Can we not lose it ALL??

Thanks! And you are so right!

"Some have 300lbs to lose and may lose 250 of that....they're 50lbs from their goal but WOW...250lbs! " Yep, that defines my DS life right now.  I started at 516 lbs and now bounce around in the mid 250's.  My initial lofty expectations were to lose 341 lbs, all the way down to 175, but I don't think that's going to happen.  I don't think that's healthy.  I'm 5'11 and have been MORBIDLY obese most of my life and with my stature and bone structure, 175 would be downright sickly.  Dr. M, for the longest time, said my goal should be 250 lbs and I'm a few pounds away from that, but it still gives me a BMI of 35-ish.  However, I have an insane amount of excess skin as one would have after losing 265+ lbs - probably 50 lbs or so of it - and I should take that into consideration.  I am setting my rational personal goal to 214-216 (ambitious goal is 199) which would put me at 300 lbs lost and give me a sub-30 BMI.  I may never have a "normal" BMI, but at least I want NOT to be obese anymore.

Congratulations and thanks for posting! I am sure I would be thrilled no if I am 1pound from goal or 50 pounds from goal...and going from a very high BMI to a BMI that is a little bit high than it should be...would be excellent...even if it never gets to "normal"!

You are SUCH an inspiration!!!  And, you're right on with the excess skin thing. I think so many of us lose sight of that too.  I only had 100lbs to lose so I don't have the excess skin...well, I've got some, but not more than a couple of pounds worth. Personally, I think you look fantastic!  PLEASE keep posting as there are so many who've been right where you have and the DS is such a miracle! Again, you're such an inspiration!!

Yup it is averages.  And if someone like dies after 2 weeks that hurts, kwim? lol ok that was awful!  I lost more then 100% (Ive lost 113%) and started out at 346 if that makes u feel better.  346 to 155  size 24 pant to a 4 (jeans) size 26/28 top to Med (and sometimes small

Thanks! You must feel so fabulous!

My in real life girlfriend and I both had DS' a few months apart. We started out the exact same weight, and we are the exact same height. I have lost 110% of my excess weight, she has lost about 50%.  There are differences, my common channel is shorter, I definitely eat less at a time but I eat constantly. She eats more carbs than I do, because they don't give her the problems I have with my shorter common channel. But mostly, I think it's just kind of the luck of the draw. Our different bodies reacted differently to the same surgery. It sucks, cause we were going to go through this together, but now, I am struggling to regain a few pounds, and she is struggling to lose a few more.

How funny, how things can be so completely different for people! Thanks for sharing!

How awful would it be for you if you only lost 85% of your excess weight? Or 75%? Or 60% or 50%?  Those are questions every WLS patient needs to deal with. There are NO guarantees you'll ever lose a single pound OR keep it off with any WLS. The *odds* are better with the DS than any other procedure thus far, but odds are not guarantees.

I don't know your height but I am only 5 feet tall.  The doctor predicts that I will lose weight more slowly and take a longer time to reach goal because there is a "short woman syndrome."  There are articles to substantiate that shorter women have a harder time losing the weight.  However, the DS ensures that we keep it off and do have a chance to reach our goal weight.  That being said, I will be four weeks out tomorrow and have lost nearly 25 pounds.  I can't post an accurate weight until the support group meeting on Monday with the fancy-schmancy scale.