The dietician and doctor wanted my wife an I to lose 25 pounds in the 6 months leading up to surgery.

To those who had a long wait, how much weight did you end up losing before surgery?

Hi. My first appointment was March 2017 where I weighed in at 303 at 5'8". I thought the insurance required appointments (doctors, dietitian, psychiatrist, exercise evals, endoscopy, EKGs, blood work, etc.) would never end, but today, 7 months later...I am 40 pounds lighter (daily power walks and change in diet)!

The weight loss wasn't a "requirement" by my doctor, but something clicked in my head when I reached the 300 pound threshold that put the fire under me to become serious and do something about it. I started my two week pre-op diet a couple days ago (arrrgh!) but I am excited to finally be scheduled for the gastric sleeve surgery October 13th.

25 pounds in 6 months is definitely reasonable and sounds like your doctor just wants to gauge your mental commitment to the process. I wish you and your wife the best of luck in your journeys!

between the six-month supervised diet required by my insurance, and the two-week pre-op liquid diet required by my surgeon, I lost 57 lbs

Okay, we wouldn’t need the surgery if we could lose the weight. So why is it we have to lose beforehand? I realize they want to see how much we can “commit” but we wouldn’t have to resort to surgery if we could keep it off. HELP!

Okay, we wouldn’t need the surgery if we could lose the weight. So why is it we have to lose beforehand? I realize they want to see how much we can “commit” but we wouldn’t have to resort to surgery if we could keep it off. HELP!

I know for me it was an insurance thing. The insurance company wanted to see that you were dedicated and they weren’t about to waste thousands of dollars on you. I only had to be down 1 pound for 4 consecutive months. So it wasn’t a huge battle. I know a lot of dr’s will not operate if you are of a certain size because the risks of death becomes greater. On my case my starting weight was a little under 300 and I had no mobility breathing or health issues that made it imperative i loose a certain amount of weight before surgery. But for people who may be in the 400’s and above they may have to loose.

The dietician and doctor wanted my wife an I to lose 25 pounds in the 6 months leading up to surgery.
To those who had a long wait, how much weight did you end up losing before surgery?

I’ve lost 17 lbs in the 6 months...my partner has lost 41 lbs.

Hi everyone, this is my first post to this site - and I'm guessing, not my last! I have my appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday, after a myriad of tests and appointments and classes. I was told to lose 5% of my weight because it makes it easier and more safe for the surgeon to do his work. Apparently, when we lose some weight, our liver shrinks a bit and it's easier for him/her to move it out of the way to get to the stomach area. In any case, I've been doing the pre-surgery diet and I've gone from 271 to 253. I'm scared they might tell me to keep up the good work and not have the surgery because I've lost almost 20 pounds in a month. But, this is my typical thing. I can get myself to about 245 and then I start to gain again.

I understand your concern, but you will not be turned away for losing weight. The main purpose is what you stated: shrinking the liver so your surgeon can operate. Your doc probably already knows about your diet failures. Mine is a 20 pound weight loss and stop. Surprisingly, I've lost 26 pounds, but I've never starved myself like I've had to for this surgery. Which by the way is TOMORROW!

Best wishes to you.

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11 minutes ago, Cathy_Anne said:

Hi everyone, this is my first post to this site - and I'm guessing, not my last! I have my appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday, after a myriad of tests and appointments and classes. I was told to lose 5% of my weight because it makes it easier and more safe for the surgeon to do his work. Apparently, when we lose some weight, our liver shrinks a bit and it's easier for him/her to move it out of the way to get to the stomach area. In any case, I've been doing the pre-surgery diet and I've gone from 271 to 253. I'm scared they might tell me to keep up the good work and not have the surgery because I've lost almost 20 pounds in a month. But, this is my typical thing. I can get myself to about 245 and then I start to gain again.

I was afraid of that at first, too (that they would think I could lose it all on my own and wouldn't need the surgery), but you can also look at it from another angle - that losing weight shows you're motivated and are able to stick to a program. At any rate, I lost 57 lbs pre-surgery, and they never said anything one way or the other. The surgery went through as planned...

I'm told that the surgeons like you to lose weight before surgery because it reduces the size of your liver, which is right in their way. ok. I get it. I have to lose 17 lbs. so. I lost 3 in 1 week. and it came right back the next week. story of my LIFE. feeling frustrated and down and fearful i'll never lose the required amount. on top of it, i'm so tired of having every one I have to meet with tell me something different! do it this way.. do it that way.. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg. ok. i'm off my rant box.

15 minutes ago, laurileet said:

I'm told that the surgeons like you to lose weight before surgery because it reduces the size of your liver, which is right in their way. ok. I get it. I have to lose 17 lbs. so. I lost 3 in 1 week. and it came right back the next week. story of my LIFE. feeling frustrated and down and fearful i'll never lose the required amount. on top of it, i'm so tired of having every one I have to meet with tell me something different! do it this way.. do it that way.. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg. ok. i'm off my rant box.

My surgeon required a two-week liquid diet for everyone to shrink the liver. As far as the six-month supervised diet, that was required by my insurance company, not by the surgeon. But in retrospect, I was glad it was required because I used that time to gradually get used to the new eating routine (I cut calories, cut out simple carbs, increased by protein intake, weaned myself off caffeine, cut out soda, etc)

I am almost done with the 6 month supervised diet and I am down like 15 lbs from the start of this thing in June... but i was never told I had to lose a specific amount.

I lost 4 pounds total in six months. I would lose a few pounds, then gain them right back. It was never ending. My insurance and doctor didn't have an issue with it because I was on the Weight Watchers program. They didn't have a specific amount of weight to lose. I lost 10 pounds on the pre-op diet, 2 weeks before surgery.

I am about 4 months out and I am down 62 pounds.

Edited October 23, 20178 yr by egypthntr

I was on the 3 month preop diet plus had another month before surgery so in 4 months lost 68 pounds.

VSG 10/11/17
HW = 360
SW = 292
CW = 281
GW = 220 (6'5")

I'm told that the surgeons like you to lose weight before surgery because it reduces the size of your liver, which is right in their way. ok. I get it. I have to lose 17 lbs. so. I lost 3 in 1 week. and it came right back the next week. story of my LIFE. feeling frustrated and down and fearful i'll never lose the required amount. on top of it, i'm so tired of having every one I have to meet with tell me something different! do it this way.. do it that way.. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg. ok. i'm off my rant box.

Like you I was struggling to lose the weight my doc required me to lose, then I tried Keto ...dropped 30lbs and kept it off til my appointment with surgeon last week & got my surgery date today! You can do this! Keep me updated!

I ended up losing 17 pounds the first month