Rate of Loss after DS? Excess Body Weight?

Thank you for posting this...A great reminder that not all of us can reach goal as fast as some others around here.  My starting weight was 339, so I have about 200 lbs to lose.  I just don't think there is any way my short, fat body can get to goal in a year.

One good thing, in just a little over 6 months I have lost almost 100 lbs...So it's working :)

Yes, I find the panic over not reaching certain exact amounts at certain exact times to be very unrealistic. I think people should quit measuring their progress by the scale anyway.

Good for you Elizabeth. It's a good lesson to learn for me.

Gina,
That is so great that you were such a lightweight and got down to your BMI. I want to do that too!

Um, I may be misunderstanding here, but are you looking for a chart that shows how much you will lose each month?  The reason I ask is because everyone's rate of loss is different even if you go by percentage of excess body weight, so there is no such chart. 

For example, I dropped 30 pounds in the first three weeks after surgery, and after that I've been losing 10 to 12 pounds per month, which at this point is about eight to nine percent of my excess body weight per month.  As you can see by the posted charts above, some people lose much faster than that.  Some lose even slower.

EDIT:  Earlier today someone posted a letter from her doctor to the insurance company, and in it the doctor stated that for duodenal switch surgery, patients typically lose 50% of the excess weight by six months and 90% by two years.

Hi Paul, Not necessarily a chart, but something that would give me a soft target. I realize that some months will be different and that I'll stall at times, but I didn't want to take my excess weight #, divide by 12 and then say that's what I should loose each month. I really don't want to be 9 months into this program and realize that I'm only at the 2 month mark in weight loss either.

How do you calculate excess weight anyway? One surgeon told me that surgery won't take away 100% of the excess weight and that I would probably end up at 155 lbs. That's 25.8, which is just above normal BMI. My diabetes counselor years ago told me to aim for 130 lbs, which would be 21.6. I'm overwhelmed at times by all the info.

Best part ever! They stopped my insulin in the hospital and I haven't had any since. I also fit into a wheelchair today (smile).

 How to pick a goal weight? I took my surgeon's suggestion and then subtracted 10 pounds to allow for bounceback. That also put me under a BMI of 25, which is "normal". The advice your diabetes counselor gave you years ago is less valid because your diabetes is now GONE, and the impact on your bone density was not as strong YEARS AGO.
You have MY permission to change your goal to 140 :). (Are you about 5'3"?) Oh, BTW, there are flaws in your divide by 12 process since 1/12 of your excess weight is a moving target that drastically results in different percentages as you reach goal. Look carefully at Gina's chart.
It's all just numbers, and arbitrary, and no-one is going to shoot you if you change it in either direction later or if you don't reach it. Everyone's body type if different, everyone has different genetic risk factors. It seems to be important to get below obese, but then within overweight has much less impact on morbidity/co-morbidities for the most part. Read your own profile goals! Low-carb it for 12 months and see where that takes you. Adjust carbs up if necessary. 
 

Hi had_enuf, It's funny - I had finally reached the pt of having surgery and my surgeon and I didn't even talk about goal weight. Of course, I'm very serious about my co-morbidities as I've already had one heart attack and we focused on that. I saw a different WLS surgeon in 2008 and he said DS would not remove all my excess weight, just around 80% of it. I'm 5 3. I wasn't/am not interested in the /12 method as I realize I wouldn't lose the same amount each month and also that I would lose more weight up front while on the liquid diet. I always wondered about how much bounceback would be, so 10 lbs. sounds good. I realize that will vary for everyone also. Thanks for the advice.

Terrific, Hunybunny!!

Ok.  As far as the weight loss, your biggest challenge, if you're like me, is to STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT.  That's hard to do.  Sometimes I feel like if I take one bite of a cracker I'm going to instantly put back on all the weight and keep gaining for the rest of my life.  In reality, it seems that on the months I have more "naughty" days, I lose more than the months when I'm more strict!  Others have mentioned this same effect.

Really, what you need to do now is get your water in, get your vitamins in, and get your protein in first at each meal.  That's ALL you have to do.  Your DS will take care of the rest.  Forget about your target weight for now.  You don't even have to weigh yourself.  You're free now--but if you're like me, it'll take a while before it sinks in.  I still, deep down, fear that my DS is going to fail--even though the scale keeps reassuring me otherwise!  I've been so pessimistic about my weight for so long I have trouble letting myself believe it's going to work.  Even though it's obvious it's working.

I'm losing about a half lb a day. Of course, I'm only 8 days out and am on a liquid diet. Yesteray I managed to take in almost 60 oz. I still have moments of discomfort when I swallow too much. I've been working for about 4 years to get this operation with different doctors and finally it clicked with one doctor and I even self-paid. You're right - I think giving us and just letting it happen is the best thing I can do. Good advice!