I had my first appointment with my bariatric surgeon and he was great. He recommended the sleeve for me and gave me some interesting statistics about dieting in general.

He mentioned that once your BMI hits 35, the chances of keeping weight off long term is slim to none without weight loss surgery. The problem is not losing it but keeping it off, and I can attest to that! I am sure most of us can.

He also talked about how he and his wife have had their practice for 15 years but nearly lost it all during the lap band craze. Apparently the lap band was in Europe long before the US and all of the research coming out stated that the lap band was no good. For that reason, they refused to perform the surgery when other clinics were performing it on most of their patients. He said that he can sleep better at night knowing that he put the patient before the pocket book, and that meant a lot to me. (This clinic and surgeon have glowing reviews, and I can see why.)

Also, he said that if I can lose 12 pounds in the next 3 months, he will only make me do 2 days of liquids before the surgery, not two weeks. It sure is easier dieting when you have a goal like that to look forward too, LoL.

SW:239

GW: 150

Texas Mommy sounds like you have a good committed surgeon. I see good things ahead for you, let us know when you fulfill your requirements and have a surgery date cause we will all be sending good wishes your way. You're on your way to better health and a longer life with your little ones. God Bless.

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That is so awesome! I love seeing doctors resist the professional peer pressure to do things that aren't evidence-based. (Dr. Matthew Weiner has a video on YouTube with the title, "Bariatric Patients, Eat Your Veggies First!" and with all the "protein first, protein first!" talk, that rebellious title just tickles me.)

I do agree with your surgeon about the #'s on losing weight once you're severely obese. It seems like the metabolic and hormonal changes that the fat tissue causes in the body are really difficult to overcome. For me, the #'s for people overweight from childhood (check) and BMI above 50 (check) were so abysmal that even before I considered surgery I had trouble believing I would ever lose weight. I felt like I was fooling myself. I'm glad I finally chose to go forward with surgery and I look forward to maintaining weight loss for the rest of my life!

Congrats on taking the first step! Surgery will be here before you know it.