Hi everyone,

I'm new here and have been reading and researching for a few months. I have met with the surgeon and am about half way through my multitude of appointments. I'm 45 years old, 5' 2.5 ", and 200 pounds. I have Type 2 diabetes, hypertension. high cholesterol, asthma, severe sleep apnea and depression. I am afraid of losing to much weight. I want to be healthy for my family, not scary skinny. Any thoughts?

Typically, you are not going to end up "scary thin" unless you have an eating disorder.

For RNY, you gradually increase the quantity of food up to a cup.  To give you an idea, a cup of mac-n-cheese has 310 calories and most women on this board eat about 900-1000 calories a day to MAINTAIN.

Your body already has the propensity to "pack it on". You arent going to end up too thin if you follow your surgeons plan

No trouble with eating disrder here. I just read about everyone losing a 100 pounds or more and it makes me nervous. I almost worry that I won't be able to eat enough to maintain. I'm sure it will look different when I'm on the other side.

those ppl losing 100+ lbs probably weighed 300+ lbs to start with. I personally weighed 246 at 4'11" and have lost 122#. I am now 125-128lbs and am not scary skinny at all.

we see more ppl coming back with regain more than we see anyone scary skinny.

Hi!

As a patient population, regain/"bounce back" is more of an issue for us post-op than ending up scarily thin.

For example, I hit my lowest weight of 139.  In the time since I have hit this lowest weight, I have been anywhere between 139-147 lbs (this happened after a honeymoon, a vacation and a 4th of july celebration that went a week; it is my freak out weight).

I run half marathons, figure skate, am a certified Tae-Bo instructor AND I am currrently training for a full marathon (running about 30 miles a week).  I wear a size small, my dimsensions are Bust: 34 inches, waist 28 inches and Hips 38 inches..and I weight this morning 145.2 lbs!  So, although I am a lot smaller than I was when I was 300 lbs, I am not scarily thin either!!!  Just...normal..

Post-surgery, people fight regain - you may not have such a battle, but it would seem that your dr is recommending the surgery because of your myriad health problems and that you have not been able to lose weight on your own.  Is that true?

When you get to your goal weight - (your current BMI is 36 - a normal BMI of 25 - would put your initial goal weight at 140).  But when you get close to the 140, it is up for your and your dr to decide what your ultimate goal weight would be.  You would adjust your calories at that time.

I would also want you to talk to your dr about your concerns so he can monitor it.

PS - A funny story.  When I went in to get my bloodwork taken for my 1 yr labs - I weighed 145 and 9% body fat - a healthy-fit size 6-8.  The lab tech asked WHEN I WAS HAVING MY SURGERY!!!!  I almost fell over - I told him I already had surgery.  He explained that a local doctor is doing RNY on people my size to get them to a size 2??.  A reputable WL surgeon would not be doing that - and insurance would not be paying for it.  So double check your surgeon's experience and your insurance status if you are still concerned about losing too much weight. 

Thank you for your comment. I have talked to my surgeon about my concerns and he has assured me that we will discuss ways to maintain a healthy weight at that time ( he us very reputable here in Minn). I am currently and have been a runner with many 10k and half marathon under my belt as recently as last summer. I obviously have horrible genetics (thanks mom and dad) and can't keep the weight off which has lead to my myriad if problems. Everyone's comments have put me at ease and I look forward to my journey.

Really, the best decision is to go with an experienced, reputable surgeon who does bariatrics as the major part of the practice.  It sounds like you have one.

Until I had that bloodwork, I had never heard of a dr performing WLS on someone who already weighed under 150 pounds - but I guess if you are a private pay, you can get whatever your want, whether it is good for you or not.

I agree that anyone who has the surgery because they want to be a size 2 is doing it for the wrong reasons and also comes with its own share of health problems. I completely trust everyone on my bariatric team and I am not private pay and my insurance is on board. It's hard, at this point, to see what life will be like a year from now but I am ready to do the work to get there.

I've seen a few below goal, but not scarily skinny.   You should be able to maintain by increasing your calories.   Good luck to you!