People often ask “how much weight can you expect to lose after weight loss surgery?” This is a fair question and is one that you might be asking yourself if you are in the pre-op stage. The short answer is, it depends. It depends on how much you need to lose and what type of surgery you are having. People with gastric bypass lose an average of 30-40% of their excess weight by 6 months. Weight loss surgery patients that had gastric sleeve typically lose about 2 pounds a week. So, both surgeries provide significant weight loss in a relatively short time. The fact that these procedures provide such extreme weight loss in a short amount of time is the reason it is an attractive treatment for obesity for many people. It truly is an amazing tool that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
I know that we all want to lose weight as fast as possible, but it is important to remember that “slow and steady” usually wins the race. It can be easy to get caught up in the scale and focus only on how much weight you are losing, but always remember there is so much more to this journey. Focus on how you are feeling and the things you are able to do now that you have had extreme weight loss. The weight loss is amazing, but if you take a step back and also appreciate the other things, you will be so much happier and appreciative of this journey.