with lifestyle change," Courcoulas said.

More information

There's more on bariatric surgeries at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.