Ok I had my pre-op appointment this past Tuesday. I lost 10lbs!! Anyway they did all these measurements on me and then we discussed the surgery and expectations. Mind you my goal has NEVER to be skinny. I just want to be healthy and able to do the activities I used to do. I am 5'9 and I weigh 265. ( I cant believe I just shared my weight). I have always been fairly active and athletic. i worked in a gym in highschool, played sports, and just am an outdoors type person overall. I am pretty well proportioned but my thighs are my biggest problem area. When I am reading everyone elses experience and they weigh about the same as me I am confused. Alot of people say they are trying to get to 150 or 160 or the surgeons goal is 160 and thier personal goal is 150. My surgeon just told me he thinks I should stay around 180-185. He said my BMI is different and I have dense muscle under a layer of fat. Does this sound right? I was thinking of getting to 170 or 175 and that was more than the suggested weight for a person my height which is between 150-160. Can i get some feedback about this?

Thanks,

I am believing more and more to toss the BMI charts right out the window and settle on a weight that FEELS good to you. I am 6' tall and have lost 165 pounds at weigh in at 210 now, technically that's still 20 pounds overweight for a top weight of 190 for my height. Most people think I weigh about 180 already and can't believe me when I say I should lose another 20-30 pounds. I am wearing size 36 pants and they are baggy, size MEDIUM or large shirts depending on how they're cut. While I don't have rippling muscles I am more muscular now than at ANY point in my life. BP, blood sugar, cholesterol and all other blood tests are extraordinary. My doc says I'm one of the healthiest people he sees.

I LOOK lanky even in my OWN eyes. My weight loss has dropped to about 1 pound a week max which tells me I am eating about the right amount of food and only have to add a few hundred more calories a day to stay at this weight. I may just get off this train a few stations early and call it home where I land.

So toss the BMI numbers, pick a high one and make the goal and if you can easily loose more without turning into Skelator then go for it with a new goal. A few pounds "overweight"and turning in excellent health numbers and feeling and looking good are more important in my book now then making an arbitrary "goal".

Good question.

My surgeon placed my goal at 10 to 15 pounds above what I am now. Can remember before surgery that a weight of 160 sounded like heaven. (I am an inch shorter than you) Am I too skinny today? No. Am I am undernourished? Not according to my bloodwork. So what makes a good goal weight? In my opinion it is both BMI and how you feel/look.

You will know what, is right for your body, really. As long as you are not obsessed with being a certain pants size or hitting a certain low BMI wieght, your body will probably let you know. I have only lost 5 pounds approx. since March but I have dropped two dress sizes. My weight bounces around according to hormones, what I eat and other external factors but only by a few pounds.

Now is not about what I weigh or don't weight but how I feel, how healthy I am and if I am getting in enough protien and taking my suppliments. I add calories if I drop below 138 as I think that makes me look a little sickly. I range from 137-143 within a month. BMI of 21.5 which is right in the middle range of healthy normal BMI.

Don't worry about a "goal" right now, work towards becoming "normal." Then you can discuss with a nutritionist what is a good weight for you. By then you can discover what your body type really is after shedding most of your excess. Who knew my collar bones were so beautiful?

Thank you for the insight. I think I will avoid the scale until my follow up appointments and just focus on how I feel. I really dont want numbers on a scale to rule my life.

My doc has a fancy scale that measures your bones, muscle mass, water weight etc....and it calculates where your ideal weight will prob be.

I picked 145 lbs as my goal weight. It's right at a 24.9 BMI, so I would be "almost overweight" at 145. That doesn't bother me, though. I, like you, just want to be healthy. I don't care to be a skinny minny, but instead want to be average sized for once in my life.

I have a large body frame, too, so my goal weight should fall in the higher range of a normal BMI for my height. My aunt, who has the same body frame and height as me, went down to 139 lbs and looked sickly and frail. It of course may be different for me, so I'd like to keep an open mind.

So, while I picked 145 as my goal weight, I really have a "goal weight range" of 135-155 lbs.

I also agree with Rootman about BMI- it's not a perfect indicator of health.

If a miracle skin suck machine is developed so I can sleep in it at night and wake up taut and back in my 25 year old body, I'll look at the BMI chart. But as long as I am hauling around 10 pounds of excess skin I'll shoot for my own goal.

Any brainiacs here? If so, get to work on that skin suck machine pronto.