Yeah. I hated being the center of attention when I was losing so I always changed the subject. Part of me was also pissed off that everyone acted like my weight loss defined me. It doesn't. It is only a small piece of my story. And inside I am still the same person. It took years, but I am thankful people are used to me at this weight and I am just "me" again.

I love the idea of mini-goals.  During my psych eval last week we talked about what my goal weight is - when I said 160 she asked me why I picked that number.  I had to stop and think about it....truth is that's the number where I'm not considered 'overweight' for my height of 5'8"...other than that it's really an arbitrary number

  
With my initial banding, I got down to 232, and truth be told I felt great, I had energy...I could move without pain in my joints.  She asked me how I would feel if I got down to that size again, and I told her I'd be thrilled.   I think that the bariatric team probably doesn't want people to set the bar super high, just to end up disappointed that they don't attain it and I also think that she is right when she says that BMI is only part of the story....it doesn't take into account muscle mass and frame (my incredibly fit brother-in-law is considered Obese because he's short and is all muscle!).  

So, for me, I'll be doing mini-goals....on my journey downward with the ultimate goal of feeling HEALTHY!   

I don't discuss #'s with people either. I tell them a lot. Most leave it alone- some will persist. 'Over a hundred' is the most I'll say. 

It should be up to the patient, as WE have to live with what ever surgery we have, and they all have different outcomes and different requirements. I was set on the DS because studies showed it had the best results for things that applied to me, had the fewest restrictions on what I could eat (in fact we often eat MORE fat, because we malabsorb it - yum) preserved my pyloric valve, was most successful with higher BMIs, and knew I could commit to the supplements as well as monitoring the labwork. Not all surgeons can perform it, so I also learned that we don't always get facts or good advice from surgeons that only do other procedures.

You can get the DS in Canada, but have to get to the right surgeon. If I were you, I'd print the medical studies that were relevant to me (like one addressing high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and high BMIs, were all relevant to me).

There is a site that has links to many medical studies (real ones, not biased junk by questionable sources) and articles, as well as a list of all the surgeons known to do DS by state or country. There is also a lot of other great information there about all the surgeries. You can peruse all that at DSfacts.com. It's probably the number one place to be able to find info on all the above stuff, that is accurate, and all consolidated at one place. 

"I do not want to give people room to make comments about regain."

Got some of that too! Shortly before we divorced I reached my lowest adult weight of 220, down from 400+ after a couple years of working at it. A comment was made about how fast I regained and while not untrue it was an ouch moment. I've had a couple of those over the past few months. My weight was never something that my family or friends ever mentioned, no one lectured me to lose or really said anything at all. In some ways I felt like maybe if they had I would have done something sooner but who  really knows it could have had the complete opposite effect too. Anyways, I decided to be completely open about it this time and while I have no regrets and still think that is the best decision for me going forward, it has opened the door to a few comments that while completely true have caused a little sting. Nothing malicious or intentionally hurtful just hearing how others have felt but not verbalized has had a few tugs on my heart. To put a positive spin on it though it has strengthened my determination to make this time different. I do not want to give people room to make comments about regain.