Ready21

Thank you for your input! I am experimenting now and I’ll have a better indication of how things are going this week. It’s great that your body responds like that. You’ve found your formula!

Beat way to see if a low carb diet works for you is to try it out for several weeks and see? If you see/experience what you like, then yay! If not try something else.
Everyone will respond to different types of carbs differently.
I went ultra low carb during weight loss phase, and lost the weight I wanted.
BUT…I discovered later in maintenance that my carb intake made little to no difference in weight loss/gain/maintenance for ME. All that mattered was total calorie intake, whether these cals came from bread or steak or Cookies.
What carb intake DID make a difference for ME, was physical appearance. When i am low-carbing i look more lean and defined. When I’m not, I look more puffy and full.
So while low-carbing makes my body (in my opinion) look nicer, my face gets gaunt-er…so its a win-lose lol. (AND i am basically still the same weight either way, eating basically the same amount of calories).
But again, try it yourself and see (and also speak to your NUT of course )
Good Luck! ❤️

1200 calories is pretty low. Have you considered increasing your caloric intake? It's not intuitively obvious, but sometimes eating more calories can increase your weight loss - your body may be in starvation mode and conserving due to low calories. Increasing the calories, even to 1400 or so, might kickstart your body into burning fat again.

Lol!! I’m going to up it a little and see if that assists in my weight loss. It is scary though! I see you mentioned that upping your calories during your last stall was helpful. I believe that it may work for me too. I’ll report back!

Yep, the closer you are to your goal the slower your rate of loss & yes, it can get so slow you think you’re not losing at all. You’re eating more, which you should be, and eating nearer the calories your body needs to function. Generally the first year is the honeymoon time when most weight if not all your weight is lost.
Unfortunately, not everyone reaches their goal. It depends upon many factors including where your set point has reset to after your surgery. This is the weight your body is happiest at.
If it is a long stall, sometimes a small tweak to your diet or activity can help. Do you still have appointments with your dietician? They may be able to make suggestions on what you could adjust & they’ll be best able to advise on an appropriate caloric goal for you. But consuming 950-1250 should still result in weight loss.
I’m one of those unusual people who kept losing weight well into their 2nd year. I reached goal at 6 months & continued to lose, albeit extremely slowly, for another 11 months. I struggled to get to the 1300 or so calories I found I needed to stop me losing. BUT I’m not very active, am short & more finely built & in the downward slide end of 50. I eat a few more calories now. Many eat a lot more than I do to maintain at their weight.
PS - Are you able to update your profile information on the left side? It can be very helpful if others can see that information about you.

."I see so many things about weight loss and how some still lose way past a year and then some don’t"

that largely depends on where you start. I don't know what your starting BMI or weight was, but I was almost 400 lbs. I lost down to 138 lbs at first (have put on some since then, which is very common) - so yea, I lost for almost two years. For people who only have 100 or so lbs to lose (or fewer), it might only take a year.

I am having the same experience. I am 9 months post op and lost 108 pounds. I seems to be getting smaller yet the scale is very slowly moving or not at all. I think my exercise is moving things around or converting fat to muscle. I am around 1200 calories as well. I started riding my bike for 30 minutes after dinner to try a different exercise. I walk 4 times a day for 15-20 minutes then the bike ride. It seems to be speeding up the weight loss but nowhere near what it was a few months ago.

Sorry I do not have much experience to offer help but wanted to comment..
I do not know how everyone else is loosing but I have a very toxic relationship with the scale, I have been told to stay away from it but I cannot resist to step on every morning. The evil thing does not change, I have 3 different scales because I thought the first one could be damaged but seems like it is not. I have a reading on a given day and it only changes a couple of ounces back and forth for days or even weeks but then, when the scale decides I can see changes of 3 or even 4 pounds, I do not understand it I think is too much change for one day. Each time I read about stalls I think I live constantly in stall mode. Lately the stalls are longer and the changes are smaller only 1 or 2 pounds I understand that as the time gos by it will be slower to loose weight. This is confusing for me, when I used to do my diets before I could see the weight changing gradually but not this time...

I am the worst person to ask this question 😂
I am always petrified of upping my calories. Though after the last stall, upping my calories did help (currently consume around 800 to 950 calories). But I can't imagine going beyond 1200 during the weight loss phase. But that's just me and my past experiences speaking. Many here vouch on having lost weight by increasing their calories. So no harm in giving it a shot.
Try increasing to 1300 for a week and see how it goes. If that doesn't work, next try reducing it by 100. If even those don't work, then body will do its thing and all you can do is continue working your diet and exercise hoping for the scale to move.

I need to find out. Right now I’m 173, my goal is 150

This is true for me too, in fact, mine is coming on in a few days. I’ll see what happens this time. Upping my Water also. Do you think upping my overall calories would help? Thanks!

You will probably get mixed responses on that one. I did not ever cut them out completely but some people do. Some find eating them on occasion is too difficult and some nutritionist think they should be cut out completely during the weight loss phase. Mine said if you can eat them in moderation they are okay.

I stall everytime I get my period. Then when it stops 5 days later I drop 4-5 lbs. This has happened every month lol but I know non menstrual related stalls are super common. Just keep eating in a deficit and drink a bunch of Water. Sometimes I stall too if I'm constipated. I take some laxatives and continue on the losing streak.

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it could definitely be a stall - mine tended to be more frequent and lasted longer the closer i got to a normal BMI. Every time I'd think "well, i guess this is it...", and then the weight loss would start up again.
if you're doesn't in another couple of weeks and you still want to lose more, about the only thing you can do is cut calories (or increase activity - or both).

How tall are you? If you are close to a normal BMI the weight loss does slow down considerably and it eventually stops. I am 5’8” Mine stopped at 169 and after staying there for several months I gained 10 back over the next few. I have been at 179 ever since. I wanted to get much lower but had to accept that my body is happy here. I could probably lose a bit if I incorporated more exercise Though. You may just need to be a bit more patient, but you also may need to add more movement to lose more.

Well if it makes u feel any better, my NUT wanted me averaging 1000+ at my 3 month mark. I didn’t hit that until 2 months AFTER I got to goal, lol
My only advice is do the best you can, and so long as your labs come back satisfactorily and you don’t suffer physically, then you should be golden.
Good Luck!

Thank you for the feedback. It’s all helpful to my peace of mind. You’ve done very well to maintain. My doc said months ago I should increase my cals to 1000. I can’t seem to bring myself to it 🥴

Thank you, this is true. I’ve been experiencing a little anxiety about it wondering if I’m on the right track.

Me too. 😂😂😂 Started strong but then let some of my food choices slip (dessert), a glass of champagne most nights & a bit more snacking & there was almost a kg more than I like on my scales. Well I deserved that I thought. Time to get back on track. But a night of excessive peeing & like you a good poop & it was almost totally gone as well. Obviously, besides the calorie increase, the Christmas cheer stuffed up my natural voiding habits a bit. Glad the (socially distanced Covid safe) celebrating & socialising has finally stopped & I’m home & back to my routines.

5’2” female. At the 6 month mark, I was at 97 lbs lost. But this includes ~12 lbs lost during my 2 week pre-op diet, so really it was more like 85 lbs lost in the first 6 months immediately after surgery.
FYI, during weight loss phase i went with volume and calories measures way to monitor intake (cuz there is a huge diff between 1oz of steak and 1oz of salad or 1oz of almonds in terms of “eat-ability” AND calories)
With that said, at my 6 month mark, I was averaging about 700-ish calories a day, with each “meal” coming up to no more than 1 cup in volume (if I remember correctly). I use the term “meal” loosely as I was (and sorta still am) a grazer.
But I’ve read enough on here to learn that my experience differs from many (and is similar to some). I have also learned that while everyone loses at their own pace and implements their own strategies, we all end up in the same place eventually so long as we stick with our plan and make adjustments as necessary.

Good Luck! ❤️
P.S. I am 3+ years out now and have maintained below goal weight the entire time. I average about 1800 cals a day with moderate exercise. …. Though, full disclosure, I was 2lbs outside my “happy weight range” a couple days ago, which has since been lost (a couple good poops did it, I think, lol…that and I cut down on the copious amounts of Xmas chocolates I’ve been porking on). This morning I was 119 lbs even, but I feel better when I’m closer to the lower end of my happy weight range so am gonna shoot for 115 and see if I can get back down there without too much discomfort, ha!….we shall see.

I am three months out and already have increased appetite. Its no where near the hanger type hunger pre-surgery though. I am still eating around 3-3.5 oz and have lost about 45 lbs. I had a VSG.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

sounds like a pretty normal weight loss to me...

As we progress we are all able to eat more & many find their appetite & hunger starts to come back at around 6-9 months. It’s when the next lot of hard work happens - when it’s up to you to control & manage your eating as you can’t rely on the diminishing benefits of the tool (your sleeve) anymore.
At 6 months I’d reached goal & had lost 26kg (57lbs) post surgery so about the same as you. My surgeon was very happy with my rate of loss. I was eating almost 900 calories & almost a cup of food depending on what it was. I was slowly eating more but it did take another 10/11 months for me to be able to physically eat enough to stop losing.
I eat about 1300 calories to maintain now & that includes 3 or 4 Snacks. My serving size is a good cup or about the recommended serving size of most foods. To give you an idea I can eat 1.5 eggs, 3ozs steak, 2 lamb cutlets, a serve of rolled oats, 1/2 - 3/4 cup steamed vegetables, a tub of yoghurt. I take 30-60 mins to eat a meal. I should stress I’m not tall, have a small frame, am almost 57 & am not very active so hence my lower caloric intake.
Congrats on your weight loss. You’re almost there. Whoo hoo!

Keep in mind that you can't compare yourself to others who may have started at a higher or lower BMI or weight and have different bodies or may or may not be exercising more or less than you are.
That being said, it sounds like you're doing GREAT! Way to go! Good job! Keep up the good work!

I’m almost 6 months out and have lost 60 pounds. I’m trying not to compare my situation to others, but I’m curious on how much some of you lost around the same timeframe. Also…my appetite is definitely increasing. I stick to about 4.5 ounces per meal, but feel like sometimes I can eat more. How much are you eating per meal? Thanks.