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For me, it was 18 months and 1 day to reach my goal weight. It's different for everyone though. It depends a lot on 1. how much you have to lose and 2. how fast your weight loss is. My weight loss is very slow due to hypothyroidism and I've had near constant stalls along my journey. However, I was still able to get to my personal goal weight. And I'm even passed it by a pound. If I hit maintenance any time soon, I'd be okay where I'm at now. However, now that I've reached goal I think it'd be nice to see 175 or even 170, but if I don't get there, I'd be alright with that.

BMI is really just a guide…the only one we could use easily with basic data (height & weight). There are better predictors of ideal weight that take into account age, gender, bone density, fat percentage, bmrs, etc. etc. BMI Is not perfect, but its a satisfactory starting point. With that said, I started out at BMI 43. Doc said he would consider me a success if i lost 60-70% of my excess body weight (based on a “normal” BMI of 25) within A YEAR. Anything over that was just bonus. Now losing 60-70% of my ecess body weight would have put me in the low BMI 30’s, which is still considered overweight, and doc was perfectly happy with that. Anyhoo, I reached doc’s goal at 3 months, and my own personal goal (bmi 23) in 7. Lost a little bit more adjusting to maintenance and then settled in at BMI 21. Been at 21 pretty much for over 2 years now. I too thought I was big boned, but turns out i am not. With all padding (i.e., fat) gone from my wrist, it actually measures at 5.25” in circumference (i’m 5’2” female). but really, in the end, your goal weight is what YOU says it is, wherever it may fall on the BMI scale. Good Luck! ❤️

Just curious. How long after surgery did you hit goal weight? I’m 6 months out and still need another 30-40 lbs.

The truth is the average weight loss at three to five years is about 65% of the weight you have to lose (that is the weight that puts you in the healthy BMI range - higher end if you are a larger frame, lower if you’ve a smaller frame). Your surgeon may have given you a goal weight of where you may end up at based on these averages. Better to under promise & over deliver thinking. Some medical teams discuss where you’d like to be. Mine did. Mine was based on the lowest weight I could always get down to before gaining again which was on the upper end of the BMI range (cause I thought I had a larger frame - turns out I don’t). It was deemed a reasonable, healthy & attainable goal based upon my history. I know many people poo poo BMI but look at it as a guide, not a hard & fast rule. Amend it based on your body type, frame, muscle mass, etc. Plus you know how your body works & functions best - it may be at a higher or lower weight. You know you functioned well at a lower weight when lifting so that may be somewhere for you to aim as against what your surgeon suggested. I’ve lost way more than my goal & have been working at maintaining it for about 10 months - so I’ve got a long way to go. Looking at my stats, you may expect me to be bony but I’m not. But that’s me. Someone with a different body shape & frame may be very bony at the same BMI. As long as the weight you reach is healthy & sustainable everything is great. The surgery will rest your basal metabolic rate & that will dictate how much weight you lose too. This video by Dr Matt Weiner may be helpful. He has a lot on this topic. Good luck.

Thanks! Everyone is different so it's really hard to say. A friend of mine was well over 600lbs about 10 years ago when he had the surgery. He dropped down to about 375lbs. That was nearly half his body weight. He has gone up a bit since then because he hasn't followed the lifestyle changes the way he should have. But even still he is only maybe 450 now. Still probably 150-20bs less than what he was. I think maybe how much you lose not only depends on how dedicated you are but also how big you were. At 370 and 6' I don't think 255 is at all unrealistic. At 470 and 6'4 I'm hoping for 285 which would be much more than 30% but I think that would be my goal weight. I'd still be the size of a wwf wrestler. I've seen other guys my height who weighed between 215-235lbs and some of them look really good and really fit. I personally couldn't see myself at that size, I'm so used to seeing a bear in the mirror. But I would be a little disappointed if I only lost 120lbs after everything I just went through. Would it be better than nothing? Sure, but still much bigger than I hope to be.

30% of my current weight would put me at 255, which on my current frame (assuming no loss of muscle, LOLOLOL) would be about 17.6% body fat. I'm trying to picture that and it... is a stretch. But! I would absolutely love it. Wishing you the best as you start your post-surgery loss!!

It doesn’t seem like anywhere near enough but what do your dietician & surgeon say? Are you recording your food? What does your plan require & recommend? I was eating three meals a day from purées - small portions about 1/4 -1/3 cup. Each meal contained protein. The portion size slowly increased to less than a cup as I progressed adding more protein & vegetables & I added an afternoon & evening snack usually fruit & yogurt. I was focussed on developing good eating routines & incorporating a balanced diet & what would be sustainable in the long term to maintain my weight. I wasn’t really hungry or all that interested in food but I knew I had to eat. By about 5 or 6 months I was eating less than 900 calories I think. I stopped multi vitamins at 8 months with my surgeon’s approval as my blood work is as very good so I was getting all the nutrients I needed from what I was eating. I maintain at about 1200 calories (not tall, smallish frame, not very active & in my mid 50s), blood work is still good. Some people can eat more than others & some people’s plans require to eat more or less than others. I do believe you can only eat what you can eat at each meal but I’m concerned you are really only eating one meal & a snack a day. You’d be better off eating smaller portions more frequently through the day. Add a protein shake or yoghurt for more protein - you can’t be any where near meeting your daily protein goals - you can sip the shake & graze on the yoghurt for ages at work if you need. Are you eating slowly? I take 30 - 60 minutes to eat even now. If you don’t have a dietician, I’d ask your team for a recommendation & if you don’t track your food, I’d also start doing that too.

Not being able to eat much at one sitting is normal. But waiting until 5-6 pm to have your first food of the day does not strike me as normal. Before surgery, it's possible to go all day without eating and still end up taking in a good amount of calories because we could just stuff ourselves at dinner. You can't do that now. Your stomach holds the same few ounces, regardless of how long it's been since you last ate. So why not have something in the AM with your vitamin, something during the day, something around dinner time, and maybe a last snack in the evening? Are you going without food during the day as a weight-loss strategy (like intermittent fasting)? Or just not making time to eat?

I'm 470lbs or at least I was prior to pre-op diet. I haven't weighed since but I'm told I'm shrinking by those who see me. I think realistically they say to expect 30% body weight loss but up to 50%. I'm personally hoping to hit 285lbs.. I'm 6'4. But if I calculated 30% I would end up around 320. They asked us a similar question early on but I felt like it was more to guage our concept of what we expect to lose. Because some people go into this with unrealistic expectations. They like to make sure your feet are planted firmly in reality to what the surgery will be able to do for you. The rest will have to come from patience and hard work.

I knew my band was slipping, but I had no insurance coverage to remove it, so I had to wait until I had a major slip and was admitted to the emergency room (I was vomiting small amounts of blood). I had kind of alerted my doctor to this money problem in the first place, and they said if I did go to an emergency room, they told me which hospital they practiced at so they could be the ones to remove it. My surgery was quick, I think less than an hour. I actually drove myself to the hospital on a Thursday after school, had the surgery on Friday, and was back at work on Monday. I stayed overnight one night and actually drove my self home the next day. I did not have any insurance coverage for gastric weight loss procedures at that time, but because it was an emergency situation, there were parts of my bill that were paid by insurance. I think I ended up still paying about $6,000 out of pocket, but it would have been considerably more if I had scheduled the surgery through my original surgeons. Also I would have had to pay an advance, which I was unable to do at the time. Obviously when it was an emergency surgery, I was able to do a payment plan and pay it off over a few years. I felt immediately better after surgery, and I didn't have any pain. It took a few months before my stomach seemed to have less swelling. It was such a relief.

So I initially went in to start my bariatrics process at the hospital in February of 2020. They estimated the time was 6-8 months start to finish (surgery). This was right before the pandemic hit. Now being in Canada by March everything was starting to shut down. Panic was in motion and my initial consultation in Februarg followed by a group orientation in late February was all I had got to do in person. The next appointment I had wasn't until July! Like you it was on zoom. That I believe was a consult with the social worker. Basically someone who talked to me and asked me a bunch of mental health questions. Mostly to see if I was of sound mind, not super depressed or suicidal and if I was mentally prepared to go forward with surgery. She had one follow up over the phone a month later then signed off on her end. Next was the dietician who did what dieticians do, ran me through a PowerPoint presentation about the 3 food groups. I was given a little homework to do over the next 6 weeks. I had to fill dietary sheets saying how much I drank that day, what I had for breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks. Times and a note about what type of food that was (ie protein, carb, vegetable). Just basically making sure I understood food groups. Once submitted she reviewed them and another couple weeks later we went over it on the phone. She made some corrections, went over food groups AGAIN.. and gave some suggestions on what I could have to balance a meal. She discussed briefly the phase 1 pre-op diet, phase 2 liquid diet and phase 3 pureed diet. Gave suggestions and ideas about what to eat, to avoid etc. Nothing you can't find online with a little research. Finally she signed off. Then the 2nd wave hit in November and everything shut down again. Fast forward I finally did my second doctor consult in January of 2021 and he reviewed the dieticians notes and social workers and then signed off. Throughout this entire now year that had gone by I was only ever initially weighed in and measured the first month. Blood work done that first month. A year had past and no updates to either were requested. More time goes by and I did a surgeon zoom meeting and he just asked me basic questions. I think the most in depth thing he asked for was to visibly see my stomach and move my head around so he could see my neck function. Then I had a brief phone call with pre-op questions. Finally a surgery date in May was issued. Again a third wave hit and that was cancelled. Finally I had my surgery July 23rd 2021.. nearly a year and a half after starting the process. That's socialist free health care for you though.. so I guess I can't complain. Anyways that's the process I went through and I too was concerned at no point they asked for updated blood work or weigh ins. There was no real monitoring of diet aside from just telling the dietician I understood and showing her a brief demonstration. Throughout that year and a half I fell off the advised diet a bunch of times. I was very dedicated at first, then the delays discouraged me. The additional delays and run around and feeling like this is simply never going to happen really made me fall off. By the time my May surgery date came around I was eating like I ate before, I kind of just didn't care any more. I was also drinking a lot of calories. At some point I fell off the diet drinks and went back to regular and with no bloodwork monitoring or being held accountable, I drank myself into diabetes type 2. Which was found a 3 weeks before surgery when I was checked for the first time ever at a clinic for my blood sugar, which was a 26.8 on the meter. My own fault entirely, but had they done more in person check ups and diagnostics they might've noticed I wasn't losing weight, my sugar levels were getting high. Maybe steps could have been made to help me be accountable and stay on track. After all I'm an addict to food and flavor, leaving me for a year and a half with no support to do it all on my own just didn't work out for me. So I do hope your process goes faster and smoother than mine. But you are not wrong in being concerned by the lack of in-person check ups. Do yourself a favor and speak up and don't just stay silent like I did.

I think there is another secret reason they require it: The pre-op weight loss requirements in general were the only diet I have ever stuck to in the past because I knew that surgery could be canceled if I didn't follow it. That is a great way to basically force you to start losing weight earlier, and to get you to your goal more quickly. They can hold that over your head in order to jumpstart your weight loss before, along with all of the other benefits like the shrunken liver etc.

My thought would be your old scale was out too. The old rotary type scales do become less accurate over time - dust, moisture, etc. But if you weigh 1.8lbs more now you likely weighed 1.8lbs when you began so you’ve still lost the same amount of weight. That’s still a win in my books. 🙂 You’ve done fantastically - congrats.

Curious how everyone is doing? Do you have any new challenges or surprises? Unexpected hobbies or loves? I’m 5’3” and 130lbs. My weight loss has just started to taper off, which is good, because there are days I feel I look sick (not skinny sick, but like sunken in cheeks and that nonsense). I lost 4 lbs this month. Still eating a half cup of food per meal, but starting to test out a tablespoon more, as I am supposed to be at 1 cup in October and still get really sick feeling any time I eat too much or too fast. Otherwise feeling great! Loving wearing a swimsuit even with my saggy thighs and bum lol! Struggling with night time hunger on days I don’t get my water in at work. I think part of that is just needing to find ways to get in more calories, and part is that I will stay up super late to finish getting in all my liquids. hope to hear from you all!

My doctor has never mentioned a goal weight at all. And I appreciate that. I probably wouldn't listen to him anyway, because I know where I like my body to be. My guess is they are kind of just eyeballing it based on the hundreds or thousands of other patients they've had in the past. You definitely know your own body the best, though, so make your own goal your primary focus.

So I've tried some rigorous diets in the past. My weight has fluctuated around 450-470 for years. Twice I've got down to 320-330lbs. Both times I basically did a self induced gastric bypass diet (not a healthy one). But basically liquids, very very little solids and a lack of nutrients. The first time I lost 120lbs in the first 6 months. I didn't step on a scale once while doing it, I just noticed my pants getting bigger. In fact I had no idea how much weight I had lost, the day I decided to check I expected to be 30-40lbs down. When I seen over a hundred pounds gone I was baffled, I thought the scale was broken. That made the next couple months very easy to continue and motivate myself to keep going. Now, again not promoting my diet of choice, it was very unhealthy. I used to joke about it being my cigarette and water diet because I would eat soo little. So of course when I bottomed out at 320lbs and I was in the gym 5 days a week and trying to eat a 1200 calorie dietician approved diet. I was super frustrated each week when I weighed and wasn't losing any weight. Two months went by and i hit 315lbs in the morning but by evening I was back up to 320-323lbs. A cycle of endless repeat and no reward. It was probably caused by the muscle mass I lost along with the weight from not eating barely any nutrients or protein throughout the first few months. Despite exercising and trying to regain muscle even at 1200 calories a day I was eating more than my body was burning off. Eventually I got frustrated and fell off and bounced back up to 360lbs. I was proud I kept a lot of the weight off for a good two years but I eventually went back up to 450lbs. I won't go into the second time because it was a repeat of a lot of the mistakes I made the first time. The same end result and the same discouragement that brought me back up to 470lbs. That is why I decided to go for bariatrics. Because I could lose the weight myself but I couldn't do it healthily, steadily and keep it off. Obviously the older I get the harder it gets to put your body through hell to try and be skinny. I can't speak from post-op surgery because I'm only 1 wrek post-op. But the reasoning for my rant was to say. Both times I found the best strategy was to not weigh myself regularly. It's hard not to want to see the results, but I found discouragement was the worst remedy for trying to keep going. Starving yourself for a week or two and seeing 1lb or less just makes you feel like this isn't worth it. This is pointless or hopeless. Something isn't right. What am I doing wrong? I found the best result was when I just set my mind to what I needed to do and didn't worry about what the scale said. While I fully intend and encourage you and myself to do things healthy and not try to cheat to success. I do not plan to step on a scale unless my doctors office really needs me to, and I might even then ask not to know the results. At least for the first few months. This battle is hard enough without the constant self doubt and feelings of failure. I wish you all the best!

Had my surgery on July 23rd. I have to say I was not prepared for what I woke up to. I had a back surgery a couple years ago and while the pain prior to surgery was insane, after surgery I don't remember any pain at all. Just weakness in my legs and core, difficulty sitting up etc. When I woke up from gastric bypass in recovery I was in soo much pain they literally gave me a shot of ketamine and it felt like I went under anesthesia all over again lol. After that I was in the hospital for 3 days and I'd say the first 48 hours were horrible. I was on hydromorph for pain, Tylenol 6 and gravol. I slept through most of it, which is how I preferred to deal with it. I started passing gas little by little the first and second day. I found asking for a hot blanket to put across my stomach helped a lot with the abdomen pains. I didn't have much interest at all in food or water. I mixed little 30ml cups of apple juice or cranberry juice with 50% water here and there. Ate ice chips when I was thirsty. I think I had maybe one or two mouthfuls of soup the entire time I was there and I had one thing of sugar free jello going the entire stay. That's how little I ate or wanted to eat. By the last day, coming home, I was only a little sore, it seemed to have gone down a lot. By the time I was home for a day I stopped taking pain meds all together, no more gravol either. After reading through some of these I have to say I feel fortunate my body is dealing with the changes so well. I haven't found I'm in any discomfort, no nausea, bowel movements are less frequent than before but still normal. Sitting up, laying down and bending are definitely done at a slower pace but I haven't needed a hand since day 3. Even my 5 small incisions seem to be healing very well and aren't bothering me at all. The diet on the other hand and fighting myself from doing something stupid that will cause problems, that's another story. This has definitely been an experience and I'm taking things slow. Trying to research and find answers before approaching new foods. My girlfriend says I've lost a lot of weight since pre-op diet. I haven't weighed in or measured myself so it could just be inches shredding off. But it's nice to know it's already noticeable. I hope I'll have the success they say of losing 50% or more of body fat. Before surgery I was 470lbs and the lowest I've ever reached through diet and exercise is 320. So I'm really really hoping to see 265-285. That would make this whole hell of a process worth it in my eyes.

How does the team determine what your goal weight is? I get confused silence when I ask. I ask because my surgeon, who had the most supportive conversation about BMI I've ever had with me, says I should be aiming for 250-275 lbs. I am six feet tall and currently weigh 370. But it was a Zoom call and he never even saw me other than from the chest up. I know everyone says they're big-framed, but in my case it does seem to be true. I have had DXA scans done and, depending where I am in a training cycle (I was a strongman and now am trying to do more functional stuff), I may have anywhere from 205 to 218 lbs. of lean body mass. So 275 lbs. would be somewhere between 20-25% body fat, which seems a little bit high for a goal weight. 250 lbs. would be 13-18%, which seems about right. I know I will lose some muscle while I can't train, and hopefully will be able to get it back. Or do they just use the bl00dy BMI chart? Just wondering, because to be "successful", you're supposed to lose 60-70% of your "excess weight".

Some people say you can’t break a stall. I know my first stall (almost three weeks) broke after I started resistance band workouts but it may be a coincidence. I read that we lose muscle mass when losing weight so keeping up the protein and building muscle helps your body ultimately burn more calories. good luck!

Getting your hydration is very important. I think alot of people recommend getting 4 oz every 15 minutes. But however to can do it is fine as long as it doesn't cause discomfort. I sip all day long! I just started puree foods and have kept it pretty simple. Alot of people talk about the ricotta bake. I haven't tried it becuz my store was out of ricotta but I plan to try it. So far I have has cottage cheese with pureed fruit, refried beans and pureed salsa chicken, tonight I made shrimp scampi and pureed the shrimp and had mashed potatoes. I need to try some veggies next. I chose just a few foods to start and plan to add a different one every few days as tolerated. Mu stomach stayed swollen for quite a few days even though I was losing weight. I amon Day 14 and it seems to be pretty normal now. I hope your recovery is a smooth one and look forward to hearing updates on your progress.

Thank you @ClarkKent for the support. My surgery weight was 220lbs.

Can you calibrate the scale? Use something of known weight (like a 5lb of flour) and weigh it. Then either adjust your scale, or adjust your weight mentally.

Did you lose anything in the pre-op liquid diet? I lost about 15 and then like 10 the first week. After that it was 2 weeks before I lost anything. I called crying. They told me to just trust my body because it had just went through trauma. It is like what in the world did you just do to me?!? It will come off! Stay off google and don’t compare to other people. Stress can affect weight loss too. It gets easier!

So I thought I would upgrade my scale - got a Withings smart scale to be able to track my weight/muscle mass/water weight, etc. I hopped on my old scale first and then the new one right after (I only weigh once a week to avoid any mind games) - and the new one is 1.8 lbs higher than the old (on the same flooring and all). I know it’s not a true “gain”, but especially at this point, 1.8 lbs is a lot and it’s depressing to see in Baritastic app that my weight went up a little. I’m so close to my initial goal (which I am thinking of adjusting down another 10 lbs) so it’s really tough. I know, it’s a one time uptick but still, I haven’t had it go in the wrong direction. I’m trying to console myself with the fact that I lost another 4 inches overall from last month’s measurements, but I still hate seeing that gain in the app. I try to keep telling myself all the right things - your weight can fluctuate, it’s not a real gain, etc., but needed to vent and I have no one to vent to here, other than my puppies, and they don’t care, lol.

Hi Rachel! I wish you all the best! I don't fit your criteria exactly but I'm same height+ starting weight. I hear they are very good in Mexico. I would advise you not to go on too many websites because I did that a couple of years ago and freaked myself out. The surgery is not painful. I only needed Tylenol the day after. The hardest part for me was week 3 & 4 with the hunger pains that were very real for me. But you will get through it. You will be so happy once you see the difference in your life. Congratulations!