I recently did a body analysis and found out that I am 242 lbs (I'm 5'5) and I have 142.5 lbs of lean muscle!! I am in shock! I knew I was muscular but I had no idea it was THAT much. I have always been told I should weigh somewhere in the 140-150 range and I now know that's not possible. According to the printout I received, my goal weight is 187 and I "only" need to lose 55 lbs. I am wondering if I will still even qualify for the surgery. I am scheduled to go to Richmond next week for the orientation and don't know if I should go or not. If you go just by BMI, I more than qualify but I don't know if they take your muscle mass into consideration. Does anyone know? Is it worthwhile to get the lap if you only need to lose 55 lbs??? (It's actually more like 48 now since I am in the process of trying to lose my 10% for Kaiser and I am almost there). It's just all really confusing for me. I do have diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome, etc so I have lots of co-morbidities.

Does anyone have any thoughts???

muscle mass or not, my personal opinion is you have too much weight for your height/frame and your joints will suffer...period (not to mention your diabetes & pos). they (surgeons and insurance) will go by yoiur bmi and height/weight... not a body analysis of muscle mass. i doubt that would even be questioned unless you are bulging with competitive level muscle defintion (which i doubt or else you would be far leaner/lighter with that level of muscle burning on your fat stores).

i am curious as to where/how your analysis was done. good luck to you on your decision:)

According to my surgeons office they go by your bmi. Your muscle mass has nothing to do with it. If your bmi is 40 and above you don't need to have any comorbidities(weight related health problems) to qualify and if it is 35-39 you do. Such as Diabetes,sleep apnea etc. That is a national qualifier. Good luck with your decision.

They'll go by your height/weight and bmi. I'm 5'5" also...187 still seems heavy for our heighth....

Good luck!!!! I'm getting my surgery July 13 and am SOOOO excited! I hope this works out for you also. :thumbup:

I had an analysis done at the Medifast clinic here in Sacramento. They tell you how much muscle mass, Water, etc you have. I am doing the Medifast diet to lose my required 10% for my insurer. On their printout they said my goal was 187 based on my muscle mass and I do agree that that seems pretty high! I have pretty much decided that I am going to go ahead and get the lapband anyway since my biggest obstacle has always been maintenance and not so much the actual losing anyway. I need to keep a long term control on my diabetes since it's causing me some serious problems!

Thanks for your reply!

-Heidi-

I recently did a body analysis and found out that I am 242 lbs (I'm 5'5) and I have 142.5 lbs of lean muscle!! I am in shock! I knew I was muscular but I had no idea it was THAT much. I have always been told I should weigh somewhere in the 140-150 range and I now know that's not possible. According to the printout I received, my goal weight is 187 and I "only" need to lose 55 lbs. I am wondering if I will still even qualify for the surgery. I am scheduled to go to Richmond next week for the orientation and don't know if I should go or not. If you go just by BMI, I more than qualify but I don't know if they take your muscle mass into consideration. Does anyone know? Is it worthwhile to get the lap if you only need to lose 55 lbs??? (It's actually more like 48 now since I am in the process of trying to lose my 10% for Kaiser and I am almost there). It's just all really confusing for me. I do have diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome, etc so I have lots of co-morbidities.

Does anyone have any thoughts???

I'm sorry, but for me this would be a no-brainer. If you were able to lose your excess weight and keep it off you wouldn't need to consider WLS, but since your here..... I'd jump on the chance to clear up health issues such as you face. Good luck with your decision. I DO understand your questioning yourself, I think most of us do leading up to this.

Gitrdone :thumbup:

I agree! Call ur insurance company and see what the requirements are to qualify for surgery. Typically, its a bmi over 50, or a bmi under 40 with two illnesses, i.e Hypertension, diabetes....

Trust me, if your insurance company will pay for it, a doctor can and will perform the surgery!

Hope this helps, dd.

New I am 5’5 and started off weighing 244. This weight placed me right at the suggested BMI that my doctor recommended for surgery. The doctor will definitely go by your BMI. I suggest that you go to the orientation to get additional information and to get answers to questions that you may have. Good luck!

I have heard about the medifast clinic, and i heard they make it so you could easily loose it with their program. I too live near sac.. and I am with the richmond group....

Are you kaiser by any chance??/ If so find us on here we are the MONSTER thread lol. WE all started here preop and now most are post op but we have a lot that are preop still that we talk to daily.

Its a very supportive thread, and we help keep each other motivated. Also remember dont loose wieght before your orientation.. im sure all places take ur orientation weight as ur starting weight...:redface:

HI!

Yes, I have been referred to Kaiser Richmond. Someone told me to start losing my weight right away so I have been working on my 10% (I know it could be less). I don't have my orientation until July 7th and I have almost lost my 25 lbs! I am hoping they will take this weight loss into consideration when I have my surgeon consult.

Do you happen to know how many pre-op classes you have to do for Kaiser?? I have very little (actually none) sick time left from my work because of other health issues that I have been facing. ARGH!

How soon after the orientation do most people get banded???

Thanks again for your replies!

-Heidi-

Heidi,

I left you a visitor message, if you odnt know how to find them click on your name and you will see it:D

Sorry to disappoint but that logic is flawed and that's why on the whole body composition analysis is not a part of qualifying for weight loss surgery. It means very little other than to show you now that your body composition is unhealthy.

You currently have just over 140lb of muscle mass to support your current weight. Now, we all know about the importance of Protein, and of exercise in maintaining muscle mass by losing weight. The goal is not to lose tons of muscle and end up with a worse body composition than you had before.

But it is simple fact that at a normal weight, your body would not NEED that much muscle mass to carry it through its daily functions and it is simple fact that no matter what you do, particularly as a woman without much testosterone, as you lose, you WILL lose muscle mass.

You could in fact get down to that sort of a weight. You will lose muscle, but your body composition could STILL end up being healthier - a larger percentage of muscle and a smaller percentage of fat, even though you lose some of the muscle you currently have.

You dont only need to lose 55lb. Lose 55 lb, you will lose part fat, part muscle, and are likely to get to that goal and still have way too much fat. Absolutley NOTHING you can do can ensure you lose 55lb of only fat. It wont happen. You lose 55 lb of combined body tissue, more or less of which is fat depending on what sort of routine you follow. Plucking figures entirely out of my imagination here but say you fasted to lose it. You might lose 25lb muscle, 25 lb of fat and 5lb of Water. Lose weight slowly on a balanced diet with cardio and strenght training, you might lose 10lb muscle, 40 lb of fat and 5 lb of water - see how the actual composition of your body in terms of fat and muscle percentages can improve based on the proportion of fat to muscle you're losing?. But nothing you do will make it 55lb of FAT.

And no, they dont take account of muscle weight, its overall weight.

At the most, if you believe you're a particularly muscular person (which curvier women often tend to be) then you'd be aiming more at the top of your healthy weight range. I tend to be skinnier, have much less muscle despite being a dedicated exerciser and at the top of MY range, I have way too much fat. We're all slightly different like that. You know how some women can be so lusciously curvy and rounded, but not flabby? Not me, I just get blobby and fat. I have to be happy with skinny. But its highly unlikely you could carry 40lb more than the average woman of your height.

Edited July 1, 200917 yr by Jachut

Thanks for your reply. That makes sense.

Unfortunately, I do have more testosterone than I should since I have polycystic ovarian syndrome but I do know that I will lose some muscle as I lose weight. I can only assume that my goal weight will be MUCH lower than 187.

I have decided to go ahead with the surgery and I am in the process of doing all my pre-op appointments.

Wish me luck!

A question for the more informed... Isn't the muscle of those of us that are obese marbled? I mean its not straight lean muscle right? When we lose weight and exercise the muscle will be leaner than currently.

Lol, most of us would make gourmet eating!

Grain fed, nicely marbled...

lucky you, their making me take some stupid class before I can get the Richmond Orientation! LOL.