Question about weight loss percentage

By healthy eating in reasonable amounts.  It really is that simple.  I defined my excess weight as being the amount as needed to get me to a normal BMI. 

So I ate high protein, lower but not actually particularly low carb. I had no malabsorption to help me and no physical restriction on quantity as I am banded. So it wasn't fast. But I lost 109lbs in 15 months. I did regain some happily and then a bit unhappily. But the unhappily bit comes off when I go back to being healthy.

my only exercise is walking.

i lose on 1200 a day. 

Thank you for sharing your strategy with me.

I have never personally been concerned particularly with carb levels as long as the total calorie intakes were reasonable.  But you do need to take care if you are eating a lot of fruit and/or starchy veggies.  Three large sweet apples which might be eaten throughout the day as snacks wouid be the equivalent of an extra meal! 

I'm curious to find out what my calorie intake requirements will be after surgery.  Right now the PCP has me between 1300-1400 a day.  I sure that is way too high of a calorie count during the losing phase.  I plan to have the gastric sleeve surgery. 

As a banded person, my intake was under 1200 a day.  That is the same as it wouid have been under a Weigh****chers styie programme. But my digestive system is not altered in anyway. All the band does is make me eat more slowly.  Sleeved people, from what I read on here, eat very considerably less, at least at first -  hence their faster weight loss. For me, on any form of diet, pre or post-wls, eating 1400 a day would lead to very slow loss. Several people on here use 1400 as their maintenance level. But, of course, the lighter you are, the fewer calories you need. A large person is going to lose on even more than 1400. 

I remember my first visit to my surgeon, back in 2002, he went over all that and at the end he wrote out a bunch of figures and said to me, who was about 240 at that time, that in the end I may wind up weighing something like 190 lbs and be considered a success.

He asked me what I thought of that and I told him that 190 was a hell of a lot better then 240 and I could live with it.  If only it were that easy.

I started in 2002 at 240.  In 2010 I had a revision at 220.  In all eyes not a success.  A failure in anyone's standards.

But you know what?  Even though I failed my first surgery miserably (and I did fail it.  I out ate my surgery and I take responsibility for every bite) I was still 20 lbs less then I had been 8 years prior.

That doesn't sound like a big deal but I can tell you that there had never been a time in my life that I weighed less after a long period of time.

Sure I might go on a diet and be a little smaller in a year but guaranteed that in 5 years I was heavier.  I didn't wake up at 240 lbs one day.

The point is, even as bad as I did, I was somewhat of a success, if only in my eyes, because I am certain had I not had WLS in 2002 by 2010 I would have been 300 lbs+.  No doubt.  

So, while I still regained most of my lost weight I still did have somewhat of a remission in that I slowed down the amount of weight I gain.

Not something to celebrate and I can guarantee you had I not had a revision my weight would probably still be closer to 300 lbs if not over it, It helped.

Most doctors will tell you that their patients who are obese generally go up in weight over the years.  I went up, too, but not as much as I could have.

As far as losing 100% and keeping it off now?  It is the same thing I had to do before WLS, I eat less and better and I (try) to move more.  No magic there.  The difference is I have a "tool",  something to help me eat less and gives me some consequences if I eat badly, not that that ever stopped me before.  After all I had negative consequences before surgery (hello morbid obesity) and I ate through those but now I have help not to.

As far as making a difference?  Yes, if I utilize all the help at my disposal.  Not just my tool but, as Lora said, support of others on the same path.

If you want to know how to be a success, however you define a success, the best course is to ask others how have achieved the level of success you aspire to.  You may not agree with them and you don't have to follow their advice, but keep in mind that they are doing what is statistically pretty much impossible, that is maintaining a large weight loss year after year.

And once you reach some level of success that others may want to aspire to, help them out the best you can, like others have generously helped you out.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me.

fantastic post, and thank you.

this is what i'm trying to do - look to those of you who are doing the nearly impossible and follow your lead. I'm not trying to innovate at all; I'm planning to follow the lead of those who've slayed the dragon, and tweak only if it doesn't work for me. I'm visualizing success and plan to white knuckle it to get as much off as humanly possible and then, maintain. And then I do hope to pay it forward for anyone who wants to do the same.  

My goal is normal BMI. I have no idea if this is possible but I wont know if I don't try - and there is no better opportunity to try than with this tool. My surgeon's goal is to get me below obesity into the overweight category for life. Sure, I will take that - but here at the start of the journey, I'm going for the full monte.  So to speak! 

I think the veterans on here who lose and maintain 100% of excess weight are on here b/c they stay focused on their health.  The majority of people that aren't successful do not prioritize this.  So you are getting a slightly biased view on the success of long term WLS patients -- people on here far out are just more enganged.

It's nice to find out what makes people successful.