did you have to lose weight before surgery?

No, and I really was huge. My surgeon said "If you could lose weight without surgery, I'm sure you already would have." (I could have kissed him!)

I did, however, stop drinking Coke cold-turkey, and lost 12 pounds in the six weeks between my consult and surgery.

Yes; my surgeon never gave me an exact amount I had to lose, but said I had to lose weight or he wouldn't do the surgery.  His practice requires all WLS patients to go on a pre-op diet put together by their dieticians consisting of only the protein products that they sell at their office.  After two days, I was *****y and starving and hated life.  One of my friends (who also had the DS through their office) recommended to me that I just switch to eating regular food, but basically protein-only.  That's what I did - and I was much happier and more satisfied, and I also ended up dropping something like 15 pounds, which they found acceptable.

I had to lose 40#s before surgery, and now I have to maintain the weight loss until surgery. (12/21/12) It was a long 9 months to get the weight off but I think it will be worth it!

No I was not required to, but I did lose about 7 pounds before surgery day.  My DS was open.