I did the same thing.... I quit smoking so I blamed it on that. But being over weight you flucuate so much. I think you should definetly sweat it out drink alot of protein and just WORK it OUT. I don't think they weight you on the day of surgery. I was told they want you to loose weight before your surgery because, the first place you start to loose weight is your liver. Which is behind your stomach. So if your liver is SHRUNK the surgery goes better. BUT again maybe your doctor is just trying to make things easier on himself. Don't worry about it. You don't need that stress in your life right now. KEEP YOUR CHIN UP... you will only have to worry about loosing weight after this one... not putting on. :-)