Hello everyone, I am pre-op for LAP-BAND and this is my first post. I recently completed my psych eval and during the session, the Psychologist told me the most I can expect to lose is 20%. I said that cant possibly be correct. She said at 20%, the body shuts down and can't release anymore weight. I asked, do you mean I will plateau at 20%? Is that the average weight loss? She said no, the most your body can afford to lose is 20% of total body weight. In my case, she calculated I could only lose 54 pounds which would put me at 220 pounds, which I feel is hardly worth it. She said that LAP-BAND wouldnt be for me and that I should consider other bariatric options. She said for my height, 220 would be acceptable. I pointed out to her that at the LAP-BAND support group, the guest who shared stated she weighed over 400 pounds and had lost 150 which is nearly 38%.

Can any of you shed light on this? Thanks!

That makes no sense to me.....are you sure she wasn't an imposter? There are tons of people one here who have lost WAY more than 20%, That's just strange....

Tracy

Did she tell you the one about Goldilocks and the 3 bears too??? Hehehehe

Obviously, she's got some bad information.....

I'm only 4 lbs away from a 50% loss and I intend to lose those 4 lbs.

The statistics that I usually see are that you can expect to lose 50-60% of your excess weight. My doctor told me pre-op that he thought I would easily lose 100 lbs and that maybe we'd get to 150. I'm grateful that I've been able to surpass that. It's all up to you.

Cindy

She said at 20%, the body shuts down and can't release anymore weight. I asked, do you mean I will plateau at 20%?

I was 138kg and now I am 92kg, that is a loss of 33.33% does that mean I am dead or that my body has shut down??

She's a stupid woman who does not know what she is on about.

Maybe if you weren't over weight at all and then you lost 20% then you body would start shutting down, essential organs, functions etc...but not if you are heavily overweight to start with....tell her to go back and read the whole sentence and try to take it in context this time!!

Just my opinion of course:tongue_smilie:

If your body shuts down at 20% surely that would apply regardless of whatever surgery you had? Why would a different procedure make a difference?

She's a psychologist...not a surgeon or a nutritionist. Most of the people she sees for this, I would think, are all pre-op so she obviously doesn't know what she's talking about.

She should stick to what she knows best. I figured I need to lose, all together, about 144 lbs to get to a healthy BMI. I've already lost 62lbs, still losing and I'm planning on getting every last pound of that 144lbs off!

It really sounds like she doesn't know much about the band. Maybe she should spend an hour a day reading here at LBT.

I can only go by what I have learned by reading here and my own experience, but I would strongly disagree with that Psychologist. The band has been so great for me. I lost the first 100 pounds in 53 weeks with no exercise. I would say that is proof enough the band works great.

Welcome to LBT. This site is a really good one to stick around for support and info. Good luck on your journey. You will take off more than 20%. Don't let that bit of bad info get you down.

Edited August 20, 201015 yr by Humming Bird

As a fellow psychologist, I can say: she's full of crap (i.e. misinformation) and clearly is speaking outside her bounds of competence. That's just not true. The Realize band brochure says 50-100% excess body weight and I believe at my seminar, the surgeon said his patient's average was 60% of excess body weight.

That's a big difference.

You need to get her some literature about Lap Band. She is dangerous if she is giving out this kind of misinformation. Don't let her distract you from your goal! The band is wonderful!

Maybe what she meant was that you can only lose 20% with diet alone, I found that to lose 100% of what I wanted I had to exercise, hard. I have lost 100% of my excess weight and that equals to 30% of my total body weight. I have seen posts by people who started at a higher BMI that lost 50%+ of their starting body weight. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine here on LBT, Bob has lost 40% of his body weight.

Thank you all of you for your support! I did bring her misinformation to the center's attention and will also discuss it with the doctor. If she is giving that kind of wrong info out, it could be costing them clients as it could have deterred me. BTW this is through "a MAJOR MEDICAL CENTER in Burbank California" hmm hmm.

In the PP presentation she showed me it stated, as many of you did, "expect to lose 50-60% of your excess weight". I pointed that out to her, and said that seems more realistic. Her response was oh yes that is another way of saying the same thing, sayiing 20% is far easier. :smile:

By this time, I am drained and I sat there and looked at her and could only think, you cant argue with something so outrageous. :biggrin:

Edited August 20, 201015 yr by MR P

Yeah. . she has no idea what she's talking about!! I've lost 1/3 of my bodyweight and know quite a few other bandsters who have gotten to goal already. I'm glad you didn't let that misinformed person discourage you!

Best,

Catherine

All I can think of is, the medical center is across the street from Disney, maybe she made a wrong turn.

She's talking 20% BODY weight, rather than 20% excess weight for starters, that's two entirely different things.

But either way, she's still talking sh&t.

I lost 120% of excess weight, and about 30% of my body weight. Of COURSE you can lose more than 20%,

Truly, I think sending patients to nutritionists is a waste of time. Finding a good one, who actually knows something, appears to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Its like personal trainers. What you get most of the time is someone with a back of the cornflake packet qualification who knows only how to blab on about what's currently fashionable in the world of weight loss and acctually knows nothing about treating individuals.

Of course everyone will be different with weightloss. There are many things to consider like male/female, hormones, lapband/gastric bypass, activity levels, and so on. After thinking about this thread, I had to do the math. In my case I was 44 yrs. old when I got the band.

I was morbidly obese. My metabolism was shot from yo-yo dieting. My hormones are a mess because I had a hysterectomy at a very young age ........

Here are the numbers after the first year of being banded. Keep in mind I do not exercise and do not count calories. My weightloss for the first year has been 90% all lost by just having the band placed and getting proper restriction. I would say the other 10% is food choices.

I lost 88% of my excess weight

I lost 38% of my total body weight

I went from a BMI of 41.3 (morbidly obese) to 25.7 (almost normal)

I will have to be more active to get the last 14 pounds off, but that's not a hardship considering the first 100 came off with little effort. I would say I am living proof the band works and it works much better than this Psychologist is telling people.