How did you lose the weight to get the surgery?

[Theia103121 21]

I have my first consultation next Tuesday, and if my surgeon's office holds to the same rules as when I went in five years ago, they require you to lose 10% of your body weight prior to surgery. I'm really frustrated by this because I feel like I'm doing the surgery because I CAN'T lose weight by diet and exercise. If I could, why would I do it? How did you pull it off for those of you who had this requirement? I have to admit, it feels fairly impossible right now.

[New To This23 102]

TL;DR - more cardio, no snacking, eat on schedule 3 times a day.

I had to do this, I have not had my surgery, I am just waiting to be scheduled. The surgeon has gone over all my labs and tests and approved me for surgery. I had to lose 5% of my body weight and keep it off while I wait for everything.

I struggled like no other to do this, which was wild because in the past, and as recently as the last fall I had dropped at least 30lbs super quick.

Basically, I changed my eating, but this time I wanted to learn how to eat food without being on some kind of restriction, like no carbs, or low fat, no sweets ever, cabbage only, two shakes a day, and a sandwich for dinner, type thing. I knew I did not want to live the rest of my life after surgery struggling with continued "diets".

I started seeing a nutritionist, who was not much help, but she did get me on scheduled eating, having a meal within one hour of waking and then eating every 4 hours for a total of 3 times a day. I was already drinking 96 oz of Water a day, but I bumped it up to 150oz a day. I lost 10lbs in 2 weeks doing that. Then it stopped losing and I still had not met the 5% goal.

So I added exercise, I started weightlifting and swimming, 1 hour of weights, 1-hour swim and my weight did not change. However, my clothes started getting loose, but I needed to meet that weight goal. So I stopped swimming and just focused on weights for 45 min and 20 minutes of walking. still my weight stalled, but my clothes got looser. I had a week before my final weigh-in and I stopped exercising, drank less water, took laxatives and water pills, and basically ate air. I made the weight goal.

After that I was like okay what is going on? I started back with weights and eating my weight went up 5 lbs. Finally, I learned that I was more than likely gaining muscle ( I was getting stronger) The muscle gain weight-wise was canceling out the fat loss, so my weight remained the same but my clothing was loose. This is great, but not so much when you need to be at a certain number in a certain time frame. I switched things up to 30 minutes of elliptical x mode and 30 minutes of stationary bike, put 30 min. dumbells for arms and my weight started dropping again. I am currently 10lbs below the approval goal I needed to be at and I have kept it off during the 2 months the incompetent office lady lost my paperwork, I would have already had surgery two months ago if it wasn't for her. So I have lost 9% of my starting weight.

After surgery, I plan on resuming weightlifting since muscle creates a metabolism change.

[New To This23 102]

Also the food choices I eat are nutrient-dense for example lunch or dinner is two slices of Daves Killer thin slice bread, toasted with hummus, sprouts, avocado, Tomato and either 4 slices of turkey bacon or vegan bacon.

I might eat rice with shrimp and asparagus, with strawberries.

Breakfast is something like one thin slice of Dave's Killer bread, avocado, egg, and everything bagel seasoning.

I found that I have a McDonald's egg McMuffin breakfast with coffee and no ham and it does not negatively affect my weight.

I also on the advice of my bariatric nurse, who also had the surgery eat one big meal every once in a while, it helps me drop a couple of pounds by the next day.

[catwoman7 11,214]

I worked with a dietitian for six months. She had me gradually make changes so my eating looked more and more like how I would be eating post-surgery (not like you're eating the first couple of months post-surgery, but after that, when you can eat more types of food). We started off with having me stick to 2300 calories a day (that in itself was kind of a challenge since I'd probably been eating 3000 or more to maintain my weight). I gradually moved to eating more Protein and fewer carbs. Three meals a day, plus two Snacks. More fruits and vegetables. Less processed stuff and low-nutrient stuff. More fluids. Getting some exercise most days of the week - even walking was fine - but I also did Water aerobics a couple of times a week. I lost about 40 lbs in that six months (knowing I'd have to meet with her once a month and get weighed (by her) helped, too - accountability!). Then I lost another 17 lbs in my two-week pre-surgery liquid diet (although that would have been mostly water, of course) . So down 57 lbs by the time they rolled me into surgery.

the point of this is that they want to see if you can stick to a diet long-term, not so much how much weight you can lose (although they may be giving you the 10% goal since that's the only way they can objectively tell if you've been sticking to a diet or not). And unfortunately you WILL have to monitor your eating after surgery, too - as people say, it's just a tool. You do your part, the surgery does its part, and you'll succeed. It's not much different than being on a diet (although having a smaller stomach and losing your hunger (as most of us do) for a few months definitely helps!). The difference is, this time your effort will pay off. I could never lose more than 50 or 60 lbs on my own. This time I lost over 200, and have managed to keep most of it off for eight years. Never would have happened without surgery.

P.S. and you will have to monitor your eating for the rest of your life. If I slack off for more than a handful of days, it shows up on the scale. But honestly, this is no different than a lot of my never-been-obese women friends. A lot of them have to watch what they eat, too, unfortunately. There aren't many people who can eat what they want and as much as they want and never gain weight.

Edited September 14, 2023 by catwoman7

[AmberFL 801]

I just went in Tuesday, Weight was 290 and was told needed to lose 15lbs to get to the next step. Once I get there I call to do the next step which I assume is the psychological part of it.

So I downloaded MyFitnessPal app and am sticking to 1600 calories, making sure I hit Protein and staying with the range of fats, carbs is impossible I ate broccoli and cauliflower and my carbs went over by a ton! So I think no one has gotten fat by eating veggies so I am not going to stress out about that.

I weighed myself this morning and I dropped 4.5lbs. I'm sure that is the salt and Water weight, but 15lbs seems very attainable. I will start incorporating walks next week since my energy is going up. I have a goal of doing this surgery during my kids winter break so my mindset is pure focus!

We can do this!! I am more than happy to be an accountability partner if you need one!

[LindsayT 596]

If it's a surgeon's requirement, could you find another surgeon who doesn't have this requirement? If it's an insurance requirement, then there isn't really a workaround. I wasn't required to lose any weight or stay at my pre-surgery weight beforehand. Just a thought.