Goal weight

Hi Wanda - When you get a chance to read my long post, you might see that Grim was saying similar but in his 5 word summary of my 5 paragraph post.  I thought Grim was a little abbreviated even for him - and asked him to explain before I saw your reply post.   People here pretty much say what they think.  I hope Grim's fuller explanation shows where his heart is - on your side.  

PS - IMHO Everyone is a dumbass once in awhile.

He may be a great surgeon. But I've seen great surgeons hand out some horrible advice. And telling you not to go lower than 155 is really poor advice. Setting your sights on a lower number is a good thing. Saying you can't, or won't, or shouldn't, is not beneficial for you.

Doctors are also generally very very bad on vitamins and nutrition for our lifestyles. If you work at it, you'll know a lot more than they do. And you should.

My Doc doesn't set goals..so I went for bodyfat testing to help me determine it. (Read my OH blog if your interested in reading about it)my goal ended up being higher than the standard BMI.

Get to the Docs goal and then take it 5 lbs at a time.

Your goal will depends on you, your body frame and age. Plus how far you want to push yourself. 

I am 5.4 and I went as low as 140. That did not look too good on me. Way too many wrinkles.  I gained some... And at 165 I have less wrinkles... But too much fat... Going down to 155 has been challenging now.   But I am almost 8 years post op. 

Set realistic goal, then try to get lower. I am glad I did. When I was losing - I was happy when I reached 160...and size 10... But I got lower... Now I am back to the range that I was ok with ....8 years post op - that weight is rather easy for me to maintain. And size 6-8-10 is not bad .... 

Try set up NSV - body fat%, clothing size etc .. That, more than weight - scale number may be more important. 

To be fair, anyone can be a dumbass.  Even a nice, talented doctor.

But while I can't comment on your doctor in particular, I can tell you that you should let your body lose as much as it can.  Almost everyone bounces back a bit... and the more you lose, the more room for bounceback you will have.

I got as low as 145 (I looked and felt like a sick scarecrow).  I now hover around 155-160 where I feel just dandy.  I am glad I just let my body figure it out.

Audrey

I didn't get a goal weight from my surgeon until I went to my 3 month follow up, and only then because I asked his PA for one. She gave me this formula:

At 5'3" tall, my "ideal" weight is somewhere around 115lbs (please don't ask me where this comes from, it's probably got to do with BMI, etc). My high weight was 291lbs. I would need to lose 176lbs to get to my ideal. With RNY, they expect someone to lose 70% of their excess weight. So we figured that I would need to lose 123lbs. So 291 less the 123 would make my goal weight 168lbs. That would make me have a BMI that is still overweight, just under obese. I decided that while I would feel great at that goal, I didn't want to stop there. My surgeons PA agreed that I could lose more, that her calculations were just the estimated average of what you could expect to lose.

I say, as long as your BMI is above 18 and you are eating healthy, that you shouldn't limit yourself to the amount of weight lost.

Good luck and I hope you make goal!

My doctor told me to expect to get down to 250, which would've been 66% of my excess weight lost, but he never said I couldn't go any lower.  Personally, I didn't go through surgery, changing my innards, and changing my whole lifestyle to remain overweight.  I don't think there's any reason for anyone not to go low.  

Plus, it's really nice when you go in for a post-op visit, and your surgeon mutters "holy ****!" under his breath.

My surgeon's goal for me is 140#, mine is 100#. Any chart I've looked at indicates that 100 lbs is a good weight for a 4'11" woman.

Don't feel bad, I'm 5'5 too.  My surgeon told me I'd only get to 170, well I'm currently 178 6 months out, so pretty soon my surgeon can go PPPHHHufff herself cause I will prove her wrong!!!!!!!

Did he give you a reason why? Does he not think you will reach that goal so he is trying to keep you from being disappointed? He does not have a crystal ball. Keep following your plan. When you get close to goal, your continued hard work and determination will determine if you get where you want to be or not. I am 5'7" tall and currently 136. I like this weight on me. I will continue to work hard to stay here. I know it is up to me.