I apologize if this has been gone ove a million times but I would like some real world experienced weight losers to chime in on this. (I am going to a seminar next month and will be getting an appointment with a surgeon as soon as I find one that I am comfortable with.)

If I have the sleeve surgery I can expect to lose 50% of my "excess body weight in 2 years" or if I have RNY surgery I can expect to lose 60% "excess body weight in 2 years". So that is a difference of 10% excess body weight in 2 years which is not a lot of difference, in my opinion, for the increased complications that you can have with the RNY surgery.

I know everyone loses differently but I am a very motiviated woman at this point. I will be turning 50 later this year and I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and borderline hypertension. I also have a diagnosis of major depression.

The statistics I am reading are telling me that if I want need to lose a total of 116 lbs to be in a "healthy normal BMI range" that the surgeries will only help me to lose approximately 57.5 - 69.6 lbs? And I may only have 6-9 months to lose this weight?

I will ask my surgeon (when I find one) these questions also but I am curious about the answers you all will have for me.

Thank you very much for your time and your knowledge,

Jade

I was reading up on this today as well and am wondering the same things!!

When the first doctor I talked to said, "You can expect to lose 60% of your excess weight" I asked how he came up with that number. He said, "Averages". My response was, "I am not giving this an average-type of effort."

I went into this wanting to lose 106 pounds - 256 high weight down to 150 pounds. I'm at 183 and have only lost 7 pounds in the past 2.5 months. I'm discouraged because I've slowed down so much. I'm just shy of 8 months post op.

I can tell you - although I won't be happy with my roughly 70% loss, if I don't lose another pound, my life is better today than it was a year ago. My size is smaller today than at the same weight years ago. I'm more active and a lot of my health problems are gone, my aches and pains are gone.

The numbers are not as important to me right now - I'm working out a lot and doing my best to eat on program. Those are the things I can control. I can't control how my body decides it's going to lose the pounds.. The scale doesn't have the same hold on me as it did early on. I feel fantastic and i think I look pretty good, too! :-)

I apologize if this has been gone ove a million times but I would like some real world experienced weight losers to chime in on this. (I am going to a seminar next month and will be getting an appointment with a surgeon as soon as I find one that I am comfortable with.)

If I have the sleeve surgery I can expect to lose 50% of my "excess body weight in 2 years" or if I have RNY surgery I can expect to lose 60% "excess body weight in 2 years". So that is a difference of 10% excess body weight in 2 years which is not a lot of difference, in my opinion, for the increased complications that you can have with the RNY surgery.

I know everyone loses differently but I am a very motiviated woman at this point. I will be turning 50 later this year and I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and borderline hypertension. I also have a diagnosis of major depression.

The statistics I am reading are telling me that if I want need to lose a total of 116 lbs to be in a "healthy normal BMI range" that the surgeries will only help me to lose approximately 57.5 - 69.6 lbs? And I may only have 6-9 months to lose this weight?

I will ask my surgeon (when I find one) these questions also but I am curious about the answers you all will have for me.

Thank you very much for your time and your knowledge,

Jade

I am 54 but was 53 at the time of my RNY surgery on 5/30/13. I weighed 233 (at 5' tall I looked like a weeble and had been obese for 27 years) when I had my first appt w/my surgeon. I am 13 months out and have lost 120 lbs. I'm in a size 6 slacks and a small top. I used to be a very tight 2X. I have lost a little over 50% of my TOTAL body weight. I'm very happy about it, to say the least!

You need to not worry about percentages etc. Everybody is different. Your body may react differently than mine did or the next persons will. I had vertical sleeve done Dec 26th 2013. I have lost a total of 230 lbs. 65 oreop. 165 post op. Just over 6 months since surgery. Yes I am very motivated. I swim 45-60 minutes a day. Walk 3.5 miles every day I can. I also walk 2-4 miles during work. Lift weights if shoulders allow. It. Early morning I use resistance bands and AB rocket. I have no idea how much excess weight I have lost. Nor do I care how much more I may lose. Type 2 diabetes. Gone!! High cholesterol. Gone!! High BP. Gone!! Hypertension..Gone!! I haven't been on any meds for about 3 months. Only thing I take now is my vitamins!! I don't get all wrapped up with scale or percentages. What I get excited about. Having people see me and say OMG. You look great. Etc. Shirt size down from 6XL to 2XL. Pants down from 56 to 40. Yes I have excess skin that will have to be taken care of down the road. Again don't care right now about it.the benefits of the surgery is my health. My team says I have put 20 plus years back on my life!! I say don't worry about the weight loss. Excess skin. Etc. Look at the benefits. Oh yeah. I will be 47 years young end of July!! Good luck on your journey!! It us a great journey to be on!!

Averages are interesting but not limiting. I started at 308; lost 150 in 14 months to Get to my goal158'. I maintained for awhile and am now down to 140. So I went from a BMI over 50 to now 23. I lost more than 100 percent of my excess weight I was 48 when I was sleeved, 50 now.

I was told to expect to lose 60-70 percent of my excess weight based on my surgeon's averages. I asked the nutritionist how to beat the averages.

Don't know why you can't beat them too. It's not easy or even fast but it's possible.

Wow! You are such an inspiration! So glad to hear of your success and longer life ... you richly deserve it.

You need to not worry about percentages etc. Everybody is different. Your body may react differently than mine did or the next persons will. I had vertical sleeve done Dec 26th 2013. I have lost a total of 230 lbs. 65 oreop. 165 post op. Just over 6 months since surgery. Yes I am very motivated. I swim 45-60 minutes a day. Walk 3.5 miles every day I can. I also walk 2-4 miles during work. Lift weights if shoulders allow. It. Early morning I use resistance bands and AB rocket. I have no idea how much excess weight I have lost. Nor do I care how much more I may lose. Type 2 diabetes. Gone!! High cholesterol. Gone!! High BP. Gone!! Hypertension..Gone!! I haven't been on any meds for about 3 months. Only thing I take now is my vitamins!! I don't get all wrapped up with scale or percentages. What I get excited about. Having people see me and say OMG. You look great. Etc. Shirt size down from 6XL to 2XL. Pants down from 56 to 40. Yes I have excess skin that will have to be taken care of down the road. Again don't care right now about it.the benefits of the surgery is my health. My team says I have put 20 plus years back on my life!! I say don't worry about the weight loss. Excess skin. Etc. Look at the benefits. Oh yeah. I will be 47 years young end of July!! Good luck on your journey!! It us a great journey to be on!!

I'm a bypass guy so I have no experience to base any comments on regarding the sleeve. I do know a little something about my journey following my bypass. I lost 130 lbs in just over 14 months. Starting weight was 285 and my weight leveled off at 155 and a BMI of 22.9 (height 5' 9"). I'm now almost two years and nine months post-op. Since hitting 155, my weight has never been above 156 or below 151. This morning I was 151.4.

"Excess weight" is usually defined by the medical community as any weight that results in a BMI of 25 or greater. So by that definition, I lost a little over 100% of my excess weight. To this day I always find that quite bizarre. There's absolutely nothing special about me. My approach to my weight loss journey was quite simple and unassuming. Stay positive. Stay patient. Stay focused on following the plan as closely to the letter as I possibly could. Exercise to my ability. And maintain a food log.

Neither my surgeon nor any member of her team ever suggested a goal weight. And I never asked. My goal was to simply follow my plan until my body told me it was where it wanted to be. I never had any preconceived idea regarding how long my weight loss should/could/would take. I was confident that I would know when I arrived at my destination. And that's exactly what happened.

I believe that the weight loss journey is much less stressful, and much more fun, if you just forget about time limits and goal weights. Trust the process. Trust your body. Allow it to find its own way in its own time. Your body will tell you when it's where it wants to be. And when your body is where it wants to be - you're gonna love the new you!

You need to not worry about percentages etc. Everybody is different. Your body may react differently than mine did or the next persons will. I had vertical sleeve done Dec 26th 2013. I have lost a total of 230 lbs. 65 oreop. 165 post op. Just over 6 months since surgery. Yes I am very motivated. I swim 45-60 minutes a day. Walk 3.5 miles every day I can. I also walk 2-4 miles during work. Lift weights if shoulders allow. It. Early morning I use resistance bands and AB rocket. I have no idea how much excess weight I have lost. Nor do I care how much more I may lose. Type 2 diabetes. Gone!! High cholesterol. Gone!! High BP. Gone!! Hypertension..Gone!! I haven't been on any meds for about 3 months. Only thing I take now is my vitamins!! I don't get all wrapped up with scale or percentages. What I get excited about. Having people see me and say OMG. You look great. Etc. Shirt size down from 6XL to 2XL. Pants down from 56 to 40. Yes I have excess skin that will have to be taken care of down the road. Again don't care right now about it.the benefits of the surgery is my health. My team says I have put 20 plus years back on my life!! I say don't worry about the weight loss. Excess skin. Etc. Look at the benefits. Oh yeah. I will be 47 years young end of July!! Good luck on your journey!! It us a great journey to be on!!

B R A V O !!! Well said and congratulations on a great, great job!!

Depends on what numbers you use to calculate your excess body weight. According to the Hamwi formula, I should weigh 125. (Which is fuc ... ing ridiculous, BTW). In that case, I've only lost 78% of my excess body weight. But if you use my surgeons goal weight, I've lost 113% of my excess weight! and if you use my goal, which is normal BMI I've lost 100%.

I believe that the weight loss journey is much less stressful, and much more fun, if you just forget about time limits and goal weights. Trust the process. Trust your body. Allow it to find its own way in its own time. Your body will tell you when it's where it wants to be. And when your body is where it wants to be - you're gonna love the new you!

BRAVO!! This should be the BP motto and EVERYONE should be required to repeat it to themselves everyday. And it should be written on stone tablets and hung at an official annual scale burning party.

Your level of success is mostly up to you. It's similar to high school where the scholastic average is around 3.0. You can be a 4.0 student if you work hard. You can also fail and be much less than 3.0. That's why it's called an average. We have many 4.0-4.2 students here but we also have some 2.0 students too. Sometimes it's not how hard you work, but life can throw a lot of curves.

I apologize if this has been gone ove a million times but I would like some real world experienced weight losers to chime in on this. (I am going to a seminar next month and will be getting an appointment with a surgeon as soon as I find one that I am comfortable with.) If I have the sleeve surgery I can expect to lose 50% of my "excess body weight in 2 years" or if I have RNY surgery I can expect to lose 60% "excess body weight in 2 years". So that is a difference of 10% excess body weight in 2 years which is not a lot of difference, in my opinion, for the increased complications that you can have with the RNY surgery. I know everyone loses differently but I am a very motiviated woman at this point. I will be turning 50 later this year and I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and borderline hypertension. I also have a diagnosis of major depression. The statistics I am reading are telling me that if I want need to lose a total of 116 lbs to be in a "healthy normal BMI range" that the surgeries will only help me to lose approximately 57.5 - 69.6 lbs? And I may only have 6-9 months to lose this weight? I will ask my surgeon (when I find one) these questions also but I am curious about the answers you all will have for me. Thank you very much for your time and your knowledge, Jade

Everyone is different. I have the band. I lost 60% of my BMI in under 1 year. I have been around the same weight for over 1 year. My doctor is thrilled. I would like to lose 40-50 more. Time will tell. I didn't gain it all in 1-3 years.

losses via inches/pounds/BMI varies per person per doctor per various reasons..

i have the lap band w/plication..i have lost 170 pounds...starting bmi of 62..to me, that

is what matters me losing and not getting so hung up on %'s and comparison shopping.

have the WLS you want and will use as advised by your doctor and get well...

Cowgirl - what advice did your nutritionist give on how to beat the averages? Would love to be as successful as you! Thx

I asked the nutritionist how to beat the averages.

Don't know why you can't beat them too. It's not easy or even fast but it's possible.

This is one of those crazy things. I think when we see what everyone is doing here it can skew how we feel about our own successes. At my last appointment (around 6-7 months post-op) the PA told me that as far as the practice is concerned, I am now a success story, with just about 70% of my excess weight loss to get to their goal of 160. My personal goal is to get as low as I can go, but at almost 9 months now, the weight is really moving slowly. Everything people say is true: my body still shifts around, my life is 100% better and healthier, I can't believe what I can do physically, and for the MOST part I am enjoying the way I look. My personal goal is 150; my stretch goal is 143 (100 pounds.) Will I get there? I don't know…I hope so. Right now it's a constant dance of figuring out what kind of workouts work for my body and make me feel good. Experimenting with what and how I eat. Trying to be patient when the scale doesn't do exactly what I think it should be doing. I think that is because a lot of what we believe, we still base on "conventional" wisdom, and that doesn't really cut it anymore. For example, keeping my calories steady and burning 3500 extra calories in a week does not automatically lead to a pound of weight loss. We want to quantify and be in control, and I'm squarely in the phase where I have to just do the right thing and trust.

It's a trip, isn't it?