Realistic Band Goals

I believe that one of the biggest obstacles to success with banding (or just in life) is setting goals that are too extreme or unrealistic.  For instance, Bandster A is 5'2" tall, in her 50's and currently weighs in the 160s...BMI is 29 or so and she is unhappy with her band results a bit more than a year out from surgery, even though she has lost over 60 lb and 12 BMI points.  Her current goal is about 110 lbs, which for a person who is in her 50's is really not realistic...120-130 would be a more acheivable and healthy goal for Bandster A...and considering that most of us go into our surgery fully informed that we can expect to lose 30-70% of our EXCESS WEIGHT, Bandster A should be happy with 30-70 lb weight loss (taking into account her starting weight of about 230 and her excess weight of 100 lbs)...she is already near the 70% mark and truly unhappy with her band, which has done it's job.
I weighed about 125 (I am 5'5" tall) when I was a young mom in my early 20's but that is not a realistic goal for me now...my body has matured and a realistic goal is about 150-170 lbs, still overweight, but not morbidly obese.  My goal is 150 lbs, but my more realistic goal is to be below 200 lbs and resolve my co-morbidities.  I am never going to be 125 lbs again and I am fine with that.
We are not going to lose like folks that have RNY or DS.  It is unrealistic to expect that to happen.
Let's all post our REALISTIC GOALS for our WLS choice today....

I so much agree with you! And I also hate it when people not only set unrealistic goals but then add a deadline! Setting yourself up for failure that way!

As I have a broad build (wide hands, feet etc), was 56 at the time of surgery and had been m.o. for almost 30 years (with a few brief losses in the middle), I set myself a realistic goal of 165. This gave me a BMI of 28, still overweight but perfectly acceptable to all but the purists! It also felt "possible".

Well it was possible. I got there and kept going - right down to 139. As it turned out, that was too low for me and i had to deliberately regain.

Kate

shoot with me starting off at 348 pounds if I can just see 199 I would be happy lol.  Because of my height and bone structrure I will weigh anywhere from 150 on the low side to 180 on the high side so that gives me a big margin to play with .

I just want to be in 1's and if I get stuck at 199 for the rest of my life then that is fine with me because is sure is heck alot better then 348 pounds :o) 

I completely AGREE.. I have been heavy my whole LIFE in Jr. High at my lowest point after Jenny Craig I was 175. That's is my ultimate goal but I know if I got to 180 I would be happy... I was 280-330 most of my life.. I had lost some weight on my own with WW and other diets and I got down to 260 then balloned back to 313.. I have about 40-50 more pounds to go.. but to be honest if I was a size 14 (not plus) or better yet a 12 I could care less what that scale says.. LOL 

Also I want health for example whats the point of being 180 when my fat percentage is 60% I much rather be 195 with 40% fat percentage. (just examples. my next goal is get my fat percentage done so I can work on gaining more muscle and less fat)

Also losing weight is not easy maintaining is not easy I have a very active social life and there is things is my life I won't comprimise.. like wine and my mexican food... I can't eat them as often or as much as I want but they will continue to be a part of my life..

Great POST

Good post.  My doctor never set a goal for me.  It took so much pressure off of my journey.  I lost more weight then I ever thought I would and have kept it off.  I never post my weight.  For  me it is irrelevant.  I am a size 6.  I think that says it all.

What a refreshing post. I agree with you 100%. I have lost about 40 pounds in a year that's awesome! Yeah I would love to lose about 15 more but to be honest I'm quite content weighing 165. I'm 5'3. Great post!

SUCH a great thread!!

First of all... I don't have a goal weight.  I have a goal pants size.  And I do believe that it's realistic.  But that's how I'm defining my "weight" goal, not with a number on the scale.  That said...

I am 5'11".  That's TALL.  And while yes, in high school and college I was a size 4, I just looked like someone who needed to be fed a donut or twelve.  I was also running and ice skating competitively, teaching aerobics and dancing 3 times a week.  (Are you exhausted reading that?  I am.)

I am starting from about 350 pounds.  And my goal is a size 10-12.  I think that for my frame (which is surprisingly small) and my height and my age (33) and the fact that I haven't had children, that is a 100% realistic goal.  For a reference point, when I got married I was a size 14 and weighed 225 pounds.  That was in 2001.

I am fine with never being under 200 pounds.  Like I said, I'm pretty tall.  Aside from which I've always built up muscle in my legs very quickly (and carrying around this extra weight, while awful, HAS kept my legs extremely muscular and strong).

So... we'll see how it goes.

Great to read everyone else's goals too!!

YESSSS!!!!

I've thought this all along. I get the idea from many of the posts on here that surgeons are not adequately preparing band patients for a realistic expectation of weight loss. My surgeon expects his average band patient to lose about 60 -65% of their excess weight. That puts me at losing 68-73lbs. Sure, my plan is to lose 100lbs (which is still less than 100% of my excess weight) and that's what I'm working towards, but I will not think this surgery is a failure -- or worse, that I'M a failure if I only lose what the surgeon expects his typical band patient to lose.

Going into surgery, I was very aware that if I selected another surgery that statistically I could expect to lose a higher % of my excess weight. But I weighed the options and decided to trade less possible weight loss for the eating plans, supplementation and possible complications of other surgeries.

When we are going UP the scale it feels horrible to hit 200. But going down, it is just the most fantastic thing ever and we really realize just how fortunate we are to have this tool to help us with our weight. Even if we never make it to the weight we should've been as teenagers we can still revel in our success.

Trixie

Edited to add my realistic goals:

1. To set a realistic ideal weight for me to base goals on; my surgeon selected 150 and I agree with that. It puts me at 5lbs into the overweight category; I'm 5'4" and 36 years old.

2. To lose down to 199 which to me personally will be a WONDERFUL accomplishment that I will shout from the roof top. This would put me at 56% of my excess weight lost

3. To lose down to 175 which will be 77% of my excess weight lost. This is 88lbs -- 12lbs shy of goal to lose 100lbs. Honestly if/when I reach the magical 175# I will call this surgery a raging success and never worry if I don't lose the other 12lbs.

Such a great thread-I am so close to my goal of 160-but my real goal was to have a new knee-I have done that and am now 5 weeks post op and I am so happy-Today I went to the grocery store-this lady I havent seen in 2 years said -wow you are half-I had to think for a momemnt and then realize I was 81 pounds lighter-sort of an omg moment-
I want to weigh 130- but I do not think that is realistic any more-I want to feel good in my skin-and I am well on my way-I just had 1 ml removed and I am a new woman- I think I mistatekly thought the tighter the better but this was causing me to make poor food choices-so I wish everyone a kind band journey-make the goals realistic but make sure they are only for your self not anyone else and you will be fine-

I agree with everyones posts.  Sure, I would love to be a size 6 but will never be.  I am 62 and don't intend to be a bathing suit model.  I want to be under 200 lbs.  My goal is 160 for 5'5".
I may not even reach that.  My sister said to me awhile ago when I told her about my surgery, she said, "I suppose your next surgery will be to take some extra skin off."  I said no sireee.  I want to look good IN my clothes, I don't care about OUT of them!!!!  My hubby has been with me for 43 yrs and has seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly.  He still loves me.  I want a better quality of senior life. that's all.  I don't own a scale and don't want one.  I don't want to get hung up on the numbers.  My clothes will let me know how I'm doing and I will get weighed at the doctors.  For now, that's my plan and I'm sticking to it.  Hooray for all of us!!!