Numbers On The Scale

[Vicki0618 123]

I really wish that the surgeon could come up with a different way of measuring success!! I have to lose 25# before he will schedule surgery. I lost 12 and although I have been eating correctly, and exercising more the scale is not moving...and it hasn't in almost 3 weeks! Well it did go up 4# and back down but that's it!!!

I know...I know...it will happened. I FEEL better, I look better and those things count but I really really wish the surgeon would count those things too and not just a number. I'm starting to feel defeated!

[kimmy*custis 276]

Is it a absolute deal breaker if you dont lose the 25? I was told I should lose 25 and lost 15. I was approved before that already tho. I think they just want to see you can lose the weight, kind of a test to see how dedicated you are. I know they want to get the liver less fatty for some people. Just my opinion. Keep up the good work, you are really doing great, dont think you arent.

[Vicki147 10]

So you had a lapband and it twisted and you had it removed? You are now having the sleeve?

I don't know why your doctor is stuck on a number. Seems like if you follow the diet that is all that should matter. Keep me posted on your success!

[Vicki0618 123]

I don't know how ABSOLUTE he is....but he basically said that since I regained all my weight after having the band removed I was a bad risk for surgery. But If I lost 25# it would prove that I have made changes and have a better chance of being successful this time.

My body is just fighting me every step of the way!!!!

[Wheetsin 714]

That is a load of horse puckey, he's full of crap.

They should know to expect weight regain. I had a slipped band that was removed. I went from about 280 (at removal, up from a low of about 215) to just under 350 in 7 months. It is not realistic to expect no weightloss to occur when you're waiting on a revision. For one, your body is wired to want to gain weight, especially if your complication resulted in extreme restriction.

For two, no matter how hard you try, it's going to be really easy to slip back into bad behaviors eventually -- just because you can. I started eating a Breakfast sandwich every morning even though I wasn't hungry, because the novelty of being able to eat Breakfast was just so awesome... and then it became a behavior.

Here's my take. Maybe you can use some of these points to reason with your surgeon.

• regardless of weight, being banded has given you some tools that should help with success with the sleeve: core behavioral changes, and understanding of what the whole WLS process is like; an idea of the mental road coming; an ability to find balance rather than short-term deprivation, etc.
  
• with nothing in place to restrict intake, how are you supposed to maintain weight? It is proven that when you stop losing, your body makes it much harder than normal not to gain. So you're in a more volatile gain period, and have nothing to help you (mechanically speaking). You lost weight because you had a band, so what's his rationale for it not being OK to gain when the band is gone?
  
• When my band came out, I gained almost 20 lbs in a week. But I still felt restriction, and I was not eating much more than before surgery. What I gained was not fat. It was weight. I'd been so fricking dehydrated that the Water weight just packed on. Most people who have their bands removed are fairly dehydrated because of it. You're going to gain some weight, and it's a healthy gain (not fat gain, weight gain - hydration in this case)
  

Instead of seeing it "if you can't do it on your own, you can't do it with the sleeve" (which, if that ws true, no one here would be anywhere near goal because I can pretty much guarantee that everyone here tried to do it on their own, yet here we are...) he should be seeing it as "you're that much ahead of someone doing this for the first time, so let's get you some help and get you healthy."

he basically said that since I regained all my weight after having the band removed I was a bad risk for surgery. But If I lost 25# it would prove that I have made changes and have a better chance of being successful this time.

My body is just fighting me every step of the way!!!!

[Lissa 2,631]

Numbers on the scale is the only way the surgeon has to measure your commitment to the post-op plan. Do you use a Fit Bit or My Fitness Pal? If so, perhaps you could show him your reports from those programs to show how much you're actually (not) eating and how much exercise you are doing? What he probably wants is hard data and lots of people lie to their doctors, so he'll need something he can use to justify putting you on the surgery calendar ahead of someone else who HAS lost a good bit of weight.

[Vicki147 10]

I am not liking your doctor at all! Have you thought of looking for a more supportive surgeon? My surgeon was stern in that he told me what my work would consist of, but he was compassionate and emapthic with every concern that I had. It seems to me if the band twisted that it may have been something that HE did wrong. It seems strange he is "punishing" you when it could have been all his fault!

[beautifulnewme2012 164]

I really wish that the surgeon could come up with a different way of measuring success!! I have to lose 25# before he will schedule surgery. I lost 12 and although I have been eating correctly' date=' and exercising more the scale is not moving...and it hasn't in almost 3 weeks! Well it did go up 4# and back down but that's it!!!

I know...I know...it will happened. I FEEL better, I look better and those things count but I really really wish the surgeon would count those things too and not just a number. I'm starting to feel defeated![/quote']

I hope your doc sees those things too! Aren't we supposed to be happy about those things after surgery??