In summary from reading these and other articles (my conclusion—please draw your own, I am not an expert and still awaiting to be sleeved!). I am having a bit of pre-surgery jitters, so re-researching to be clear I am making the right choice for me, for the right reasons and my expectations of self and surgery are realistic.

The long term percentage rate of dieters regaining most or all weight back does seem to be much higher (up to 95%) than those that actually have bariatric surgery . HOWEVER, WITH THAT SAID, SOME STUDIES SAY UP TO 5% OF BARIATRIC PATIENTS GAIN IT ALL BACK. 2-3 years after surgery 80% of patients regain 5-10 pounds and approximately another 20% keep creeping up (unclear how much and if you look at other stats it appears most of them most get a handle on it).

I am having pre-surgery (April 10, 2012) jitters and was having moments of wanting to back out but the stats seem to favor using the tool of surgery, but it is obvious bariatric surgery is no magic wand and one still has to ;

PORTION CONTROL (YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE ABLE TO EAT ENOUGH TO REGAIN WEIGHT—IF NOT CAREFUL!)

EATING THE RIGHT FOODS

EXERCISE

SUPPORT SYSTEMS (FOR BOTH EATING & WORKING OUT HABITS AND OVERALL MENTAL HEALTH support for dealing with the daily stressors in life!)

Dieters-Weight Gain Stats

http://magazine.ucla.edu/exclusives/dieting_no-go/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/438395-the-percentage-of-people-who-regain-weight-after-rapid-weight-loss-risks/

http://www.lvrj.com/health/weight-loss-hard-to-maintain-121986554.html

Weight Gain Stats for Gastric Surgery Patients;

http://www.livestrong.com/article/407343-a-regain-after-weight-loss-surgery/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1856611/ (very medical stat type of doc)

http://livingafterwls.blogspot.com/2011/05/understanding-weight-gain-after-weight.html (a blog discussing stats but not referencing…so okay article)

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Fitness/story?id=4444057&page=1#.T3syJ_mUUq4 (a good and concise article)

http://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/weight-gain-after-gastric-bypass.html (Excellent article on regain stats, how not to regain, what other tools needed for success)

I like the way your mind is going. Nicely done research with halfway reliable sources too! If I would have looked down and saw references to wikipedia, I never would have kept going. lol

Love the dolphin pic..I would so love to do that someday! Thanks...there is probably more hard core research available, but a lot of it you have to pay for.

So, it's kinda like "What's the dif? I can either have the surgery and diet for the rest of my life or NOT have the surgery and diet for the rest of my life. Hmmmm...?" I looked at it this way...by having the surgery I'll have a jump start at achieving a normal BMI. That way, I can - for the first time in my life - keep an eye on my weight after achieving goal and then keep it under control as soon as I see a tendency for it to start clmbing. The difference being that I've never been in that position before because I've never been at a normal BMI. By not having the surgery I continue to have to face losing a huge amount of weight over a long period of time by dieting only and I've never been successful at that. That is why the sleeve is continually referred to as being just a tool. Am I making sense?