How Much Weight to Lose Before Body Lift?

There is no magic number of pounds you need to lose before a body lift.  The most important thing is to have reached a stable weight.  I have typically found with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, vertical gastric sleeve and duodenal switch that most patients lose their weight at approximately 10 to 12 months.  Lap-band patients tend to maximally lose their weight at approximately 20 to 22 months.  This is a gross generalization, but appears to hold true for most of my patients.  After you have lost your weight and your weight has been stable within 5 pounds for approximately 3 to 4 months, then I believe you are ready for a body lift.
Based on your individual height and weight, I would estimate with a Roux-en-Y procedure you could lose over 100 pounds.  Though as mentioned above, the most important factor is to have a stable weight for approximately 3 to 4 months after your significant weight loss.
 
Thank You,
Dr. J. Timothy Katzen

There's no question that being close to your ideal body weight improves the results from body lift surgery. It also decreases the potential for complications with this type of surgical procedure. For these reasons, we prefer that patients be within 10% of their ideal body weight at the time of surgery.Unfortunately, reaching an ideal body weight is easier said than done. The vast majority of patients are unsuccessful at losing this additional weight. It's also important to realize that even when patients are overweight, they can potentially benefit from body lift surgery. We, therefore, evaluate every patient on an individual basis.We encourage patients to lose weight before surgery and prefer that their weight be stable for at least six months. In someone who currently weighs 285 pounds, it's not unreasonable to lose 100 to 120 pounds prior to surgery. We realize that some patients will have difficulty losing weight. We, therefore, encourage patients to be in a supervised weight loss program. Even with that help, some patients will be unsuccessful in their effort to lose weight. Even without optimal weight loss, many of these patients will still potentially benefit from body lift surgery.It's important to realize that weight loss following body lift surgery can affect the final result. This could even result in the need for revisional surgery. For these reasons, it's important to thoroughly discuss this issue with your plastic surgeon.

Good question.  There is no magic number.  Generally, though, your weight loss should be complete; i.e. you should be at a stable weight for at least 6 months, preferably 12 months.  This weight should be your best sustainable weight--which I define as the weight you can reasonable expect to maintain with a healthy lifestyle.  This may or may not not be your medically ideal weight or the weight that you were hoping to achieve, but is the weight you can maintain.  When you are at this goal weight, the surgeon is not trying to hit a "moving target" and you will get better overall results.