Loose weight before surgery????

I have been doing alot of reading, and I have seen quite a few people say they have been told they should loose weight before THE surgery. I have not seen a reason why this has to be done, and frankly I dont get it. If I had to loose 30-40 pounds before I had THE surgery, what good is the surgry gonna do me? Can anyone explain to me why this is? Thanks

I read somewhere on this site that,Some surgeons want to see who is really serious.I think I read it on the old posted questions.I am pre op,so this is not from experiece,but in reading on the main messageboard I realized that there is still a serious amount of disipline required post op.The post op diet looks hard to take.I guess if you cant lose alittle pre op.you might not fare so well with the post op diet.I also read that there is something about liver shrinking befor the surgery.I hope this helps a bit Darleen W.

My surgeon really pushed losing weight before surgery to because she wanted to see how dedicated and disciplined I was. I was told anyone with a BMI of 50 or more they had to lose weight prior to the surgery because it was too risky to put them under with such a high BMI. Mine was not that high and I only lost 15 lbs in the six months prior to surgery. My surgeon also emphasized exercise as well. Like you, at first I thought it was crazy to lose weight before. I thought why have the surgery if I can do it on my own. I am glad that I did just what she said. Because I really got myself in the right mindset for success after surgery.

Hi Lillian, When I went for my initial consultation my surgeon told me that it was very important to go on a low carbohydrate diet until my surgery date, he wanted me to loose around 15 pounds before surgery. I questioned him about this and he said that the larger a person is the larger their liver is. And when they do a lap. surgery they have to manipulate some of the surgical tools very close to the liver. He added that a low carb diet with a weight loss of 15 pounds would shrink the liver allowing him to manuver the surgical tools more accurately and less chances of nicking the liver. Hope this helps................Teresa