In comparison to gastric bypass surgery, gastric restriction without malabsorption more closely simulates dietary adherence while still producing durable weight loss. The latter is achieved despite considerable reductions in resting energy expenditure (REE), and whether REE is adjusted for body weight/composition using ratio- or regression-based methods could influence understanding of how these procedures affect energy balance. This systematic review identified studies that reported REE before and after gastric restriction in order to compare changes using each method. Ratio assessments revealed increases and decreases when REE was expressed per kilogram of body weight and per kilogram of fat-free mass, respectively. In comparison, measured REE tended to be less than predicted from linear regression after surgery. Explanations for these seemingly disparate findings and future directions are discussed.
Keywords: Adaptive thermogenesis; Bariatric surgery; Gastric restriction; Resting energy expenditure; Weight loss.