I have never been a "Normal" weight in my life, and I have had a lot of people asking me what I want to get down to after my surgery. I honestly don't know. When I search average I see things anywhere from 135 to 162. I told one person I was thinking 150 and she said there would be nothing left of me,,, really???? I think she was a nay sayer because she went on to say why are you doing things, you have lost so much already and look great. I am like, look great at 225 pounds???

I am 5 foot three, I started this journey at 271, I am down to 220 and my surgery is tomorrow, any any ideas of what "normal" is?

I had a nice talk with my surgeon yesterday. He will not give a weight goal, and encourages his patients to not set a weight goal. He said that numbers are a trap... people set themselves up for feeling like they are a failure if they land 5 or more pounds from the number they made up. He said look at your health goals first. Did you succeed in reaching them? Your body will find its weight, if you follow the Drs orders, you will get where your body wants to be. He said with the inability of many people to see how they look after they lose weight, its even more crazy, others many see you as slim and just fine...as we see ourselves as still fat.

That is very sensible, and really, that is what he is doing the surgery for and insurance is paying for....but he is SO not vain!

Your Dr. sounds like the smartest man alive to me right now.

BTW, I'm in Sacramento (you mention in your sig line your Doc is at UCD Med Ctr)... I wish I'd known about him earlier! I do love Dr. Aceves - but it would have been nice to have someone close by.

Anyway, I just wanted to say - I totally agree with him 110%. That is why I'm making my weight goal very loosely. Pretty much when I look in the mirror and say I'm done - and my health charts are good, I'll be done. I only based my "goal" on the highest end of the BMI chart. I personally feel I'm quite close.

I had a nice talk with my surgeon yesterday. He will not give a weight goal, and encourages his patients to not set a weight goal. He said that numbers are a trap... people set themselves up for feeling like they are a failure if they land 5 or more pounds from the number they made up. He said look at your health goals first. Did you succeed in reaching them? Your body will find its weight, if you follow the Drs orders, you will get where your body wants to be. He said with the inability of many people to see how they look after they lose weight, its even more crazy, others many see you as slim and just fine...as we see ourselves as still fat.

That is very sensible, and really, that is what he is doing the surgery for and insurance is paying for....but he is SO not vain!

My nut said the same about my body finding the weight it's comfortable at, that's why I keep changing my goal!

My Dr said the same thing when I asked him what is my goal weight. He simply stated he's not going to give me a number, we will know when i get there. I was stunned because I've heard and read everyones Dr atleast has a goal weight for them to be at but hey I'll take my Dr's approach. So my goal is to get to 160-170 lbs. I think begin smaller then that at 5'6 wouldn't look good on me.

Well I must admit that I was disappointed when my surgeon said our goal was 150 pounds; I am 5'3" and I remember the last time I weighed 150 pounds, I was already fat looking at 150 pounds! The numbers back it up too, 150 lbs at 5'3" is still overweight. I know that BMI charts don't give the full picture but according to it, if I want to fall within the normal spectrum for my height, I should weight 119-121 lbs. God I hope! I hope!! Yes, yes, I would be grateful for 150 pounds and I KNOW I should be grateful for every pound that takes me away from the horrible place I was in, but I can't help -hungering- for those numbers ...