Pre surgery weight loss!!

What about this pre surgery weight loss-- It is my understanding that they require a 10% weight loss BEFORE- doing the surgery. This would mean i would have to lose 27 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If i could drop 27 pounds on command i might night be this big!!!!!!!!!!!!HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not certain who you are referring to when you say that they require a 10% weight loss. I think some surgeons might require weight loss. Mine doesn't. If you don't like what your surgeon tells you, shop around. It is VITALLY important to have the utmost faith in your doctor.

I am having surgery with Dr. Li July 3rd . She ask her patients to loose weight because it shrinks your liver and makes surgery easier because in obese people the liver tends to be big. So loosing a little weight will help shrink the liver . Also its 10% of your excess weight I thought. I weigh 226 and she asked me to loose 10 pounds.oh I haven't lost any yet.

WOW!!! SO you are her July 3rd surgery-- I saw dr li today and i am also trying to get scheduled for july 3--right now it is set for july 11th -- but if she decides to do 2 surgeries that day-- i will be right along with you. As far as the weight loss-- because i had a tummy tuck-- my abs are tight-- i already lost 7 pounds since may 1 and she wants me to lose as much as i can so she can have some "room" to move around in there. Tina

Yes, The other poster was completely right. They want you to try to loose 10% of your excess weight. So, I am 132 lbs overweight for my height ( I weigh 264 and I need to weigh 132). Needless to say, I should aim for 13 lbs for my pre-surgery weight loss goal. I hope that helps. It's probably 1/2 what you thought it would be. ~*Debbie*~

Actually ... all surgeons are different. I was told not to worry about losing any weight. It all depends on how comfortable and experienced your surgeon is with lap procedure. If he/she is very experienced then likely you'll be told that you need not lose weight. If they're not quite as experienced - they will ask you to lose xyz pounds OR be put on a diet a couple of weeks prior to surgery. I had to do neither and had no restrictions. My surgeon was Dr. Averback @ St. Agnes. AMAZING!! The reason you'll need to lose weight is that it will shrink the liver and allow more "moving room" while performing.

Tina, I didn't have to lose any weight prior to my surgery. They did ask that I watch what I eat and not treat every meal like the "last supper". They said it would be nice to lose a few lbs. These statements were not specifically directed at me, but were made at a pre-surgery education class where a group of 10 of us were in attendance. Take Care, Terry

I had to lose 40lbs before my surgery...that was the goal. It took me several months and I cursed Dr. G every single one of those months. It took a lot of hard work but let me tell you what a difference it made. I only spent one night in the hospital. I had a "textbook" surgery with no complications whatsoever. I'm 3 mos out and I know what and how to eat without having to check in with the nutritionist a million times. I didn't suffer "withdrawl" from food nor did I even care that I wasn't eating because it had been MONTHS since I'd had those "bad" habits that made me this huge to begin with. Was I appalled that I had to lose weight for WLS? Heck, yeah. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!!

Hi Tina, Congrats on your decision for a healthy lifestyle. Losing weight pre-op has Nothing to do with experience of a surgeon... Sinai's program is a Center of Excellence. Doctor's will ask you to do this for a number of reasons and yes, shrinking the liver is one. More importantly, if you cannot follow the protocol pre-op, you will not see the success long term post-op. It gives you a trial run. Surgery is a tool. It doesn't do the work for you. If you look at the long term boards you see a lot of people have problems with weight creeping back up. They fall into "old" habits. The honeymoon phase passes, people get comfortable and 5 turns to 10 turns 20, etc. And, yes, there are people who gain all and then some back... Personally, any surgeon that said eat what you want up to surgery would be a red flag to me.... what's their motive... surgery or provide you with the tools for long term success. Dr. Li is great and will support you +200%... but as other poster's have mentioned, there are other doctors who will perform the surgery... Best wishes, Lisa