EWL question

you keep hearing about 68% ewl , but from when I lost 80 lbs pre op does that count as part of it or does it start at surgery ?

I WOULD SAY THAT SHOULD COUNT!!!!!! WOW, that is wonderful!!! You are going to do great. 

I say everything lb counts, but I think when the surgeon's or their staff are saying that they are basing it off their other patients results post op. I exceeded my surgeon's expectations and bypass patients with ease. I am not saying that in a ****y way, however I have stuck to plan and worked my butt off and the sleeve makes it all possible.

I am 9lbs away from being 100% EWL and I am 7 months post op (yesterday) and still losing.  

My surgeon uses surgery weight. I have lost 100% EWL. Don't cheat yourself. Don't settle for less. Keep at this until you get there. It is totally do-able. You have already shown you can stick with the preop diet. Congratulations to you. That is a significant weight loss.

The Estimated Weight loss of 68% is just an average.  Many people lose significantly more, many lose significantly less.  As my NP said, its a matter of choice - how you follow the program.  There is nothing in this that limits your success. 

Carol

I count it.  I use 326 pounds as my starting weight, because that is how much I weighed on my first appointment to kick start the process.  I had actually lost a little going into that.  I lost 26 before surgery and the rest post op.  

beyond their own records, my nutritionist says that every bariatric center does the calculation differently.  Some include pre-op diet loss, others do not .. and they rarely tell you which they use unless they are pressed to do so.  To me it's a bit dishonest for them to include the pre-op loss in their calculation because it makes their surgery results look better than they actually are.  On the other hand though, if you look at the EWL as a measure of the success of their overall pre-op and post-op care plus surgery ... it's a fair reflection.  it's all in how they present the number.

now as for trying to figure out how far the surgery can get you, you can use their EWL if you want, but either way, but it's still going to be +/- 10-20% based on a normal distribution around that average number.  So I wouldn't torture yourself by trying to figure out where you are on that EWL, they are just numbers. You'll go as far as you can go based on your determination and adherence to your plan.  that's my opinion at least.  :)  We are gonna go all the way! 

In studies, they should tell how they calculated the number, especially if it's a peer reviewed journal.

And they all do it differently but usually in studies it's your weight on surgery day as a start weight and what varies is what the ending BMI is. Some use 24.9, some 24, some 29! But 24.9 is pretty typical. Now some studies do use your weight on the day of that first surgery consult. But I've never seen a study that used, say, your highest weight -- i.e., some weight years ago that was self-reported. They all use a weight *they* take, be it when you first enter the program or the day you have surgery.

I think that, for the purpose of showing what surgery can do for you, using surgery weight and a BMI of 24.9 makes sense. But if you are just doing it for your own purposes to track your own progress, then you can use any start weight you want. It's your number.