Surgeon told me 170 pounds was unrealistic

Hi All,

     The Surgeon told me yesterday that he thought 170 pounds was unrealistic.  He set my goal weight at 197.  I got news for the good Surgeon, I'm planning on zooming right past 197.  170 here I come!  I told my Wife after we left his office," that ol' boy don't know me when I make my mind up, I will do it ".

I don't know how tall you are, but I think having a goal of having a normal BMI is realistic.  Why did the surgeon think you would not be able to get lower than 197?

I'm 5'10.5 and he asked me when was the last time I weighed that much and I said probably jr. high.  He then said he thought it was unrealistic.  The charts show normal being 172 for my height.

You are the same height I am and I weigh 183 and am going down to 160. There is no reason not to be 172, IMO. I have not weighed this little since elementary school. Being fat my entire life doesn't mean that I have to be fat after WLS. The more you share about your surgeon, the less I'd want to move forward with him.

Good goal! Prove him wrong. My surgeon told me she doesn't think I'll get lower than 210-215... At 5'4 that's still to heavy, so I am hoping to pass 200 and get to atleast 175. Good Luck!

Wow.  You'd still be considered obese.  Why does your surgeon think you won't be able to reach a lower weight?

I'm 5'4" and my surgeon thought 140 was a reasonable goal for me.  I ended up getting down to 122 but then I gained a little back and I'm around 140 now.  I would have been really unhappy if I had surgery only to still weight 215.

My PCP said he thinks she said that because some people only follow the diet, no working out and would drop about 150-170 lbs. He thinks with as much as I work out and the way I follow directions I will easily hit 175 if not smaller. With me being as large as I am, I am ok with 200 but I would prefer to be under 175. Maybe it's her way of getting people to work harder to reach their goal.

I didn't work out (still don't), and am six years out and maintaining my weight at about 145 at 5'3+" (down from over 330).  Like Kelly, I would be extremely unhappy to have such a drastic surgery and end up still obese and over 200 pounds.  I would also be upset about a surgeon who didn't believe that I could get to "overweight" let alone a "normal" BMI.

I would encourage you to actually ask your surgeon WHY she said that.  If there was a specific reason that she didn't think I could be less than "obese" after RNY, I would want to know exactly why and if that is her odd way of motivating people (although I fail to see how telling people they will only have a marginal outcome is motivating!), I would want to know that as well.

Lora

I will definitely ask the next time I go in. once I have the surgery I will finally get off my steroids and I would think that alone will help increase my weight loss.I am 365 right now so I really hope I have results like you did.I really figured all surgeons say that, but after reading youse guys responses I am assuming not. My PCP I was just as surprised.

I think asking is a good idea.  I would want to know if there was something medically different about me that would prevent me from losing as much as I wanted to lose or if she's just being conservative so you aren't disappointed if you don't lose as much as you'd like or what. 

For the most part, I think it's hard to predict exactly how much someone will lose.  And if you really, really want to lose a certain amount, I think you probably can do it.  However, I think it's also important to think about what would be sustainable for you.  For instance, I currently weigh about 140.  I could lose some weight and weigh a little less if I really wanted to, but it would mean eating less, being much stricter about my meals, and exercising more.  I don't want to do those things.  What I'm doing currently is sustainable for me.  I can eat this way and be satisfied.  I'd be unhappy being on a really low calorie diet for the rest of my life.