x-post - I have thought alot over the weekend about the surgery

My surgeon told me I might not lose any weight.  Let me explain.  I am a revision and I had the revision for reasons other then weight loss.  I had a very malabsorptive procedure to begin with and it just didn't agree with me.  I had intestinal issues and deficiencie issues.  The truth is I wasn't very compliant with vitamins.  In my defense I did follow my doctors guidelines they were just very inadequate.  This was 10 years ago and there wasn't as much known as there is now and even though I thought I did a lot of research the data just wasn't there as much as it is now.  Plus I had a surgeon that along with doing much post op education or follow up wasn't very experienced in doing the surgery I had and no longer does them.

Anyway, at that point all I cared about was getting better.  Even though I wasn't happy with my weight (220) I learned that for me there were worse things then being overweight and feeling terrible all the time doesn't help whether you are heavy or not.

I wound up losing more then I wanted, which kind of shows me again that doctors don't always know everything.  While I am maintaining pretty easily I would prefer to weigh a little more and I think I will eventually get there, it is just taking longer then I expected.  I also made changes in the way I ate by eliminating sugar and gluten so that always contributed to my weight loss.  I suppose I could have continued to eat the way I did but with a lot more restriction but I know without a doubt that had I done that I would feel sick all the time, like I did before, so I will continue to eat in a way that doesn't cause me problems.

Doctors don't know everything.  They don't know how compliant you will be with the eating plan so they go by what they see, which is a lot of people not making any real changes and relying only on restriction and malabsorption to keep the weight off.  That works for some but not all, especially with a surgery like the RNY where the malabsorption ends after a few years and the ability to eat more can happen as you continue to push the limits.

The point is, your surgeon may give you the surgery but it is up to you what you do with it.  Follow the guidelines as best to your ability and you will get the best results you can.

First of all, you not only will probably lose the 90 pounds but you'll probably lose more. Most of us have!

Secondly, WW, Jenny Craig, OA, etc. DO NOT WORK. Not to keep the weight off. Statistically, people who need to lose 50 pounds or more keep it off by doing a traditional diet 1-5% of the time. That is NOT working. WW is the most successful of these programs statistically and their average weight loss after 1 year on the program is 10%, Yeah, you heard me... 10% is what anyone can lose on any diet.

Your friend said "You just need to find something that works and stick to it, instead of letting the weight come back on." IOW, she said: you need to get WLS. She doesn't realize she said that. But WLS is the thing that works. It works 70-90% of the time to lose at least 50% of your EW and, more importantly, to keep it off long-term!

Most people can lose weight if they go on a diet, any diet. That is why there are success stories to appear in that program's ads. But most people can't keep it off. And it's not because they are lazy or unmotivated or just haven't found the right program yet. If there was a program out there that worked, really worked, long term, it wouldn't be a secret. Everyone would do it. The reason we can't keep the weight off is that our bodies change when we are obese. We have a different reaction to food and that means that when we lose weight, our bodies panic and desperately try to gain it back. They do everything in their power to make us gain it back and also friends so that, if we are ever stupid enough to go on a diet again, our bodies have a cushion.

WLS breaks this cycle! It changes our brains so that our bodies no longer try to maintain a weight that is morbidly obese but one that is closer to a normal range.

In one study, they had participants look at pictures of foods. The obese people had this big spike in brain activity in one part of their brain. Normal weighted people who had never dieted extensively did not. They repeated the study on people who lost 100 pounds or more via traditional diets vs. weight loss. The ones who lose via WW and other methods still had that spike in brain activity. The ones who had WLS did not! Their brains had returned to the same functioning as normal weighted people.

This is but one example of how WLS repairs our faulty-functioning homeostatic systems so that we have a prayer of keeping the weight off.

I totally agree with all your other responses. If you don't have type II diabetes now,you will certainly develop it if your weight continues to rise unchecked. and trust me,you DON"T want to go there !

That leads me to my main point here. You said"...what if I only lost 45 #... my friends would say we paid for that...thru OHIP? "Well,aren't YOU paying for all their illnesses,and medical issues thru OHIP? What's' the diff? You are paying for the morbidly obese diabetics to have their legs chopped an inch at a time from gangrene,aren't you? You are paying for chronic smokers who won't quit and have developed emphysema and chronic obstructive  pulmonary disease,COPD,and let me tell you,over time ,those illnesses cost way more than a one time surgery to PREVENT those things happening.

That would be my answer to anyone who had the nerve to say that to me. Well,I am paying for all your crap too!

I think you can lose all you want to lose as long as you are focused and stay on the program. I lost 98# in less than a year,then stalled for another year,but never gave up,stayed on my plan,and just recently found out that dairy products were stopping my weight loss. I have cut out all dairy and have started losing again,2.10 months later.

This tool is like nothing you have ever dealt with before. It works ,if you work it and it works LONG TERM> I am proof positive ,that after almost 3 years,I still have restriction and my tool WORKS>

I wanted this surgery bad enough that I self paid in MX as I had an exclusion on my insurance for all bariatric surgery. If I had the kind of program that you have that would pay 100%

Our stats are very similar.  I was 5'2" and 218 when I had surgery.  Now I'm 5'3" (do expect to be able to stand up a bit taller).  I hit 125 and bounced back to about 131.  My lowest was 121, with my happy zone at 127.  I was just 3 pounds shy of losing 100 lbs...

I lost over 100% - and you can too.  Don't worry about the number right now - your body will do it's job when you have the surgery.

Lightweights DO tend to lose the majority of their weight, and can keep it off better too (IMO).

I think you have gotten a lot of good responses - the tool is what you make of it!