Weight loss before surgery

[JohnBear 5]

Hello everyone,

kind of an odd question, but did anyone start the weight loss diet and end up losing all/most of their weight before surgery? Y husband decided we would start the diet well before surgery and in 2 weeks I have dropped 13lbs.

[Mark.olypenn 5]

I dropped 15 lbs in the first three months of the medically managed weight loss program. I lost 10 lbs in the first month. In the fourth month, I had my lap band removed as the first step to revision to gastric bypass. I stalled at 15 lbs loss, then gained 2-3 lbs back. The first weeks of a diet are usually Water weight loss. So, the first few weeks can be encouraging.

[Raebae 23]

13lb in 2 weeks you may not need surgery

[RickM 1,747]

The key here on a surgery decision is how well can you maintain the loss that you attain?

It is not unusual to lose 10-15 lb fairly quickly when one starts a serious weight loss program (the so-called "easy ten") as your body tends to use up its quick energy reserves of glycogen (basically stored carbohydrate) which burns off fairly quickly. On average, we have 2 lb of glycogen kept in solution by about 8 lb of Water - the "easy 10". YMMV, but I suspect that guys tend to store a bit more as we are more muscular, and glycogen is stored in the muscle tissues. Once your body runs out of glycogen and it gets the idea that you are serious about this caloric deficit thing, it changes gears and starts to tap your stored fat to live on and to partially restore functional glycogen levels, but there may be a bit of a lag or stall before that happens (look up the three, or third, week stall)

It is very common for people to go through a pre-op weight loss program of some months, either for insurance purposes or as a "one last try..." and lose a lot of weight and think they have this nailed, and decide against the surgery. And then the weight comes back on, just as usually happens after major diet efforts (which is why most are here looking for WLS.)

I did the insurance diet in concert with my wife, who was #1 on the runway - much higher BMI and comorbidities - and lost about 50lb or a third of my excess in that time. Philosophically, it was less of a weight loss oriented diet as it was a weight control or maintenance diet - what habits do I need to develop for 5-10 years out to maintain health and weight, rather that maximizing short term loss.

As we were still trying to get my wife on the table (the DS she needed was still considered "investigational" by many insurers at the time) so I went into sustain mode - kept up tweaking the diet to keep it sustainable but made little progress on additional loss, but also maintained the loss that I had accomplished. Even after she finally had her WLS I maintained the loss and didn't feel overly inclined to go for the WLS (the VSG was not routinely performed or approved by insurance yet at that time, and I deemed the DS and RNY to be overkill for my needs.) Once the VSG was being approved by our insurance, several years later, it was apparent that I still needed that help to get the remaining weight off, though I was still maintaining that initial loss; had I regained what I had lost as is often the case, I would have gone for the DS instead, as that has much better regain resistance than the other procedures.

So, by all means, think, rethink and reconsider the process and be comfortable with it. But do take a long term look at it, not just what weight can you lost over the next 6-12 months.

Good luck on it!

[JohnBear 5]

I am pretty sure it is the “easy ten”. I have tried to lose weight for many years with little to no long term success.

[GradyCat 3,692]

Congrats on your weight loss. You might want to consider whether this is something you feel you'd rather do on your own now that you've proven you can be successful or whether you want to continue with the surgery. Either decision, of course, is fine.

[Uomograsso 364]

I lost 97 lbs prior to surgery (12 of that was pre-op liquid diet). I have lost that same 97 lbs three times in my life before this. Each time I lost weight like that I regained it and more. I too questioned whether I needed surgery or not as well. Then I thought back to previous attempts and decided to go forward with surgery. I am so glad I did. I have almost zero hunger compared to pre-surgery. Four ounces of food fills me up. I am now eating to live rather than living to eat. I am working hard on reprogramming my fat brain to a skinny brain. Every pound you lose prior to surgery is one less you have to lose post surgery in my opinion.

[catwoman7 10,858]

I agree with the person who wondered if you could maintain it. I lost a ton of weight over my adult life - but until I had surgery, I eventually gained it back. Happened a gazillion times. If you can maintain your loss, then you may be fine without surgery.

[JohnBear 5]

That's my worry too. My husband keeps saying "maybe by June, you won't need the surgery". I don't see me losing 80+ lbs by June, let alone keeping off.

[VIN_IN_AL 55]

I went from 398 pounds in January 2019 down to 319 pounds at the end of June 2019. I was on a Saxenda prescription since February 2019 and I also attended a live-in weight loss boot camp where I finished 6 of the 10 weeks I had paid. I stopped the Saxenda injections when I started the boot camp and canceled my weight loss surgery at week 6 thinking I got this handled.

On week 7 there was a death in the family and I had to stop the boot camp and return home to deal with the mess. I am a stress eater, it's been a problem the majority of my life.

Old habits are hard to break so before I knew it I was putting the weight right back on. By October I had regain just about everything I lost, it simply amazes me how easily the weight comes back if you deviate from the process that helped you remove the weight.

[MaineDoc 31]

I’ve lost close to 70 lbs prior to surgery, which is scheduled for March 11. My primary reason for going forward with surgery is that I’ve successfully lost very large amounts of weight before (probably lost and gained 500 lbs in my life) but I’ve never been able to maintain it. My thinking is that the surgery will (hopefully) be the key tool for me to lock in the changes for the long-term.