Hammer_Down

I just had my sleeve done a week ago, so my experience with stalls comes from my previous non-surgical weight loss.

I lost 100lbs over an 18 month period in 2011-2012 following a strict ketogenic diet. I started on Atkins, and gradually eliminated some of the foods that were slowing my loss (like cheese and artificial sweeteners of all kinds).

A stall is defined by Dr Atkins as a period where your weight and measurements don't improve for 6 weeks. As you lose fat, your body begins to reproportion fat from certain areas to others. Usually during a stall on the scale, you will notice your abdominal fat, thighs, hips, bum, breasts will diminish as the fat is redistributed to other areas.

If after 6 weeks there is still no movement, it's usually time to take inventory of what you're eating and look for culprits (for me, dairy products and processed foods will stall my weight loss).

Of course, for women there are a few days each months where Water retention will mask any weight loss, and usually there is a satisfying "whoosh" of a few pounds all at once afterwards.

Hello all!

None of you know who I am, but I know many of you from obsessively reading your posts, trials and success stories for the past several months. I'd like to thank everyone who puts themselves out there to the broader public to educate us about this procedure and many of the bumps in the road.

Like many of you, I have struggled with my weight for most of my life, starting in adolescence. Despite assurances from my friends and family that I looked fine, and that I wasn't really fat (just a little fat, I guess) I was never at a weight where I felt truly confident in my own skin. More importantly, I never truly felt that I was fulfilling my physical capabilities. I excelled at sports when I was younger, but I could recognize even then that my weight was holding me back from taking it to the next level.

Jump ahead 15 years (I am 32 now) and my "normal" fluctuations of weight went from about 20 lbs (I stayed between 185-205 for most of a decade) to more like 60lbs (getting as high as 250, doing Keto for 2 years and getting down to 150, only to gradually start gaining back to 250. I work as a long haul truck driver, and although I don't indulge myself at most truck stops, the sheer lack of physical activity is certainly part of my weight issue now.

After maintaining this new (disappointing) weight, I decided it was time to avail myself of every tool in the box. During a very drunken conversation with an old friend, she said that I she couldn't lose her excess 120lbs by her birthday, she was just "gonna get the gastric surgery". This sent me searching for more information, and one of the sites I found was this one.

Never one to say or do things I don't mean, I ended up researching the process with my mind set on making it happen. Unfortunately, in my part of Canada, the wait is very long (more than 5 years, start to finish) and at a BMI of 36, there was no hope I would be approved. I could never afford $20000USD+ to have it done south of the border, so I contacted A Lighter Me and got the ball rolling.

I just had my surgery last week, I am 6 days post-op and just got back home today. I feel prepared for some of the challenges coming my way, and hope that I can be of some help to someone else who is out there, reading this and trying to decide what to do.

Thanks for reading!