Hello all,

I’m prepping for VSG in October. I weight currently about 296. I’m 31 and ‘4”. I’ve spent months dreaming and looking forward to this tool to help me once and for all. I’m worried I won’t be successful. And I’m worried I won’t be satisfied because my expectations are too high? Does anyone know what a realistic weight for me is? My surgeon didn’t really give me a straight answer.

Thanks in advance!

5’4”

The amount of weight you end up losing with VSG depends on a number of things: diet, exercise, lifestyle, your overall commitment to changing bad habits, and the size of the pouch your surgeon makes can make all the difference in your overall weight loss.

Statistically I was told VSG has an average of 50-70% excess weight loss. But that statistic includes the people who work their tails off to improve their result, the people who follow the guidelines but don't go over the top, the people who mostly follow the guidelines, and those who don't follow their guidelines at all.

I'm sure that if you do everything you're supposed to do you could get above the 50-70% excess weight loss because there are several people on this site who were able to do it.

If you go by statisics you'd lose about 75-105 pounds. But I'm sure with hard work you could lose a lot more than that! Everyone's body works differently. Some people lose fast while others lose slow. I'm one of the slow ones... but I've still lost 151 pounds and am still losing even if it's only 1-3 pounds a week (I lost two pounds this week).

Congrats on your upcoming surgery and I wish you the best!

The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collective has a database of WLS outcomes, and they created a calculator that takes into account your height, weight, age, and gender to estimate your weight loss for each type of WLS. Of course, this is only an average and any individual's results can vary, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013

12 minutes ago, BigSue said:

The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collective has a database of WLS outcomes, and they created a calculator that takes into account your height, weight, age, and gender to estimate your weight loss for each type of WLS. Of course, this is only an average and any individual's results can vary, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013

I haven't seen that outcomes calculator before. It's quite interesting. I'm three years post op, but I put in my data prior to surgery and it predicted that I would be 259lbs in my third year, I'm actually about 210. I think that calculator is pretty conservative, so it's definitely very realistic in what you can achieve. I think a lot of people, e.g. on these forums are doing much better than what would be predicted by that calculator, but it really is up to the individual.

21 minutes ago, BigSue said:

The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collective has a database of WLS outcomes, and they created a calculator that takes into account your height, weight, age, and gender to estimate your weight loss for each type of WLS. Of course, this is only an average and any individual's results can vary, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013

Do you have to register for that site to work? It didn't work for me.

2 minutes ago, It's time. said:

Do you have to register for that site to work? It didn't work for me.

No registration required. Once you fill in your information, click the save icon on the top right of the screen (it's kind of confusing because you probably expect a "submit" button at the bottom and there isn't one).

I didn't register or log in (I'm can't be bothered, lol), I just completed the form and then clicked the little "save" disk icon on the top left (see pic).

I then scrolled down and it showed me a table below, I was doing a comparison based on if I had gotten other types of surgery and it showed me estimates for weight loss for both (noting that I didn't get RYGB or lap band, I was just playing around when I did these screen shots for you).

34 minutes ago, BigSue said:

The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collective has a database of WLS outcomes, and they created a calculator that takes into account your height, weight, age, and gender to estimate your weight loss for each type of WLS. Of course, this is only an average and any individual's results can vary, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013

It's interesting... and I'm definitely not mad at it. For me it said I'd be 197 by year one (which going by how slow I'm losing right now is entirely possible) and then 178 by year 2 and then 185 by year 3. I'd be okay with that. I mean it'd be nice to stay stable at 180, but 185 isn't bad at all...

this is cool! Although this is definitely based on averages. It predicted at year 2 I'd weigh 232. Actually, I weighed 138 then - so almost 100 lbs less (I gained a few lbs in year 3, which is unfortunately, very common). As others have said, that 50-70% they always quote is an average - and as with any average, there will be people who fall on either side of that. Just stay as committed as you can to your program. I almost never went off mine that first year.

1 minute ago, NovaLuna said:

It's interesting... and I'm definitely not mad at it. For me it said I'd be 197 by year one (which going by how slow I'm losing right now is entirely possible) and then 178 by year 2 and then 185 by year 3. I'd be okay with that. I mean it'd be nice to stay stable at 180, but 185 isn't bad at all...

Yep, and that's 185 assuming you're totally average from a statistical perspective, so you really never know what is possible. I also think about what my weight would have been if I hadn't had the surgery. Realistically, it's not like my weight would have stayed the same, e.g. at my pre-surgery weight, it would definitely have climbed much higher without some kind of intervention...

3 minutes ago, LaLaDee said:

Yep, and that's 185 assuming you're totally average from a statistical perspective, so you really never know what is possible. I also think about what my weight would have been if I hadn't had the surgery. Realistically, it's not like my weight would have stayed the same, e.g. at my pre-surgery weight, it would definitely have climbed much higher without some kind of intervention...

Well I have thyroid issues and have already had my meds adjusted twice and I think I need them adjusted again so that's part of why my loss is slower. Also, I can't exercise due to chronic dizziness and balance issues I developed a few weeks after surgery. My doctor is STILL trying to figure out what's causing it, but she thinks she knows what it is it just comes down to doing the testing to prove her theory. So I could probably have lost a lot faster if not for those issues... so statistical average isn't bad at this point in time.

But yeah I totally understand thinking about what could have been, I think about what weight I'd be now if I hadn't decided to do something about it. I was getting closer and closer to reaching 400 pounds and that alternately depressed and frustrated me. I was mad at myself for not being able to lose weight on my own and I was the heaviest person in my entire family! Now... I'm not. I'm somewhere in the middle now lol. I'll definitely never be the smallest as my cousin is like 117 pounds and is 5"11 and classified as underweight even though she eats more than anyone I know! She's got the best metabolism in the family and I've watched her pack away 3 hot dogs, a hamburger, fries, a slice of cake, and a bunch of eclairs in less than an hour! ?

3 hours ago, NovaLuna said:

The amount of weight you end up losing with VSG depends on a number of things: diet, exercise, lifestyle, your overall commitment to changing bad habits, and the size of the pouch your surgeon makes can make all the difference in your overall weight loss.

Nova nailed it here - and I fall untill that I was 377 On July 18 of last year, on Dec 27 My b day i weighed in at 215 Which is over a loss that meets the average.

Now for new information It took me a while to get my head on straight and get a routine. I crashed bad 45 days out due to not getting organized. This is must You are getting a tool and you need to have the whole workshop in order.

DIET ........... Vitamins and Minerals ...... Mental Health .......... and exercise, (Do not panic you will be amazed as you loose the weight how much you like walking and doing physical stuff)

Welcome to the Journey

7 hours ago, jackie1533 said:

Hello all,

I’m prepping for VSG in October. I weight currently about 296. I’m 31 and ‘4”. I’ve spent months dreaming and looking forward to this tool to help me once and for all. I’m worried I won’t be successful. And I’m worried I won’t be satisfied because my expectations are too high? Does anyone know what a realistic weight for me is? My surgeon didn’t really give me a straight answer.

Thanks in advance!

I weighed 296 the day of surgery and 180.4 on my 1 year. The lowest I got with VSG was 164.8 . I stuck to the plan. Good luck to you.

1 hour ago, LaLaDee said:

I haven't seen that outcomes calculator before. It's quite interesting. I'm three years post op, but I put in my data prior to surgery and it predicted that I would be 259lbs in my third year, I'm actually about 210. I think that calculator is pretty conservative, so it's definitely very realistic in what you can achieve. I think a lot of people, e.g. on these forums are doing much better than what would be predicted by that calculator, but it really is up to the individual.

I hope you're right! According to my estimated weightloss, it's showing 162 - my goal is 130 (agreed upon with my surgeon as being totally realistic).

25 minutes ago, NovaLuna said:

Also, I can't exercise due to chronic dizziness and balance issues I developed a few weeks after surgery. My doctor is STILL trying to figure out what's causing it, but she thinks she knows what it is it just comes down to doing the testing to prove her theory. So I could probably have lost a lot faster if not for those issues... so statistical average isn't bad at this point in time.

I had issues with that at about two years out and they did a complete work-up. Everything normal. It was a head-scratcher for sure. But then it got really bad one afternoon about an hour or two after I had a piece of cake at some retirement party at work. My PCP suspects it may have been reactive hypoglycemia - and that my glucose level just happened to be normal at the time of the work-up. Although I'm sure you've been tested for that. I now eat something every three hours or so and always pair a carb (when I eat them) with a protein. It seems to have worked... But again, not sure what your issue is. I hope they can figure it out!