There are several requirements for patients of gastric bypass surgery. This is to ensure that the major surgery isn’t performed unnecessarily or on those with very high risk factors. Be aware that gastric bypass is a major surgery and you will be in much pain, experience many changes in your body and have to adapt to a new lifestyle. Initially a gastric bypass surgery is only an option for those with a body mass index of forty or higher. Your body mass index is a general measure of whether your body weight is healthy for your height. A BMI of forty or higher indicates that you are obese and would benefit from a gastric bypass. A surgery of this kind is not available to everyone with a body mass index this high though. You need to have tried for sometimes up to two years to lose weight via alternative methods, such as dieting before a doctor will consider this last resort method. In addition a doctor will consider the following requirements when discussing this surgery with you. Whether you have been obese for five years or more. They will make sure you do not have a history of alcohol abuse or an untreated mental condition such as depression. As these conditions can make it harder for you after your surgery and may be part of the root cause for obesity in the first place. You should be relatively healthy in order to undergo the surgery and have a reasonable chance of survival and success. You should also be between the ages of eighteen and sixty five. Any younger and a doctor will insist that you keep trying other methods of weight loss. Any older and an ethical and experienced surgeon will begin to question the plausibility of survival for the patient.