Hello all,. I am a male, 37 years old….Living in Atlanta, GA. I’m having my first appointment tomorrow. I am about 5’8 in a half and I weigh 246. My BMI is about 37.4 … I am obese but do not LOOK obese. I have tried to get the weight down on my own. I have gained upward to 255 pounds in my life. I in my most recent trial to do it on my own have gotten down to 235 which took about 8 weeks to do so starting at 250 pounds. I have no gained 11 pounds back and back up there which has led me here to finally considering gastric sleeve. If I start the nutrition plan and lose 15 pounds before surgery, I will be at 230 and then my BMI will be at exactly 35. People will then look at me, maybe even the doctor who i have no met yet and say, “oh you look good, you dont need surgery”, I am afraid to start the process and have any kind of hiccups… I know how to “look slender” in certain clothes but to be honest, i need to be back to my 180 size. It’s better for my blood pressure and sleep apnea. At 230 pounds if I get there on my own, i still have BP issues. 5 years ago, i was able to get down to 218, but no lower than that. And now im back up to 246 again.I just dont know if this is right for me. I have a very physically demanding job which requires me to drink water very often to hydrate. My concern is that I wont be able to hydrate properly after my surgery because i can only sip water. I need to be able to drink at least 1 liter of water per day on my demanding job. (One liter is 2 regular bottles of water)…. How did you all who are water drinkers overcome your water intake and hydration issues for those who must drink water as a necessity because of their physical demanding job? Also, did anyone who is my height 5’8 - 5’9 get surgery around 230- 240 pounds? What was your results? What did doc say?

My starting weight was 5'7", 235 lbs... so close to the same BMI as you. Similar to you, I wondered if I was "big enough" to get the surgery... but I had increasing health issues... diabetes and sleep apnea. I am SO GLAD I DID IT.

I lost all of my excess weight, my diabetes is in remission, and I no longer have sleep apnea. And I love the way I look.

The reality is, even though you're not morbidly obese, the likelihood of you losing and keeping off a substantial amount of weight is near zero (as you've discovered). Weight loss surgery is the only evidence-based means of losing and maintaining the kind of loss we need to achieve a healthy weight.

Here is a video about Low BMI weight loss surgery outcomes. You can also search these forums for "low BMI." There are lots of us who have gone through the same questions you have.

Thanks for posting that video. I was on the lower BMI and also wondered about the success of weight loss. Good to know !

It’s not as bad as you think it’ll be! Just walk as much as possible ?