CHRISSER27

Current recommendations vary a bit, but most suggest that to lose weight and prevent re-gain, 250 to 300 minutes of moderate physical activity per week are needed. Of that, at least 150 to 180 should be aerobic activities such as brisk walking, running, swimming or bicycling.
Moderate by the way, is defined as attaining a heart rate of 50-70% of your max heart rate. The easiest way to estimate you maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you are 50, your max heart rate would be 170, so 50% to 70% of that would be 85 to 119 BPM.
In addition to the aerobic activities, strength training should be included. The recommendation would be to perform 2-3 sessions per week for 30-60 minutes. Detailed recommendations are beyond the scope of what I can add here. For beginners, bodyweight training would be my recommendation. Doing so you'll be at a much lower risk of injury and IMO, bodyweight training should be the foundation of all other strength training. Google "bodyweight training for beginners" and you should see some recommendations. Just make sure the website is from a reputable source. there are lots of "fads" out there and some of them could be harmful.
The reason strength training is so critical is that muscle is significantly more metabolically active than fat. By gaining muscle, you'll actually increase your overall metabolic rate, meaning you'll burn more calories even when you're not exercising. This means you'll be better able to lose weight or maintain weight at a higher overall number of calories than you would otherwise.
In addition, strength training can help you age gracefully by reducing the risk of osteoporosis, improving mental acuity, improving balance and physical functioning, and helping manage pain.
Finally, in addition to the aerobic and strength training recommendation, I also think it's a good idea to participate in functional fitness that helps improve balance, coordination, and flexibility. There are lots of options here, but yoga and tai chi are good choices if you need recommendations.

This is another place where the scale is just not helpful.
Even considering a change to exercise routines or food plan levels because of a number on a scale is... well... self defeating.
The exercise is healthy, it's making a healthier you. Your food plan is healthy(ish) and it's making a healthier you. But the scale is giving you the message something needs to change.
Imagine not having the scale, you would be following your exercise plan and food plan knowing they are the appropriate course for you. You would be getting healthier. You would feel good about the habits you are building. No scale to make you crazy.
Life is better without a scale.
Good luck,
Tek

That’s a very individual thing and preferences vary, but I’ve always enjoyed New Balance shoes.

So I read all the comments and I just want to reiterate, I do track, religiously.
I didn't weigh all weekend, we were out of town for our anniversary, but when I weighed this morning I was down 2 lbs from friday morning... and I was shocked because I ate off plan this weekend (still had the portions, just tried things I haven't had yet, like bread, grits, mashed potatoes..)
I looked online and the google says that sometimes it helps when your body hits a plateua to shake things up by either upping carbs or fat for a few days to get it going, so maybe its what it needed?

I’ve lost 18lbs in the first month. SW was 290. CW IS is 272.

I am 1 month post-op today and I’m down about 18 lbs. I healed quickly, I’ve been back on the treadmill since week 2 and am walking 2+ miles a day. I had very little pain post surgery and I have had NO problems with any foods. To the point where I feel like I SHOULD be having more difficulty. I have lost little if any weight since January 25th. A girlfriend thinks I’m consuming too many calories. I am eating between 800-1000 calories a day, but burning between 400-500 on the treadmill daily. I’m tall. 5’8” and my SW was 290. CW is 272. I started the pre-op diet at 303.2. Am I eating too many calories? Should I feel ok that my NET calories daily are closer to 500-600 calories a day? I feel like my mind is slipping into that dark space where I feel like this surgery is gonna be a failure. Like…. The weight just isn’t going to come off. I know this “stall” was to be expected…. But I would feel better with more directions aside from meet your Protein and fluids (which I’m doing). Would love to hear your thoughts.

It seems that at least 50% of the posts on BariatriPal are bemoaning a stall. Daily, and sometimes hourly, I am reading about how someone ONLY lost x number of pounds and now the scale hasn't moved in ___ [fill in the blank] days/months, etc. Oh no, they write, I am a failure/unique/my surgery didn't work/life is not fair, ... Why am I in a stall?
I know I am exaggerating but I think you get the idea.
Guess what? STALLS are a NORMAL part of the PROCESS of losing weight. If you want to lose weight, you will stall. Not just once, but over and over. And, guess what? A stall is where your body actually does the hard work of becoming smaller. It takes a lot of work and energy to dismantle a structure that has been holding up, in some cases, hundreds of pounds.
For those who think they have to DO something to somehow "break a stall" (in my opinion, you do not break a stall, you just ride them out), here is my response:
What can you do to "break" a stall?
1) STAY OFF THE SCALE
Relax and stay off the scale if it bothers you so much. Weigh no more than once a week, or even less often. Weighing only at your doctor's appointments early in the process is a good strategy if your mood and self-worth are dictated by the numbers on the scale.
2) PICK UP A TAPE MEASURE
In addition to using the numbers on the scale to measure your progress, take your measurements. Inches lost are also a great way to see physical progress when the scale isn't moving. Most people see the biggest physical changes in their body when the scale seems stuck.
3) TRACK YOUR Protein AND Water AND MEET OR EXCEED YOUR PROTEIN AND WATER GOAL EVERY DAY
As long as you are getting in all your protein and water and following your NUT and surgeon's instructions, you are doing what you are supposed to do.
If you aren't getting in all your protein and water, then increasing your protein and water is something you can do (and should be doing anyway whether or not you are in a stall).
4) EXERCISE
If you aren't exercising, then you can exercise (and should be whether or not you are in a stall). You can start slowly by walking or even moving more around the house. Exercising will help you feel better, tone your skin and build fat-burning muscle.
5) MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH YOUR NUT
If you are unsure or unclear about what you are supposed to be, or should not be eating, then make an appointment with your NUT (which you should be doing whether or not you are in a stall).
6) REASSESS AND REEVALUATE
About the only good result I see that comes from complaining about a stall is when you take an honest look at what you are doing and realign with the program recommended by your NUT and surgeon. Have you started eating more outside of your plan? Are you restricting calories? Are you eating enough carbs and protein for your exercise? Are you taking your Vitamins? Are you eating often enough? Are you eating slowly with protein first? Sometimes, all you need to DO is go back to basics.
7) JOURNAL
One of the biggest things I have noticed from the various posts is how anxious and out-of-control some people feel when they notice a stall. Journaling can help you gain some perspective and deal with some of the emotional turmoil.
-- Write about how you are feeling about the stall and your weight loss, and surgery in general.
-- Write about why you had the surgery in the first place.
-- Write about what life was like before surgery.
-- Write about what you hope and dream about accomplishing in the future.
-- Write about your fears.
-- Write about your NSVs.
-- Make a gratitude list.
-- Make a bucket list.
-- Write a letter to your old self; write a letter to your new self.
Just write.
8) SEEK HELP
Stalls are when too many people seem to revert to old, counterproductive dieting behaviors (restricting calories, over exercising, bingeing, etc.). If this is you, then another thing you can DO is to talk to a counselor or therapist or consider joining a bariatric support group or a twelve-step group like Overeater's Anonymous.
The discomfort of being in a stall can also drive people to develop new, unhealthy coping habits or even transfer addictions. This is where you want to marshall all the resources you have available to you and use them.
The last, and most important thing you can DO is:
9) EMBRACE THE STALL
Stalls are a normal and natural part of the process.
Our bodies are complex systems and not simple machines.
Stalls go hand-in-hand with weight loss.
If you had Weight Loss Surgery, then you probably want to lose a significant amount of weight. So, get ready to embrace the many stalls you will experience as your body is transformed. It will be worth it.

Here are a few resources I found helpful:
"The Physiology of Body Weight Regulation: Are We Too Efficient for Our Own Good?"
http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/20/3/166.full
"Long-term persistence of adaptive thermogenesis in subjects who have maintained a reduced body weight"
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/4/906.long
"After 'The Biggest Loser', their bodies fought to regain weight"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0
The physiological mechanisms of regulation of body weight - how they work and how they are altered, is still a very active area of research. Sadly most people, even most doctors, aren't well versed on this subject.

At some level it is still true that (calories in) - (calories out) is proportional to your weight loss. What happens though, is that (calories out) doesn't stay constant. This quantity, or more precisely, resting metabolic rate, tends to go down as your weight goes down. The body has a physiological tendency to try to remain at an equilibrium point, and this includes not only body temperature, but also body weight. The equilibrium weight value is often referred to as the "set point", which comes from engineering - control theory.
I have been reading the scientific literature on this the past couple of weeks, as my metabolism has clearly slowed down. Apparently it was first reported decades ago, but whether this even happened was at first muddled by conflicting studies. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a great deal of clarity around what to do about it. A number of studies suggest that slow, steady weight loss is better in this regard than large, rapid weight loss. The other point that I think is pretty well established is that for people who have really lowered their resting metabolic rate, this can persist for a long time - years, and perhaps indefinitely.
Hormone levels associated with hunger are also altered. In particular leptin, which makes you feel satisfied, decreases with weight loss.
A recent well publicized study of the participants on The Biggest Loser, who experience both large and rapid weight loss, found that their resting metabolic rate and their leptin levels were both significantly lower, 6 years later, than would be expected, which explained why nearly all of them had regained their weight. Of course, that is not the same as bariatric surgery, but it's not completely independent either. It's an extreme form of what we can run into.
Learning about these things is why I have decided not to push harder, using ever lower calories or ever higher exercise, to try to maintain my rate of weight loss. I don't want to wreck my metabolism. I am eating roughly 1200 calories a day, and if things stall, then they stall. 1200 calories is already quite low for a 6 foot man. I may even bump it up a bit to 1400, but I won't go down further.

I had to share this about a book I just purchased & can't put down. It's called the Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung. He shows how carbs are our enemy. Very very informative. They way he lays everything out makes so much sense, showing how not all calories are the same. How cutting back on calories in, actually causes reduction in how much calories our bodies use (metabolism). It is so well thought out & explained so that it all makes sense. So....if you can't understand why you are eating very little calories & either not losing or not losing enuff, he explains it in ways that help you understand. He goes on to tell us how we can increase the amount of calories we expend, later on in the book, without having to drastically cut back on the amount we take in. I haven't gotten there yet but so far those lights of understanding have been coming on in my head, like never before. I encourage you all to pick up this book. It actually backs up what our doctors & nutritionists are telling us. This is a very informative read.

Sorry for the novel folks, but maybe before getting to tips and tricks, let's talk a bit about what causes plateaus:
First, the most common reason for any stall, including the dreaded 3-week stall is simply that you are retaining more Water. There are a few reasons this happens, but around the 3-week mark it comes down to the fact that your body is adjusting to a low carb intake after converting from glycogen to ketones for energy. More water is needed to burn glycogen, so you were retaining more water pre-surgery than you are now that you're using primarily ketones for energy. At about the 3-week mark, your body eventually recognizes that the water loss is long term, so other mechanisms have started kicking in to start holding on to more water. This water loss due to the change between glycogen and ketones is the primary reason for "keto flu", and something that increases your risk of dehydration early after surgery.
The other "reasons" for plateaus really don't apply as much at the 3 week mark, but will become more important later in the process. Let's cover those too though so you're prepared:
As you lose more weight, your overall metabolic rate will slow down. People sometimes think fat is not metabolically active, but that's not true. Less fat means your metabolism slows down, even if you retain the same amount of muscle. As you lose weight, it takes less effort to move, so the amount of calories you burn from activity also drops quite a bit. As you progress, you'll be able to eat more and especially if you're not tracking intake closely by weighing and measuring your food, you can easily be eating a lot more than you think. This one may be TMI for some, but you may simply be retaining more stool. This is going to be hard for some people to hear, but I can tell you one thing it's not, and that's hormones. Yes, various hormonal processes negatively impact weight loss in a myriad of ways, but they don't overcome basic physics: if you eat less than you are burning, you'll lose weight. What these hormones can do if they're out of whack, is not good things like slowing your metabolism, increasing your hunger, screwing with water weight, or even fooling you into thinking you're eating less than you are.
So, with all that sciency stuff out of the way, what do we actually do if we're in a stall? Well, I think it depends on when it happens and how long it lasts:
If it's early (a.k.a. the 3-week stall), just keep doing what you're doing and you should be fine. I know people don't like that advice, but as I said, it's just water, so don't worry about it. Later on, especially if the stall is lasting longer than 2-3 weeks. that's when I think it's important that you look closely at what you are actually burning, as well as really tracking what you are eating. If you don't know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), you should. The closer you are to goal, the harder it is to get the balance right between intake and output to make sure you're not eating too much, so fixing this starts with knowing your BMR and accurate food logging. There's a lot of anecdotal advice thrown around about "ways to break a stall", but there seems to be little scientific evidence for any of it. Most of it certainly won't hurt to try, e.g. breaking up your routine in terms of diet or exercise, but just understand that this change may or may not have had any impact. If it makes you feel better to be proactive, go for it. Longer term, there is one piece of solid advice that's backed up by lots of research: Even if you don't really like working out, do it anyway. Those WLS patients that make a regular habit of exercising for 45 minutes to an hour most days a week are significantly more likely to reach their goal and maintain the weight loss. (One caveat here: significantly changing your exercise routine can make you retain water and possibly even add muscle, so don't freak out if you see a stall or even a gain.) I'll take that exercise advice one step further and say you really should be doing some form of strength training. This is also backed up by lots of studies, but the great thing about strength training is that it makes your burn more calories even at rest (in other words, it increases your metabolic rate). There are lots of other benefits, but the metabolic benefit is the most germaine to the stall question. Those that do strength training are less likely to stall during weight loss.

milk of magnesia is the only thing that has worked for me. i am nearly five months post-op and i tried miralax, magnesia tablets, metamucil, and exlax. the only thing that was effective was the exlax but you can’t take that very often cuz it can cause lazy bowel where your intestines don’t move your food unless prompted by a laxative.

i started taking milk of magnesia last week and it works great! :D i take 30 mL every two days and that has been very beneficial. i also have the phillips cherry flavor and it kind of tastes like cherry flavored detergent or washing liquid; it’s not the best tasting thing but bearable lol

I left the hospital having to dissolve those nasty little Docusate Sodium (Colace) capsules in warm Water. Couldn't do it.... the taste was horrible. Called the doc for an alternative and they told me Milk of Magnesia. Phillips makes a Cherry flavor MOM. It's like MAGIC. I drink a cap full of that - and within maybe 2 hours it has served its purpose. Can't go wrong.

I left the hospital having to dissolve those nasty little Docusate Sodium (Colace) capsules in warm Water. Couldn't do it.... the taste was horrible. Called the doc for an alternative and they told me Milk of Magnesia. Phillips makes a Cherry flavor MOM. It's like MAGIC. I drink a cap full of that - and within maybe 2 hours it has served its purpose. Can't go wrong.