i have a silly question...

okay, i'm in a quandary over something and i feel silly asking because i suppose the answer could be whatever i want it to be, but i'm curious as to what your answers would be.  when i went to my first visit with my surgeon and his nutritionist, my weight was 264.

i somewhat began following her diet plan and at my second appointment, one month later, my weight was down to 256.

i joined a gym and really started to follow the diet and exercise plan and at my third appointment, one month later, my weight was down to 248.

within a week, i received my surgery date and we also went on vacation.  i struggled greatly with last supper syndrome and ate like a queen while on vacation.  i was not following the diet plan at all up until my pre-surgery class one week before my surgery.  i weight in at 254 that day.

like a dumbass, i did not weigh myself on the day of my surgery. 

so recap:

april appt: 264
may appt: 256
june appt: 248
one-wk before surgery: 254


so........  here is my dumb question.  which weight would you guys use as the "starting weight" when tracking your weightloss.  my hubby says to use the april weight because that is where i began the program and i need to give myself credit for the work i did before surgery.  but i feel like i'm cheating and i should go with the weight just before surgery.  however, that bugs me to death because i don't know what it was right before surgery because i didn't weigh myself that day.

i KNOW i'm making too big of a deal out of this, but i get weighed tomorrow and i want to know that i've lost X pounds.

I use and most Dr from what I hear go by the first visit weight:
You worked hard for those pounds and deserve the credit for them

I'm with Darla....go with that weight. You lost them and worked hard to do that so start with your first visit weight....that was before surgery so it all counts! BTW there is no silly question!

The truth is whatever you weigh tomorrow will be X pounds off your heaviest weight as a result of the whole journey,. so go with that....  weight will continue to fluctuate here and there, but years and years from now you'll most likely remember what you were at your heaviest and your then current, not the weekly/monthly tallies in between.  I had my surgery in 2003, and try to focus on how I feel, not as much on the number.  I'd offer you that advice if I could follow it completely, but I'm still a work in progress myself...  Good Luck 

I agree with everyone. measure from your initial heaviest weight. Don't be surprised though. The MD will measure from the last weight before surgery. But that is for the statistical tracking they do related to the surgery.

thanks!!  and thanks for not making me feel silly.  i am actually trying to make records of everything... the changes in my blood sugar, blood pressure, vitamin d (i was deficient) and other co-morbidities.  the decision to have this surgery was as much about those things as it was about losing weight.  i guess it's a good thing that i work in analytics because i'm certain anal about that.  hahahaha

I'm with everyone else go wit your highest weight. You worked hard to loose a bit before surgery so take credit for it :)

There is NO SUCH THING as a silly question!!

This question actually comes up often.

My personal opinion is use the weight you were when you began your surgical journey, aka the date of your first consult/first weigh in. For me, I don't even think that was my high. But, it was the weight I buckled down and got serious at. I didn't do a lot pre-op to lose weight. I did lose 15 by just stopping soda and lowering carbs a little though. The pre-op weight loss is a part of our journey and we work hard for it. We should celebrate it!

Just my .02

Hi there Pamela,
Welcome to the MD forum!!

There is no silly questions here.

I agree with everyone you use the highest weight when you first started your journey.

Best wishes!