Other than having less weight to lose, how will the whole experience be different,if at all for a person with a lower bmi?

Just from reading this forum, it seems those with a lower BMI to start get closer to goal than those with a higher BMI and those with a higher BMI tend to lose faster in the beginning.

What about recovery. Easier , harder?

Recovery , depends on each individual...pain tolerance, tired ,energy etc....

What about recovery. Easier , harder?

i can only speak for myself, but i wanted to tell you that I HAD a BMI of 43 last year. I did my pre-op diet and lost 55lbs before surgery.

my surgery was a breeze for my surgeon and i did not have one complication, was not sick and went back to work on day 7 after my surgery. i believe that losing as much weight as you can makes it easier on you. i also exercised a lot and became stronger before surgery that helped too.

i have lost 43lbs in 13 weeks, so I believe I have lost a fairly good amount of weight, about 3.3lbs a week on average.

I really don't think my recovery and down time would have been so great if I wouldn't have lowered my BMI before surgery. I am perfectly happy with my loss this far. I would not want to lose it any faster than I am. I also am very close to goal and that makes me

Kelly

Hi,

It is impossible to say because we each only know our own experience. I had a BMI of 31. I had a revision from a lap and which is a more complicated surgery. My surgery went great, I never threw up, I was on liquids for 3 weeks, but I did cheat a bit and eat some yogurt and cottage cheese after 2 weeks because I COULD NOT tolerate the Protein shakes. I also started driking full sugar gatorade in the second week because I was getting zero nutrition. I had significant exhaustion for up to 8 weeks. Exhaustion to the point where I could barely hold my head up at my desk. It eventually went away, but it was depressing. I took 2 weeks off before I went back to work, and I was useless because I was so tired.

All that said, I have seen others with similar experience that were not low BMI. I think it depends on how your body handles surgery, how well you tolerate protein after the fact, how you tolerate the anesthesia, etc. I am 5 months out and am 75% to my goal. I am still losing a pound or so a week, but I only have 14 left to go. My stomach is small and I can only eat about 5 good bites of anything and then I have to stop. Although, I have also discovered that I can eat tortilla chips in large quantities and they are banned form my house :-)

Good luck--

I had a BMI of 40 going into the operation. I heaved and did so for 5 hours until i vomited after surgery, thus swelling the entire insides, making it very painful just to sip water. 4 days after surgery i have an infection in one of my incision sites and am taking by mouth HUGE antibiotic pills. I have very little energy and hope the lump above my infection incision is not a big deal. Every person is different and you will never know what will happen untill you have the surgery.

BTW dispite all, I'm glad i had it and do not reqret it.

My BMI was 35 and I had no post-op nausea, vomiting, or complications. I think post-op is more related to your surgeon's management immediately after and your individual tolerance for pain, how swollen you are, how you manage discomfort, and your overall health going in to surgery in the weeks after surgery. Some people sail on through and others struggle. I haven't noticed it related to BMI.