Is There Such a Thing as a “Stall?”

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

A “stall” or “plateau” is what it’s called when you feel like you’re eating right, but for no apparent reason, your weight suddenly stops coming off. We’ve all experienced them…or have we? Some doctors say there’s no such thing as a plateau, but some weight loss surgery patients think they’re just part of the journey. What do you think?

• Of course there is. I’ve been through them. There are times when I do everything right, and no weight comes off.
• Probably. I haven’t had one myself, but I’ve heard enough about them to be afraid of them!
• No, I don’t think so. As long as I follow my diet and exercise plan, I lose weight. When the weight stops coming off, I know it’s because I haven’t been behaving and I have to fix it.
• I don’t know. It sure feels like it sometimes, but maybe I’m doing something wrong.
• No, my surgeon doesn’t believe in them, and I’m hoping he/she is right!
• Other – read my answer below.

Mark your answer and talk about it in the discussion below. Plus, let us know how you get over stalls…or how you prevent them!

[thesuse2000 698]

For the record - I've had periods where I didn't lose because I was eating a lot as well as times when I didn't lose for mysterious reasons while eating and exercising just as I should to lose. Quite often though the weight loss catches up. Like I won't lose for a couple weeks and then drop 5-6 pounds the 3rd week. But sometimes there isn't a catch up, but the scale at least starts moving again. Alas, all part of the process.

[CanyonBaby 1,852]

I guess it would depend on your definition of "stall"; mine is that there is a break, a pause in the action. Or could be a place for farm animals in which to reside! Either way, it could be very unpleasant!

[SnohoGal98296 371]

I record everything I eat, to the best I can, so when I experience a stall I go over what I am eating, I just don't see how eating 1000 calories and exercising can cause weight loss to stop. Therefore I believe in stalls. Luckily for me I have only experienced a few, I think it is the body holding on to Water weight or bloat, in an attempt to stop what it perceives as a major attack on its energy stores.

[chunkyloverlovesyou 197]

Science of food and nutrition is sketchy at best. every year they re-define what was previously 'obvious' knowledge- saturated/unsaturated fats and cholesterol for example. Remember the low fat diet of the early 90s? Phen-phen (I think?) oh and calories in = calories out. I call total BS on that one. Not all calories are created equal. So this stall notion.. Who knows... No one has it figured out yet.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

I do believe you can go through periods of plateaus where you are doing everything right, and the weight does not come off. I think it's absolutely true that we just don't really understand obesity and weight loss as well as you might think. I've had periods of time where I did everything right, and didn't lose weight, and other times when I didn't do so good, and the weight just fell off.

Before I had the sleeve, I followed weight watcher religiously for 18 months. I lost 50 pounds the first year, and the next six months I lost nothing. There was no explanation for it. With the sleeve I can tolerate much lower calories, so I didn't experience anything like that. However, I lost about 40 pounds the first two months post op, and then in the third month I lost about 6 pounds - nothing changed, but my body was fighting to stay fat while I ate less than 600 calories a day.

I think the physical dynamics of a morbidly obese person is just so much more complex than calories in = calories out (that we've all been taught). One thing for almost certain, though, if you keep consuming low calories, you will lose weight over time. It's what we do for the long haul that makes the difference, and the amount we can consume to be successful varies from person to person, so we each have to find what that is.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I definately believe in a "stall" or waiting period that the body goes through when going thru rapid weight loss. I have experienced one true stall that lasted 3 weeks and I was barely getting 500 calories a day and working on like crazy. I have also experienced small pauses where I wI'll go back and forth with the same 2 lbs for about a week and then suddenly the weight just starts dropping slowly.

Call them whatever you want, they definately happen to me when. Am doing everything I am supposed to.

[bikrchk 1,313]

I don't believe in giving the ebb and flow to weight loss following surgery a name. I think that gives it more power than it deserves. Follow your plan and DON'T focus on the scale! Focus on goals you can control... Your exercise and nutrition. Do that and the weight will come off and you won't need a name for the times your body is simply adjusting to weight loss.

[Sunshine_Gal 68]

This is my the start of my 9th week post op. Pre-Op and the first two weeks post-op I was doing great. Then I hit the 3rd week and stopped dead in my tracks for several weeks, the scales just didn't move, now to me that's a 'stall'. From then until now I have lost, if I'm lucky, a pound a week. It's so frustrating when you're only eating 600 calories or less a day, exercising and the scales just doesn't want to budge. So yes, I believe the body 'stalls' trying to desperately hold on to the fat it's acquired.

I don't know what's ahead for me but I've come to the realization that even though I'm consuming way fewer calories than I ever have before the weight isn't going to 'fall' off for me. It's going to be a much slower process. The thing is there is no set time to finish to the goal line. I have the rest of my life. Every pound that is gone is gone for good (which is still hard to wrap my head around). So I keep plugging along, hoping one of these days the scales is going to drop more than a pound or two at a time. But if not, it's still going down not up and that's the most important thing. After all ask yourself how long it took you to put on all those extra pounds so a couple of years to take it off is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Another thing, the scale may glue itself tightly to one spot during the week but the tape measure has become my friend. The inches are melting, I can see it in the mirror, that extra stomach or two I was carrying around has disappeared, I finally have a waist again. My clothes are loose, the original pants I wore pre-surgery are long gone, the next size down many of them are baggy and the buttons on the blouses button all the way, always before the last one or two buttons never buttoned because of my stomach.

So I'd say stall or not, this is the best tool I've ever used and I just keep on track and know that eventually the scales will catch up to the inches and I'll be one happy, healthy person!

[Velocity 40]

When your body experiences a great weightloss and you have done everything right...it needs time to find an equilibrium. Once it finds it...weightloss resumes. There is NO WAY you can consume 800-1200 cals a day...and not lose weight. If you hit a stall...just carry on and consider it Christmas when the drop comes and weight starts falling off again.

[zanderman 41]

It may be a little more complex than IF i eat right THEN i lose weight. There are a host of metabolic variables to consider, and I think it's easier to label these factors as a "stall" or "plateau" considering science hasn't even identified all of them yet. JMHO.

Edited April 2, 2015 by zanderman

[B-52 7,113]

I answered the first choice....however, I was never baffled where I did everything right and nothing happened...

Doing something right was changing things up a little....increase my workout activity, decrease my calorie intake, etc.

So stalls never really lasted too long...took a week to realize I was in one, then another week to 10 days to get it going again.

Stalls, IMO, is when your body catches up and adjusts to the new lifestyle you've adapted since having WLS...it's then you have to shake it up a little....

I'm at a point where everything is at a constant...my eating is pretty much the same day after day, as is my workouts.

I have not gained, nor lost any weight in 3 years, and I am OK with that at this point.

[MBM1Forever 107]

All I know is that there are periods that the weight seems to stay pretty steady. Other times, I lose a pound a day. I really don't think that I do much differently at any of the those periods. I think the body just needs time to adjust to the changes and, let it go.