New to site, DS scheduled....scared and excited all at once!

[Up2Me3]

Hi - I'm Stephanie! Scheduled for DS mid October. I'm loving reading though the posts but it does seem I have a million questions after going through each forum post. Hoping the DS will help me shed 200 pounds that just isn't me but has 'somehow' latched on and won't seem to let go!

What time frame would one expect for that much weight loss? It seems I read somewhere on another site that is was 'if you lost a certain percentage during the first year then you were on track to keep losing it all'......does this sound about right?

TIA for any and all feedback - Steph

 

[southernlady]

@Up2Me3 (Stephanie)

Do you have a date in mid-Oct...we can add you to the calendar!

As to questions, just read everything you can here and at DSFacts and if something is confusing, ask specific questions. Yes, it is overwhelming but we all have survived the learning curve!

 

[DianaCox]

Who is your surgeon?

Stop thinking about time frames - it will happen when it happens. You can't guess or predict individual results. I would hide your scale and not worry about it. It is more likely than not that you won't lose ALL of it either, or maintain all of your initial loss. Bouceback happens, and the average long term weight loss is 75%. Start wrapping your head around that fact now. What you WILL get - if you follow the rules - is your health.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

I lost 240 pounds in two years and two months. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[Up2Me3]

I feel like I just need to slow my brain down....! I guess I just figure doing something this drastic that I want it ALL off...? Stingy I know but I want to get on scale and NEVER see it start with a "2" again... right now it's a "3:....literally had to choke (type) that out!

Elizabeth that is fantastic...! Did you reach your goal weight? Another thing my brain starts thinking and contemplating is the skin....is that a huge issue for you...I'm in my late 40's so I'm thinking things won't bounce back in to place very easily LOL?

Diana...thank you! I will try be realistic but I also want to fight for every bit I can get....that's the stubborn in me coming out!

I'm shooting for Oct. 21st....but 2nd doc visit will be on the 1st so I'm hoping that that is enough time for the pre-surgery diet to begin..!

Just a site question - I addressed each of you here in a reply because when I attempted to reply to your comment individually it gave me an error. It was odd...it let me start typing as if I was right inside YOUR comment...make any sense?

 

[DianaCox]

That's fine - better to go into it determined to be a complete success than expecting to fail, but better still to go in with a realistic attitude, and acceptance that what will be will be, and you can only control what you can (or are willing to) control.

WLS success is typically defined either as 50% EWL MAINTAINED, or - if your BMI was over 40, getting down to (and maintaining) a BMI of less than 35; if your BMI was over 50, success is getting down to a BMI <40 (From the Marceau 2009 15 year study:

"Our preference was to define success as "cure rate", meaning a patient was no longer morbidly obese. For a patient with an initial BMI >50 kg/m2 to reach a BMI <40 kg/m2 should be attained; for a patient with an initial BMI <50, the target was a BMI <35. Using this definition, cure rate was 83% (544/659) for the first group and 92% (637/694) for the second.". ​

Keep that in mind.

I had my DS at age 50. I lost from 293 to 205 in one year and stopped. At about 3.3 years, I started losing again, and ended up (for a moment, with a personal trainer) at 169, and had the first stage of plastic surgery (lower face and brachioplasty). The rest of the surgeries were scheduled and funded - and I backed out. I had a very bad psychiatric reaction (with NO psych history whatsoever) to some medication given to me after PS, which I also found to be HORRIFICALLY painful, and I said forget it. I had to be put on meds that made me regain 35 lbs, and I'm back to 205 again. Wearing (at 5'5") size 14-16, still "normal" sizes, looking like the 61 year old grandma that I am (well, maybe a little better .... ).

On the other hand, my husband had multiple hernia repairs yesterday, including two inguinal hernias, and an umbilical hernia repair WITH a tummy tuck (diastasis repair). He's freaking walking around the house upright, saying he's kind of uncomfortable and oochie. YMMV.

 

[southernlady]

I feel like I just need to slow my brain down....! I guess I just figure doing something this drastic that I want it ALL off...? Stingy I know but I want to get on scale and NEVER see it start with a "2" again... right now it's a "3:....literally had to choke (type) that out!

Elizabeth that is fantastic...! Did you reach your goal weight? Another thing my brain starts thinking and contemplating is the skin....is that a huge issue for you...I'm in my late 40's so I'm thinking things won't bounce back in to place very easily LOL?

Diana...thank you! I will try be realistic but I also want to fight for every bit I can get....that's the stubborn in me coming out!

I'm shooting for Oct. 21st....but 2nd doc visit will be on the 1st so I'm hoping that that is enough time for the pre-surgery diet to begin..!

Just a site question - I addressed each of you here in a reply because when I attempted to reply to your comment individually it gave me an error. It was odd...it let me start typing as if I was right inside YOUR comment...make any sense?

Okay to reply to one person, click the Reply button on that particular post. It will pop into the empty box next to your avatar at the bottom of the page.
To reply to multiple people quoting their posts, click the Quote button for each one you want to reply to. Then at the bottom in the empty box, you will see under the empty box "Insert Quote", click on it and a "pop up" (known as an overlay) will appear with all quotes listed. Tell it yes and then reply to each in the empty box when it finishes putting all your quotes in it. (Confused yet?)

 

[JackieOnLine]

hello, Steph!

 

[Elizabeth N.]

I did not ever have a goal weight. My goals were and are all about health and mobility. That being said, I did lose to a "normal" BMI, and felt too darned skinny there. I felt best about 10-15 pound above that "normal" BMI (which is a bullshit number anyway), and I'm currently hovering 10-15 pounds above that.

I measure my continued success in the same way, by health and mobility. Take a look at my photo albums to see what I consider the best rewards of the DS .

 

[aaa]

Welcome, glad you're here.

 

[Up2Me3]

Okay to reply to one person, click the Reply button on that particular post. It will pop into the empty box next to your avatar at the bottom of the page.
To reply to multiple people quoting their posts, click the Quote button for each one you want to reply to. Then at the bottom in the empty box, you will see under the empty box "Insert Quote", click on it and a "pop up" (known as an overlay) will appear with all quotes listed. Tell it yes and then reply to each in the empty box when it finishes putting all your quotes in it. (Confused yet?)

Just testing this out!

 

[JackieOnLine]

after posting here I find other sites so clunky!