Disappointed and a rant.

I saw Dr. Huynh yesterday (1 week after surgery) and asked him what was a realistic weight for me to get down to.  I was shocked at his answer - 190 lbs.  Now I did not do this just to loose 90 lbs.  I said to him that I would still be overweight and he said yes, but I would not be morbidly obese.  He said that I could not get down to 132 lbs, which is my goal.  That being said, I have a choice.  I am the one who will be putting the food in my mouth and I have vowed to make good choices.  The way  I look at it, I will just keep eating and loosing until my body tells me I have done enough or the doctor says that I have done enough.  How many of you have gone down to what the doctor said you should be or lower than that?  I am 5'1".  Just needed to rant and I am still in disbelief.

Yup, I hear ya!

My surgeon (David Starr - same team as Dr Huynh) refused to give me a goal weight, preferred to ask me. When I suggested 150, he agreed that it ws reasonable and reach-able.
(I am also 5'1").

I then started losing, and didn't really worry about the goal - I just followed the regime.
And lo and behold, I passed the 150 "goal" at about 8 months out, and have been maintaining at 130-134 for 6 months now, well below that arbitrary goal.

In my case (and I do NOT speak for anyone else in this) my body seems to know when enough is enough, and it has stopped losing all on its own. Of course, if I don't exercise, and I sin a bit, I do regain.

And I must add that I am still in the honeymoon phase, at 18 months post-op.
I encourage you to follow their advice - you'll likely experience a natural weight-loss curve, and slight bounce, just like most of us have.

The WLS team's goal is for you to lose 75% of your excess weight. If you weighed 200 lbs, and 100 of that was excess weight, your WLS centre's goal would be 125.

That does NOT mean that YOUR goal cannot be different. My goal is 160, which would put me at the upper range of a normal BMI.

Yup... Like the lady above me said

That is their goal.. not necessarily yours..

So fret not. Your journey has begun and you are the driver of it.

:)

nicely put! i'm the driver of this journey, arent i?

(might i add, i've got a sweet looking vehicle!! lol, and so do you!)

I never had a "goal weight" as per my surgeon.  The goal was to get me healthy again.  The meeting a normal BMI was a fabulous bonus. :)

i like that attitude, Karen.

Worked for me!  I never stressed about it. I still don't stress about it. My weight bounces up and down all the time.  I DO admit, however, that I was extremely upset, paranoid and freaked out when I started on a medication that notoriously causes people to gain weight and I gained 25 F'ing pounds!  Went off the medication, all excess weight entirely gone, mind set straight once again. lol

Don't be dissappointed at Dr Huynh's response - it's a very good response and based on actual statistics. It's realistic. He's not saying you might not be able to make it to a stretch goal, he's saying that the likely goal you will be able both acheive and be considered successful is 190.

As you say, if you work hard and keep at it you may well get down to a BMI normal goal. However it is important that you don't set your heart on a goal that is extrwemely aggressive. Many of us have a lot of behaviours that revolve around our perception of ideal weight from many years of dieting, and many of us have sabotaging behaviours when we end up struggling with that goal weight.

Setting your goal less aggressively and then sailing beyond it will help you more in the emotional journey then setting your goal at a stretch and not being able to reach it.

For your starting weight: here are some published numbers for setting realistic goals:

For patients weighing 300 to 400 lbs.
10 to 30 lbs. in first 10 days
25 to 45 lbs. in 6 weeks
35 to 55 lbs. in 3 months
50 to 80 lbs. in 6 months
100 lbs. or more in 1 year
120 lbs. or more in 18 month

I had a consultation with an RnY surgeon and he set my goal at 185, then I switched to DS doc and he set a goal weight of 140. My lowest weight ever reached was 143, and now I bounce around 150, once in a few months I hilt my low, then bounce a bit up, and so on. Anything below 148 is a normal range for me. I'm FINE! he-he, never reached doctor's goal I guess, LMAO.

It's entirely up to you, some docs are more liberal in their expectations, other ones expect you to be at least at the middle of the normal range. At 143 I look like a prune, at 155 I look awesome but my jeans are too tight and I feel "fat". I would not go below my limits, just because I like where I am. Other people are happy with BMI of 26, and there are those who feel more comfortable with BMI of 20. It is up to you!