Omieliz

I would do it again. Only 6 weeks out - hunger gone, down 40 pounds and more energy than I've had in years.
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I would do it again. Only 6 weeks out - hunger gone, down 40 pounds and more energy than I've had in years.
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You look amazing! You're kicking butt and taking names!
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I had sleeve surgery in Mar 2016, six months ago. I dropped 50 lbs in ~3 months, and haven't lost a pound since, even though my diet has been spot on. 50 lbs is exactly 60% of my excess weight, which is the expected "average" weight loss for the sleeve surgery.
I don't know why 60% of excess weight is the average weight loss for a sleeve patient, but it is. Different surgeries have different percentages. If you want better results than average, you have to push yourself more than the average patient.
The surgery + average post-surgery behavior = average weight loss. If you want more weight loss, you have to do more. Are you willing to push yourself more? Only you can say.
Personally, I haven't yet, but that's my decision. I know if I put in a little more effort, I could go further. But either way, the benefits have been amazing and well worth it.

Plane trips are no issue. You honestly won't even be hungry then so I doubt the street tacos will even appeal to you. Since you're coming to my neck of the woods, I can tell you even if you were to take a bite, it would likely come right back up. Sounds cool, but I would pass on the street tacos.
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I don't feel 100% excess is unrealistic, though it's certainly going to be a challenge. My goal 220 and my surgeon actually thinks I can probably push it a little.
50-70% excess weight is pretty much what you are going to loose during the first six months to a year after surgery without doing much else. Building better habits and relationships with food and exercise get you the rest of the way.
Just go into it with the understand that as that initial honeymoon perioid weight loss starts to slow down it will become more challenging to loose and you wont loose as quickly, but as long as you maintain good behaviors as far as food and exercise you should have a good shot of getting well past that 50-70%. Stalls are also normal, and you may have change things up from time to time, the important thing is to not get frustrated and slip back into old bad habits.

I agree that 100% EBW is unrealistic for most people.
I am 5'9". Apparently, I'm supposed to weigh about 160lbs. I started out at just over 300, which makes my EBW 140 lbs.
I can look back to my late teen/early 20's which was the last time I weighed in that range. I was able to maintain 165 with a teenager's metabolism ONLY by watching EVERY calorie I put in my mouth and running about 2 miles 3-5 times a week.
I'm 46 now, with an auto-immune disorder that makes exercise difficult, and I have to ramp up exercise VERY carefully to avoid a flare. I personally think it would be crazy to try for 165 as a goal weight.
In my mid-20's I was ranging between 175 and 190 and felt really good. I was active and watched my diet but not obsessively. It would be amazing, and my ultimate goal to get back in that range, so I've set 185 as my goal weight. That's 121 to lose, a bit over 85% EBW.
I don't know if it will happen, and if it does if it'll happen in this first year. The statistics say it won't, but statistics don't tell the whole story. So far, I'm doing really well. 46 lbs down at a little over 7 weeks, and weight loss has slowed to about 2 lbs/week. If that rate stays constant, it'll be about 38 weeks to lose the rest.
But even if I stall out permanently at 236 which is 50% EBW, I'll be thrilled. I don't want to set my goal there, because I want to try and stretch for the 185 if I can.
I think having stretch goals is a good thing, and my doc hasn't been discouraging at all when I've discussed it with her. She thinks I can get below 200 at least which will be about 75% EBW.
Every 10% of your total body weight you lose (at least down to the ideal weight) improves your health drastically. I consider every bit lost movement in the right direction and toward my health.
I will say I don't understand the "1/3 untouched" part of your doc's statement, doesn't jibe with what I know of the surgery. Some people have more restriction up front, others less. Doesn't mean the sleeve isn't working for you. Just stay the course, you'll do fine.

There is no reason you can't lose 100% of your excess weight. It may be a challenge, but MANY people do it. Now, I will say that shooting for a "normal" BMI could be BS because the BMI chart is ridiculous. MANY athletes are categorized as "obese" simply because of their height/weight. BMI does not take body fat into account at all, which is ridiculous.

There is no reason to expect that you will only lose 50% of your excess weight either.

YOU WILL DO WHAT YOU WORK FOR. YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS WILL DIRECTLY EQUAL YOUR EFFORTS.

That's really the bottom line.

I am also tall - 5'10. When I think of times I was a happy, fit weight it was 185-190. I feel like the BMI calculation gets off the taller you are. I cannot imagine weighing 140. 180 is my stretch goal. But that's still "overweight" which I find odd. Do any other tall people (females) feel this way?

I'm short and athletic. I should weigh 140. At 155, I am at a very low body fat and while I would love to be 149, 135 would be weird for my build. No, I am NOT "big boned" but I am strong. I refuse to lose muscle for a BMI scale that does not take muscle and body fat in account.

Instead of looking at BMI, consider your pants size. It's much more reflective.

@@Omieliz
I think your Dr is right about the 50-70% being a better goal, at least at first. Just because once people have been morbidly obese for so long they have more muscle mass, so they are going weigh more.
I weigh more than I did in college, but I am smaller than I was in college, because I have a lot of muscle mass. I am smaller than I was in HS, but I weight a good 20-30 pounds more, but I am physically smaller.
I have exceed my 60% excess weight loss in a year (the amount for a sleever, bypass is 70%, band is 50%), that amount was 143 pounds. Now I am working towards my goal of 85-88%. I am at 72% right now, which is 156 pounds.
When you look the pounds beyond just percentages, it makes more sense.
If I lost 143 pounds and never lost another pound, no one would consider me a failure. I'm at 72% which is 156 pounds lost, no one would consider that a failure. Yeah I guess 215 pounds lost would be awesome to lose all of my excess weight, but the 86% I want to lose puts me are 185 pounds lost. No one is going to consider 185 pounds loss a failure either.
So honestly once you get past a certain amount in excess, getting to 100% is just gravy. All of my health issues are solved. Other issues I didn't even know I had are solved. I don't even want to hit 100%, but I might just accidentally slowly over time just because of how I eat and live. If you really make a lifestyle change, you can easily lose all the weight you want.

The first surgeon that I met flat out told me that I would "never be normal." That kind of irritated me, but pushed me to think differently about my goals.
I know it sounds crazy, but over time my goal became less and less connected to how much weight I lost. Instead, my daily goal was to just stick with my exercise and food plan. Beyond that, my only other goal was to be able to be more active and to be able to buy clothes off of the rack. By just following that, the weight loss came on its own but I wasn't obsessed with my weekly weigh-ins or my total weight loss. That helped me avoid being frustrated if I lost too little weight in an individual week or avoid getting overconfident if I lost a lot of weight during a week. At 11 months out, I am happy that I am down 257 lbs, but more happy at how different I feel, move, and act.

My surgeon told me he thought I would get to the 140s, which is still overweight BMI for my height. I told him I was in the 120s in college and would love to be back there and he said "if you really stick to it and work hard, you can get there!"
But in the 140s I would still be a success. And honestly, I'm in the upper 160s now and I feel ten trillion times better that it's all gravy from here. I know I will keep losing and just feel better and better no matter where I end up.

Y'all focus on 50-70% if you care to. I'm an overachiever so no one will ever limit me BUT me.

At my one year check up a few weeks ago I had lost 71% of my excess weight. I'm not planning on stopping till I hit my goal of getting to 140-145 pound range. I had the sleeve so my doctor already counts me as a success.

I'm only 3 months out and already at 55% so I'll keep working it.

If you want it, you work towards it. Don't listen to what the Dr said about not losing 100% of your EBW.
I have lost 77% of my EBW and I will get to my goal of 155. About 25 pounds of my EBW will be skin removal. So when I get to about 180 I will look into getting the surgery which should take me to my goal. Don't forget depending on your weight you to may have loose skin that needs to be removed and that weight counts toward your goal.

My surgeon set a very attainable goal for me.....don't quite remember the number, but it definitely left me in the overweight category. And really, as far as EWL goes, they are considered successful if their patients lose 60%. I, however had a higher standard of expectation for myself and my goal weight was much lower than his. I actually ended up exceeding even my own lofty goal and have maintained an over 100% EWL for over 3 years. So anything is possible. Bariatric stats and your surgeon's limited expectations do not have to dictate your final outcome. Go ahead and lose however much you want to.

Weight 10/10/16: 241.4
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Praying for you and your family. So glad your grandma got to tell you how proud she is of you. Prayers that those good memories will help you through this difficult time.
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Awesome!
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Congrats to you!!!
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I had the same thing and I used a waist binder so when I was moving around, it wouldn't stretch and pull causing the burning/tearing feeling.
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I had the same thing and I used a waist binder so when I was moving around, it wouldn't stretch and pull causing the burning/tearing feeling.
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Good on you!!!! Here's to kicking the extra ten to the curb swiftly!
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