What if it just...doesn’t work?

[Jaelzion 1,127]

My bariatric team neither encouraged nor discouraged my goal of reaching a healthy BMI. My surgeon gave me the statistics and then said that those were just averages, that some people lose more and some less. He did say he'd be happy if I lost 50% of my excess weight and we'd see what happened. And I'm glad because if he had been more discouraging, I might not have believed a healthy BMI was possible for me. He didn't set me up with unrealistic expectations but he also didn't squash my enthusiasm. And in the end I did end up losing much more than average. I know getting there is only half the journey, I'm right now trying to learn how to maintain it. But I'm not sorry I set a healthy BMI as my goal. If I had set my goal to losing 50% of my excess weight, I might have stopped there because an authority figure said that was all I would lose.

[ms.sss 15,585]

My surgeon said if I lost 60 lbs within a year, he would consider me a success. Anything over that was just gravy.

I wanted lots of gravy.

[icandothis_gastricsleeve020221 23]

My doctor said I'd lose about 50% of my weight in my first year, but he has more weight loss in mind. He wants me to lose about 55-60% of my weight. 50-60% does put me in a healthy BMI range.

[catwoman7 11,212]

18 minutes ago, icandothis_gastricsleeve020221 said:

My doctor said I'd lose about 50% of my weight in my first year, but he has more weight loss in mind. He wants me to lose about 55-60% of my weight. 50-60% does put me in a healthy BMI range.

18 minutes ago, icandothis_gastricsleeve020221 said:

My doctor said I'd lose about 50% of my weight in my first year, but he has more weight loss in mind. He wants me to lose about 55-60% of my weight. 50-60% does put me in a healthy BMI range.

not sure about your doctor, but those stats usually refer to excess weight rather than total weight (so if you're 250 lbs total and 100 lbs overweight, that would mean a 60 lb loss, leaving you at 190 lbs). Although I'm not sure if your particular doctor is referring to excess or total weight. Those stats you read in research studies, though (e.g., a 70% average loss for RNY and 65% average loss for VSG) are referring to excess weight rather than total.

UPDATED to add - of course, those are just averages. You'll find plenty of people who fall on either side of that percentage.

Edited February 28, 2021 by catwoman7

[GreenTealael 25,350]

On 2/27/2021 at 9:09 AM, catwoman7 said:

my dietitian (and surgeon, too) told me specifically NOT to make normal BMI my goal,

I have been told that people in the slightly higher BMI bracket (27-29 range) statistically live longer (I never bothered to find research journals on this because it was music to my BMI 28 ears)

[GreenTealael 25,350]

On 2/27/2021 at 8:05 AM, catwoman7 said:

I wonder about that when I read posts from people who are a ways out (like a year or more) and still eating something like 800 kcal a day and training for marathons - or otherwise exercising compulsively. Are they really going to be able to keep this up long term? And what happens when they settle into a more "normal" life?

I agree ☝

Edited March 1, 2021 by GreenTealael

[catwoman7 11,212]

50 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

I have been told that people in the slightly higher BMI bracket (27-29 range) statistically live longer (I never bothered to find research journals on this because it was music to my BMI 28 ears)

I've also heard that older adults who are slightly overweight tend to have the lowest morbidity rate. My last two PCPs have liked their "older adults" (which I guess would be me...) in the 23-27 BMI range.

[Cherié H 15]

I love this response!!!

[BlueAngelEyes 164]

For me the so called hunger hormone doesnt didnt go away!!! Ever , ever ever! I feel starving all the time. Im an emotional eatter and what helps is u cant eat much so biting in to a cheeseburger to soon u will throw it up and not crave it awhile!!! Some peopls have said it went away for them but for me it didnt and im angry about it.!! Now i have to eat what feels like is a million small meals which means im snacking all the time and usually on bad slider food. Do the surgery for ur life not to get ride of wanting food!! dont give in to ur cravings u do and for me i doomed myself found out it was hard to eat 3 bites of chicken but easy to eat a whole 1lb bag of potatoe chips!! Evil yummy food. Doo ur self a favor and tell ur self u wont look at food the same. Look at food to live not to be satisfied!!!! Best of luck

Edited March 2, 2021 by BlueAngelEyes

[Cantstop1977 5]

On 2/27/2021 at 7:15 PM, catwoman7 said:

it's the infamous three-week stall - it just came early for you. Mine was weeks 2 & 3. Almost everyone goes through that early stall. Just stick to your program and it'll eventually break. It always does!

You are correct! I’ve started moving on the scale again but not checking everyday (which is a bad habit)!

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 02/28/2021 at 01:31, summerset said:

I never really looked into this but is there correlation between lower starting weights and higher starting weights maybe?

Like someone with a starting BMI of maybe 37 having a bigger chance of getting down to e. g. BMI 23 than someone who started with a BMI of 53?

I’ve wondered this as well.
I started off with a BMI of exactly 41% and was able to (and still currently maintain) a BMI of 20-21%.
I lost well over 100% of my excess fat, which my bari surgeon admitted is outside his “typical” results, but he also admitted he was fairly confident going in that I would achieve it based off of my history, psych evaluation, and our personal interviews.

That being said, he and his team always point-blank refused to set a goal weight or BMI in front of me and I know that many clinics don’t
Mostly I think that’s because we need to shoot for our own goals and limits— not the limits that someone else thinks we can or cannot do.

I was so paranoid that I was going to be a spectacular failure at WLS, but ended up being a pretty spectacular success.