Pecentage of success

I know it is based on following the rules and your own will power but I was curious on the percentage of people that have WLS and loose weight have keep it off.  I asked my surgeon and he really didn't have an answer.  Has anyone seen a number? This has been on my mind since I have seen Carnie Wilson had WLS but was then on Celebirty fit club and now is on another show and she is as big as ever.  Like I said I know it is based on YOU and only YOU decide if you are going to be successful but it would be nice to see how many have been and how many haven't.

There are a lot of studies out there, DX has the best list.  I would say that Carnie Wilson, while gaining about 50 back, still was nowhere near her highest weight.  In fact, she was still down over 100 if I recall.  (not making excuses for her habits, just stating the facts) But you can gain some of weight back by breaking the rules.

The numbers depend on the type of surgery you are having....I won't go into details becausee I don't want anyone to think I'm slamming any particular surgery...you can go to my profile, I have several studies there.   Ok in general it seems men do better then women (that is not scientific just my observation) Scientifically (from studies) distal surgeries (distal RNY, extremely Distal RNYs, the BPD and the BPD/DS)  keep the weight off better then proximal surgeries and/or restriction only surgeries (proximal RNY, lap band, vertical gastric banding, and I would assume VSG although that is a new surgery and there are no long term numbers out there for it). I hope this helps. Scott

I've heard statistics like "most people maintain a weight loss of 70% of their excess weight," or, "80% of patients lose 80% of their excess weight."  Something to that effect.  Anyway, most patients manage to keep the majority of their excess weight off. But, what I also don't think is reflected too well in those statistics is the fact that what, 80% of WLS patients are women?  I don't know the exact number, but I'm sure for every guy that has it, there are probably at least 3, if not more, women that do. And, I think this goes in our favor.  Compared to women, we lose weight faster and easier.  I don't know, long term, if we KEEP it off better or longer, but at least, if we relapse, we are better equiped, physiologically, to lose it again. As far as Carne Wilson goes, I know she regained some of her weight, but I believe she has lost much of that again.  However, she had "other" issues besides just food.  I saw her recently on something talking about substitute addictions.  She became an alcoholic post-weight loss.  And, as we all know, alcohol has a lot of calories, and also distorts your judgement about other things.  She's on that wagon now, too, apparently.  Despite her problems, I think we really all owe her a debt of gratitude, because she was the first celebrity to really "come out of the closet" about WLS issues, making it easier for all of us to get it, in some sense.

Man it basically boils down to one simple concept.   You eat less and you move around more.   The surgery is going to help you with the "eat less" part.   The "move around more" part is totally up to the individual.  I don't care WHAT surgery you have if you don't make a commitment to some form of exercise, for the rest of your life, you are ultimately going to gail some weight back.  Men do have an easier time grasping this concept it seems.   I can't tell you how many long term post-op women I have spoken to that have regained weight asking for advice on what went wrong.   My question is always the same.  "Do you exercise?"   90% of the time their answer is either "No" or "Very little".