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I'm 3 weeks out from surgery (about 24 days). I'm in the three week stall and I am ok. Am I struggling with Water and Protein? Yes. Am I not getting enough sleep? Yes. Am I exhausted and not getting my daily exercise in? Yes. Am I depressed? No. Why? Because I adjust, I do better each day. Each day I push myself. If there is something that is outside the scope of what I should be eating I throw it out. I don't put it away for later, I just chuck it out. I added strength training (resistance) to my routine and I know I'm retaining water because of it. Instead of having a melt down I will continue with the light resistance training 3x a week. Why? Because it makes me feel better: stronger, healthier, like I'm advancing. When I weighed in this morning my weight was UP (and I wanted to freak out but I didn't). I know it is because of water retention (and lack of water). My rational brain is fighting to keep me calm. I couldn't sleep well last night but I woke up and came here to read and find solace in the community. And though sleepy I found reason to keep taking steps forward. Even though it nauseates me in the mornings I'm working on my water. I had a tsp of Peanut Butter and am working on a Protein shake right now. I am separated from my significant other and I slid on my water and protein focus because of that last week. Also, I have been stressed and so my body is holding on to everything; I can feel it (isn't that a funny thing?). But still, I nap when I find the relaxation and I wake up ready to keep going. Now, I have resistance bands at home and my treadmill arrives tomorrow. I watched weight of the nation last night and I didn't feel like such a failure. Just another warrior on this path with the rest of you. I forgot myself in the fog of my sadness: I forgot I am not alone, I forgot that this is not a journey of days but of months and years. And so, even though I am tired, hope wakes here. Thank you. Because of all of you and the strength you show; because of all of you and the weakness we share; because I took the leap off the cliff and it is time to trust my wings and fly. As I ponder the struggles of this journey I keep reminding myself: no matter if you trip or stumble, just get up, keep going, hope remains.

Look up the "three week stall." It is a very real phenomenon that happens to the majority of bariatric surgery patients sometime between the second and fourth post-op week. Since it usually takes place during week three, it is called the three week stall. For now, it would be wise to stay off the scale. The stall will break. You didn't become obese overnight and you will not become a normal-weight person overnight, either. Patience is king. Weight loss after the sleeve is your personal marathon, not some sprint in which we compare our progress to other sleevers. You lost 16 pounds in less than three weeks. You are doing wonderfully. With my sleeve I lost an average of 3 to 6 pounds per month, so I was the definition of a slow loser, yet I made it to goal. Keep in mind that the weight loss phase is unimportant in the bigger picture. Instead, your ability to maintain the weight loss for life is what really matters since the majority of bariatric surgery patients regain some or all of their weight. Good luck to you!

I agree with @_Kate_. Stay off of the scale for the first month. Your body is healing and making the necessary adjustments, so your weight will fluctuate. Also, almost everyone experiences the "three week stall" (search the forum for countless threads on it or just google it in general for more information). Concentrate on meeting your protein and water goals over anything else right now. If you follow your plan, the weight will begin to come off. Patience is really important in this journey! Good luck!

Do a search on "three week stall" You will be amazed....

I'm down about 30 lbs from August 8th. Probably a little too fast for my height but I've had trouble with constant stomach upset and getting enough protein. (Can't take protein shakes. They advanced me onto soft meats early. Also had to stop most dairy.) I wanted to die those first two weeks, like, literally. The physiological starvation and rapid weight loss started making me batshit crazy. The three week stall is real!! I can only tolerate 1-2 ounces at a time. I actually added a little bit of carbs at the end of the three week stall with my very small meals and it helped with the stomach upset and got my weight moving downward again. IDK why but only one food group at a time has always bothered my stomach and I kind of forgot about that from my dieting days of old before all this (I have always had a lot of food-tolerance issues both mental and physical. Eating disorder brain and genuine physical sensitivities combined.) The stomach upset also makes it hard to get enough fluid and the vitamins all went to hell. It's been a vicious cycle of nausea causing stuff lol. I just started the vitamin patches after reading so many good reviews, so hopefully those help too. I haven't started a regular exercise regime yet because I've been so weak, but plans are in the works. Oh, and I'm back to work -- in smaller scrubs. [emoji4] Most days are getting slightly better each day. I still have a lot of "What have I done?" regret moments, but little by little that's improving too. Attached: a few weeks preop, Hospital pic, a couple days after they let me eat some meat lol, then the obligatory smaller scrub selfies were yesterday. I'll have to get a full body shot when I go back. (Bad underwear shots are being saved for bigger losses lol)

I am having some crazy head hunger today. I haven't had too much since surgery 5 weeks ago but today it is getting to me. I haven't given in, nor will I (I'm more hard headed than that) but boy am I craving some carbs/sugar today. I finally broke my almost three week stall and it is great to see the scale going back down. I've been doing really good on my diet, lots of protein, super low carbs, lots of fluids. So where the heck is this coming from??? Of course the donuts and banana nut muffins sitting on the counter outside my office aren't helping anything. I ate my tuna salad for lunch and I am not hungry but my mouth wants to have the munchies bad. Not much longer and I'll start on another bottle of water, maybe that will help...

My dreaded three week stall that is. I actually stalled at about two weeks, and it held until just past four weeks. Last Tuesday was my one month check and I was 270lbs. I am very lucky that my home scales and my surgeons scales weigh the same. (I was 270lbs at home too) As of this morning I am 264lbs. And my other major milestone was I hit my 50lb mark over the weekend. Since this all began I have lost (now) over 50lbs. I still have a long way to go to hit my goal, but this is the single biggest weight loss I have ever had in all the years I have been obese. It is such an awesome feeling. It is inspiring me to keep on keeping on! ( esp. after the stall) And part of that weight loss I did on my own, before the sleeve. I knew my life was about to change and I couldn't wait to get at it. I do have a lot to be thankful for this week, I finally see a brighter future.

Everyone is different! Lots of things in play. Did you do a pre op diet? If you lost weight pre op your first week post op won't be a high because you already lost the big Water weight drop people often lose the first week of any diet. I lost an amazing amount my first week (17lbs) but I didn't have a pre op diet, even so my doc said at my one week follow up not to trust that loss and not to stress if it went up. It didn't, but I hit the "three week stall" right after at two weeks while my body caught up. It's a marathon, not a sprint!

my first stall lasted two weeks. It was weeks 2 and 3 post surgery. It broke during week 4 and I dropped 6-8 lbs right away - like within a couple of days. I've heard of the "three-week stall" last as long as three weeks, actually. as for carbs, it depends on your program. Some surgeons recommend ultra-low-carb diets, some insist on something more moderate. Mine was one of the latter. While in the losing phase, I kept my carbs under 80 grams. But there are programs that limit carbs to more like 30 or 40. And there are some people whose programs are more moderate carb, but who do lower carb on their own because it works better for them. I doubt 35-45 carbs is going to de-rail you unless you are *super* carb sensitive. I think it's just the regular three-week stall. Just stick to your program, and it will eventually break.

I'm 8 weeks out and down 37 lbs... 57 all together! I had one very frustrating three week stall but it helped knowing everyone goes through it!! Good luck to you all and keep the faith!! You will be a loser!! Haha 14 more pounds to onederland!!

I'll add my two cents here. Inner Surfer Girl is right -- we all hit this. I've read this a lot before I had my VSG and then I lived it... I'm about 2 months out now -- I too did really well in the first few weeks -- lost about 25-30 pounds in the first month, then stalled for almost a month. Now I'm back to losing consistently again. Everyone's journey is a little different, and they call it the "three week stall" because on average that's about when it hits. From what you wrote you've done extremely well losing 40 pounds in 2.5 weeks. Your body fights this though and needs some time to adjust -- it's going to hold on for a while. Nothing's wrong, you might stall for a week or a month. In my experience I completely stalled for about 10 days, then I'd lose a pound -- and stall for a week, then maybe another pound, stall for a week. It's frustrating after losing weight so fast at first but you'll be back to losing in due course. Oddly, I found (since I weigh every morning consistently) that I'd usually spike up unexpectedly the day before I'd lose. I swear one morning I was up 3.5 pounds and I hadn't done anything differently! That 3.5 pounds (and more) was gone the next day. There isn't much you can do but follow your surgeon's recommended program. So don't fret, it's part of the journey. I like to think of it as a long hike down the side of a mountain -- much of the path leads down, but some parts are level (or even uphill) and you still have to walk them to get to the lowlands below. Good luck on your journey.

I think my fear is largely based on experiences where I have lost weight in the past (before the sleeve). In 2006, I lost 30kg (66 pounds), in 2010, I lost 55kg (121lbs), in 2016, I lost 35kg (77lbs). And yes - you guessed it, I totally regained everything I lost and more every. single. time. Don't laugh, but I actually think I'm pretty good at losing weight, but I'm also excellent at regaining weight. I do weigh myself every single day. I've been in a three week stall, so at the moment, I'm very panicked about "failure". I have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder. I'm no expert, but I think a lot of super morbidly obese people suffer anxiety and self-medicate with food. I take the point that we need to be vigilant but even after we reach goal, our lives won't be perfect (sorry guys!). Things happen in life, and that's when things slip. For example, the week I reached my goal weight in 2010, my father was diagnosed with cancer. In 2016, I was on a great weight loss run when I lost my job. I can't say that I regained weight just because things went wrong in my life, but it didn't make it easy. Weight loss/maintenance doesn't happen in a perfect environment where we can focus on it 100%, there's always going to be other stuff happening in our lives. The key reason I got my sleeve was not to lose weight (if motivated, I'm confident I could have lost weight without it), but to make maintenance easier. I hope things are different *this time*. Writing this post has made me reflect on a lot of things and analyze why I'm so afraid of failure. Lol, this forum is like free therapy!! I am going to try and be more positive. If I was brave enough to get the sleeve, then I'm brave enough to confront these fears and keep going! Feel the fear and do it anyway!

I have just finished my three week stall. I started peop at 293. 285 day of surgery and was at 263 untill today. I have been working and eating mostly what I was told to. I am a nurse and have been thinking about this. I think part of the stall comes from our body being in starvation mode and conserving any calories we consume. The othere is we have completely emptied out our GI tract with the prepped cleanse and liquids. So as our intestines fill with waste it will add weight. Untill start having regular bowel movements. The reason to increase calories is to get your body out of starvation mode. Also need to increase water intake to wash awaw all the biproducts. Just keep doing what u are I dropped 3.5 lb in 2 days as hard as I try I can't go a week with out checking the scale I know I should not. Hope this helps.

a majority of people experience their first stall about three weeks after surgery (search for "the three week stall" (it even has a name!)). The first month or so is also when you'll typically see your biggest losses, after that, your 2.2 lbs a week thing is pretty common. Just stick to your plan and the weight will come off. After the first month, I lost about 10-12 lbs a month for awhile (and once I was about six or seven months out, it came off even slower). But I've lost over 200 lbs in total, so it does work as long as you stick to your program.

Hey guys. Cheer up! Have you heard of the three week stall?? Don't know much about it but have been reading that from time to time you will stall and that's it's a normal part of weight loss. Hang in there and do some reading, you will see you are not alone in any and all of your experiences I thank God for this forum, there is something here to address any question you could ever ask. Hang in there man. I too am 4 weeks out and having some challenges, in that, I have stalled at 18lbs but I remain hopeful . My father like to say " keep hope alive , my daughter. Keep hope alive." I say to you today my friends, Keep hope alive. It will be just fine !

Well first off, welcome to the rest of your new life! With that statement comes a great number of changes, mental and physical. First, I would say you are eating too much, however, I too had issues soon after surgery. Do not get me wrong, I am just now 3.5 months post-op, but down 70 pounds. Weight loss is 'strange' after surgery, especially in the beginning. I really set the bar high, and decided long before surgery that I was committing to a complete lifestyle change, and I am living it today. As mentioned earlier in this post, tracking your food is very important. This is one of the three reasons I recommend a Fitbit to everyone, you can track your food/water/protein input with the Fitbit website (or MyFitnesspal.com), secondly, you can track your activity, and lastly and this is a biggie, you can see your heartrate. Why is this so important? One of the very early signs of dumping is Tachycardia, and elevated heart rate. So, you are chowing down on a new food and you start to feel a bit strange. Am I eating too fast? Am I going to dump? Does this not agree with me? A quick glance at your heart rate is a great tool to determine why you are feeling the way you are, and more importantly to prevent dumping. I have had three such incidents now, where I was juuuuuuust on the border of dumping, but I began to feel odd, checked my heart rate, saw it in the upper 80s' low 90's and realized I was about to dump. I stopped eating the suspect food and within 20 minutes I was fine. Why is food tracking so important? One word, accountability. I look at my food intake every day. I log every single thing that touches my lips. My weight loss never surprises me. I know when I was adding new foods, or ate 'heavy' foods and lowered my expectations for the week. Tracking with software allows you to see, how well or poorly you are doing in a given day, and to evaluate the prior day once it had concluded. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Activity. Let's face it, weight loss is really as simple as burning more calories than you take in. You need to be able to determine how many calories are being burned and a Fitbit does a great job at this. No it is not perfect, but it is better than guessing. No matter how obese you may be, you can walk. I do. In fact, I am up to 8 miles, 5 days a week. I am a full time student, so I have the two hours to dedicate. Many do not. Track your activity, and HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Pro tips: -Do not drink 30 minutes before a meal and for 30 minutes after a meal. -NEVER eat while distracted. NO EATING IN FRONT OF THE TELEVISION!!! Sit at the table, without distraction and slowly eat your food. FEEL what your body is telling you. Savor every bite. -Remember calories are not all created equal. I have gone to a rather extreme diet, but I like low carbing, I like the energy and the overall great feeling. Thus, I do not imbibe anything solid and white (fat free cheese is the lone exception), no Sugar, Flour, Rice, Pasta, Bread or Potatoes. There are only two things you are concerned with at this stage, really, two. Water intake and Protein. And your body will punish you for failing to take in enough. I shoot for 100g of high quality protein a day (not all Proteins are created equal, research PDCASS), and at least 80oz of water. -Calories, your mileage will vary, but I have found that I lose weight at the best rate when on active days I get in 1100-1300 calories and on inactive days 600-800 calories. I am never really hungry, and have to stick to a schedule to make sure I get enough calories in on any given day. -Milk, try Isopure in Fairlife milk. That is how I do it, in fact Fairlife milk is one of the many wonderful things I learned about here in these forums. Short story, it is lactose free, has twice the protein of regular milk and 1/2 the carbs. I use 2 measured ounces of whole milk in my coffee, and use the skim for everything else. It is much creamier than regular milk. The whole milk is more like cream, and the skim more like 2% milk. -These tips may or may not help you, they help me. -Fiber. Yes you need it, see the post about dealing with your new post op ass for more. I struggle with this, daily. In closing I would say, do not put your head in the sand. Hold yourself accountable for ALL your actions. It is the aggregate of all your actions that will determine what the scale has to say at the end of each week. You are nearly due for the 'dreaded three week stall'. It will pass. Do not let it get you down if it hits you. Seek counseling for food addiction. I am not a '12 step' kinda guy. I have to solve my own problems, but that is me. I think it is the Military in me, I do not like asking for help, I see it as a weakness. It is not, but as my ex mother in law was famously quoted, "Feelings are not facts". I FEEL like asking for help is a weakness, but my mind knows better. That is my issue to deal with. Best of luck. Post often. Keep us in the loop, there are a LOT of WONDERFUL people here.

almost everyone has their first major stall within the first 4-6 weeks after surgery. It's called the "three week stall", because it usually happens the third week, but not always But it's almost always within that 4-6 weeks post-op time period. Just stick to your program and will break. Mine lasted two weeks. Grrr. But then once my weight loss started up again, I dropped like 6-8 lbs within a couple of days.

I was 338 on 10/30. On 11/1, I was 341.4. I dodnt worry about it because i the last couple of days had been closer to 1000 cals because of our anniversay and because I hadnt "eliminated". On 11/2, I was 340.6. I also had some spotting. I have mirena and havent period in years, so this was a bit weird. But the spotting has stopped. Today, I was 339.8. Its going down a bit but I realized the last time I remember having a decent size "elimination" was Saturday. Do I consider this the three week stall (4 weeks post op yesterday), some psuedo period or constipation? If stall or constipatio, what do you guys suggest to "break through"? I would really like to . Thanks HW 385 SW 359 CW 340 Sleeved 10/5/16

yep - sounds like the infamous "three week stall" that happens to probably 90% of us. If you do a search on this site for it, you'll find over 17,000 posts on it. And no, I am NOT kidding. just stick to your plan and stay off your scale for a few days. It typically lasts 1-3 weeks. But it WILL break and you'll be on your way again...

The scale hasn't moved since last week. That's an initial eighteen pounds at the end of maybe the first week, and nothing thereafter. I think my three week stall came early and I am making myself not think that this might mean I am going to turn out to be a slowpoke loser. I can't start soft food for another seven days. I have to wait eight days til I can swim. I am still changing my drain gauze. Two days till I can stop fussing with paper tape every day after my shower. I miss my moisturixing body wash and my bufpuf I went shopping yesterday and tried to get excited over cream Soups. Brought them home and attempted to add unjury Protein to these things and three attempts at this ended up in the sink before I gave up and had a Yoplait LIght and Fit Red Velvet Cake. It's clear to me that I am in the valley of the worst part of the recovery period for a VSG. Nothing is happening, eat your Jello. Just eat your Jello and watch Midred Piece on TV and go to bed at a decent hour. Your metabolic chemistry has undergone something like a nuclear detonation so just shut up and whatever you do, do not go on a rampage and get a bottle of wine and a philly cheese steak at Culvers. I am on Day 13 since my surgery but I think I'm on Day 2 of gutting it out.

I feel like such an idiot, but the allure of hitting the scale proved too much for me this morning...... Down 4 pounds. And that is after pee number one, I don't know about all of you, but I get so much liquid in me that my "floor weight" cannot be determined until after pee number two in the am. At least the scale did not go up! I have two more days this week to lose weight before my official weight in on Friday morning. I'd go for my am walk, but it's 03:15 and fargin cold outside, oh and dark. The park system where I walk is great, however, it's massive and reclusive, and a number of homeless setup tents in the woods and sleep there overnight. Between 0500 and 0600 when the local corner stores open, they start drinking, I've had to put down several, let me restate, I was forced to take aggressive action to subdue drunken idiots on several occasions. No police, I was also kind enough not to break any bones or do any serious damage, just make my point "Don't F with me" and move along. My fear, is the duo, one or two of which is armed, I can drop one quick, but if the second pulls a (insert weapon here) I don't know how casually I would take it. And honestly the last thing I need is to be on the news for killing an armed homeless alcoholic. Thusly the end of an overly long paragraph is I try to avoid the park before the sun comes up, as the homeless take down their tents and move out before the police begin patrols. I guess tomorrow will be the real testing point. If I continue to lose weight, the stall lasted nearly a week, if not it's still going on, and today was just a 'teaser'. BTW my NUT indicated that "The Dreaded Three Week Stall" happens for a reason. She said, "You ever notice how it's always right after a dietary change?" then she went on to describe a variety of different dietary reasons that could cause a stall, but her logic was sound. This did not happen until the day I began eating pureed foods instead of liquids. I am not saying it's not real, obviously it is, nor am I saying that anyone is doing anything wrong, it may just be, the body reacting to a new diet component or something. Anyway, Thanks for those who posted.

So I'm two weeks out officially today and I weighed myself this morning and I lost 1 lb Jesus Help! My last week weigh in I lost 14 lbs and I thought that was how every week was going to go. Is this the three week stall everyone talks about. ???????? frustrated!!

Search threads about three week stall. Typically happens about 2-3 weeks in. Nothing you can do, but hang in until it breaks. Have patience and follow the plan, its frustrating, but it will break.

I sometimes take tiny sips with meals because my mouth gets dry very easily (even when I'm past my Fluid goal!), and I drink with a straw because it's easier to take in less air for me. I'm following everything else (calories, Protein, etc). Eating for twenty minutes and then sitting an hour after a meal with no liquid at all makes my throat too dry and gives me a hacking cough that turns into heaving, so it was a choice I had to make. I decided I had to do what I needed to do in order to prevent myself from getting to that down point. I'm losing weight, not as fast as I'd like (also hitting that three week stall), but I'm doing good, I think. Meeting goals, dropping weight, and losing inches with ease.

I am one month out yesterday and down 22 lbs post op and 45 total . Right now I'm averaging between 400-500 cal a day but I'm wondering if this should be higher. I'm getting in all my water and about 60 g of protein. I know every docs recommendations are different but I'm wondering what is working for each individual. My loss has slowed ALOT the last couple weeks and I realize thus is the dreaded three week stall but I want to be sure I'm not putting myself in mode