The FDA just approved an unusual device for weight loss that pumps out some of the food you just ate

For people struggling with losing weight, dieting can often be a way to help, albeit it's a bit challenging to do in a sustainable way.

A device approved Tuesday by the FDA wants to help that out, by removing about a third of all the undigested food before it gets past the stomach. Here's what the set-up looks like:

AspireAssist via YouTube

The FDA said in a release that the device is only meant "to assist in weight loss in patients aged 22 and older who are obese, with a body mass index of 35 to 55, and who have failed to achieve and maintain weight loss through non-surgical weight-loss therapy."

To hook it up, doctors have to thread a tube through your stomach that connects to the outside of your body (Aspire Bariatrics, the company that makes the device says this only takes about 15 minutes as a minimally invasive procedure). That tube connects to a button that sits on the outside of the stomach. After a meal, the person hooks up the device, which passes some of the stomach's contents out and into the toilet.

This way, only about 70% of the food goes through the digestive process. But, the FDA noted, the device isn't meant to be used on its own.

"Patients need to be regularly monitored by their health care provider and should follow a lifestyle program to help them develop healthier eating habits and reduce their calorie intake," William Maisel of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health said in the release.