Congratulations on your success. It is so important to find and follow the program that works for you. Surgery does the trick for the first few years but after that it is making sure you are eating less than you are burning.

Hey there!! I was in the same boat! I had my RNY on 9.29.2011. Lost 70 lbs (original weight was 252), then lost another 10. I've fluctuated between 165-175, fighting to lost the last 30 lbs. I had gotten back up to 180 recently and was battling depression when I found a program called Optavia. My coach is an old high school/church acquaintance and let me tell you, it has changed my whole outlook. I started on 2.20.23 at 180 and am down to 168.2 as of 3.6.23 ( I weigh every Monday). I have so much energy now, and so many less aches that I've stopped some of my arthritis meds. My outlook has improved so much! I do NOT crave sugary thing now, it is just simply amazing me. I'm not one to jump into things, and I've been watching this program for over a year now, following others that are on it. This may not be for you, I'm just throwing it out there. But you CAN do this, we've done it before!!! Do NOT let depression control you-you have the power over your feelings and your life! We can't allow our surroundings or our others affect our dispositions and outlooks, no one has that power. I'm sure you have done amazing things-focus on those! Write down your thoughts, what you did when you were feeling your best! You can get back on track, I'm praying for you!!!

I had RNY in October 2007. My goal is 136 and I stayed there or lower easily for first ten years. Then started to gain a few pounds a year and one day was at 165. I joined Weigh****chers. It was during pandemic and I did all my meetings online. It took a long time as in years but I reached my goal again last summer and have kept from regaining.

My regain was 100% caused by eating too many calories. I love WW plan. I can have any food as lon as I stay in my points. I attended meetings every single day. After RNY the only way to lose is to eat less food. Exercise does not make a difference for me at all. I highly recommend their program both for the food freedom and all the education and support from their meetings. They truly know how to help you lose weight.

It is important to be comfortable with your surgeon and their practice, as you will be (or should be) dealing with them quite a bit these next couple of years, and ideally, forever if they provide the kind of continuing follow up that is very helpful for long term success, particularly with a malabsorbing procedure like the RNY or DS. You will probably have numerous appointments pre-op, and then several during your post op weight loss phase, and the better practice will follow their patients annually forever (this is a very useful thing over time, as questions come up that you or your PCP can't answer, so it's good to have the bariatric surgeon available to weigh in, so to speak, on any issues that come up.)

I is not unusual to deal mostly with PAs, NPs and RNs, particularly in larger practices, and they are often more communicative than their MD bosses who often don't have the time to answer piddling questions and explain things in human terms - this applies to many specialties, not just bariatrics - so I wouldn't be overly concerned about that. But it is good to get some facetime with the surgeon to get a feel for how he works and how comfortable he makes you feel in his hands.

Pre-op requirements vary widely practice to practice - my doc is one who takes the attitude that if "you could lose weight on your own, what do you need me for?" I an somewhat skeptical of those who have strict pre op weight loss requirements "to show that you are serious" or whatever - how serious can you be if you're willing to have your insides reworked to lose? These pre op weight loss requirements seem to mostly put a lot of additional stress on the patient for little in return - it doesn't seem to correlate much with more or less post op weight loss. I am, however, a fan of making a serious nutritional effort to reform one's diet and habits for the long term, as that is a major long term success factor; a quickie fad diet to lose 10% doesn't help anything. The best programs that I have seen work with the patient to move their dietary habits toward the good. My wife and I did something like that on our own, aiming to move our diet in the direction of what it should be 5 or 10 years later (rather than next month or next year) and that worked well - enough for me to attain a moderate level of weight stability and control after moderate loss (5-6 years of no regain, though not much additional loss) to go with the more moderate VSG over the stronger DS. Additionally, if after a reasonable habit reset effort, there was minimal resulting weight loss, then that can be a clue as to the need for a metabolically stronger procedure; certainly a point of discussion before making a final procedure decision. Some people's metabolism is just more heavily damaged from their obesity journey that they need more help than others - it's good to find this out before going down what might be the wrong surgical path.

In short, I do favor some intensive pre op work to get you ready for your post op life and hoped for success, but that doesn't mean there's a need for a blanket loss percentage requirement.

Good luck in getting through all of this....

Thank you and Me too!