Morbid vs. "Regular" Obesity

So, gastric bypass is defined as a medical procedure for the long-term treatment of morbid obesity. For someone who is 6', as I am, the weight considered morbidly obese is 278 pounds or more. I weighed m self today, and between the removal of a small organ, and not eating solid foods for four days, I am now down to 279 lbs. A reminder, I started the gastric bypass program at 316.

The question this raises, do I still need the surgery if I am able to loose weight? The answer I, and my Doctor's have come to, absolutely yes. The surgery is NOT to loose weight, it is to a) loose weight and more importantly b) keep the weight off for long term health. Both my primary care doctor and my gastric bypass doctor agree, I should still get the surgery. In fact, they said "there is no weight you could drop to where we would not still do the surgery for you." They said this is because of how I have not always been heavy, but have for so long, they feel that the primary purpose of keeping weight off long term is still a very beneficial reason to go forward even if I lost another 50 pounds. By the way, someone 6' is still considered obese if they are anything over 221lbs. I still have a LONG way to go before I am below that mark.

I will put this in a separate post, but I have been given my new surgery date, July 13th.