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1) unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life", your weight loss so far is very normal. Most of us lose 15-25 lbs in the first month after surgery. Yes - you will find people who lose more or less than that, but they're the exception. You're in that range, so you're perfectly normal! 2) you're in the infamous "three-week stall". Almost all of us go through that. It's not ALWAYS the third week, but it is for most (hence the name) - but it can really happen any time within the first 4-6 weeks after surgery. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale if you need to. It'll last 1-3 weeks, and then you'll be on your way again. If you want to read more about it, do a search on this site for the three week stall. You will find about 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding...). It literally does happen to almost everyone. No changes necessary - just stick to your program and wait it out. It WILL break. oh - just re-read your post. Thirty grams of protein is too low. Most surgeons recommend at least 60. So THAT is a change you should make. Otherwise, you're good. Just hang tight!

I know white carbs are bad and i normally avoid them. We were at a restaurant with a very limited menu. I'm still losing weight ( about .75 lbs a day) so no complaints. I'm supposedly in the three week stall but still losing. My diet mostly consists of a protein shake, cottage cheese, and tuna packs with a side of soup occasionally. I will email my nut and see what she says

I was down about 32lb the first month, starting at 292 & BMI around 42. I'm now down about 100 at seven months and just about at goal (we'll see how the body comp settles out - that's the actual goal.) Whether you stall or not at the typical three week mark, your loss will slow markedly at that point. Initially you are burning mostly glycogen (some stored carb and protein) which burns at a rate of around 2000cal per pound. Once those stores are consumed, you actually start burning the fat that we are trying to lose, but it comes off slower, at around 3600cal per pound. I never had the dreaded three week stall, but the loss curve sure flattened out some right at that time.

I'm eight weeks post-op and have hit my second stall. Totally hit that three week stall like everyone else, it lasted 10 days for me. I'm on day 13 of this current stall. It seems since surgery I have more stall days than loss days. Anyone else hit their second, third, tenth stall? If so can you please share your story so I can feel better? I've lost 22 pounds since surgery so I'm very happy and proud of myself! And just so everyone knows I eat around 800 - 900 calories a day (I'm 5'8"), exercise is here and there and I get about 80 g of Protein a day. I may not exercise everyday but I'm an active person. Thanks everyone for your comments or suggestions!!!

Every one loses at their own rate. There is no right or wrong amount of weight to lose each week. Yes, there may be average amounts of loss people who are similar height, weight, age, gender, etc. may have in common. As long as you see the trend of your weight loss going down you’re succeeding. The amount you lose each week will also slow as you progress. It is possible you are experiencing a stall as has been suggested. These are extremely common. We talk about the three week stall but that first one can happen at week 2, 3, 4, 5 …. It’s just your body taking a breath & trying to catch up with the changes (surgery, weight loss, reduced calories, dietary changes,…). You will likely have other stalls as you’re losing. We’ve all been on that gain, lose, gain roller coaster. Personally I know the reason I always regained after losing was because the diets I was on weren’t sustainable or I just went back to the same old way of eating. I’d start regaining a couple of weeks after the diet ended. The difference this time is that I work at sticking to the changes I made to how I eat, what I eat, why I eat every day. I have many years ahead of me but I’m going to work my butt off to try to stay my course cause that desire to go down my old path is always there. I just understand it & manage it better now. Your success starts & ends in your head. It’s not just what you put in your mouth. You have to do the head work. Many do this with the help of a therapist, others do it themselves. There are lots of people here who are happy to share experiences & offer support. Follow your plan, meet your protein goals, get your fluids in, be more active and your weight loss will continue. You’ll get there.

This is something with a two part answer. The first is that, on average, we will be slowing down continually as we lose, simply because it takes fewer calories to move ourselves around all day at 300 lb as it did at 400 lb, and even fewer at 200 lb, etc. We will likely see stair steps, and some weeks or months will be lower or higher than others, but the overall trend is declining. The second part is that we will usually experience a big drop the first couple of weeks or so (and then typically get the dreaded "three week stall") and the proceed lower at a somewhat reduced rate. This is because our initial loss it mostly water weight associated with burning off our short term energy reserves of glycogen (basically stored carbohydrate) which gives us the "easy ten" lb that we typically lose when we start seriously dieting. After the glycogen is used up, we start to draw from our fat reserves, though there is often a pause or stall as the body changes gears.

I was sleeved on 5/2 and my doctor put me into soft foods...I prefer Protein shakes too so I have one in the morning for Breakfast. For about a week and a half I've been in the dreaded three-week stall...it is awful! After seeing 27 lbs melt away and now the scale staying still...it's driving me crazy...I made my husband hide the scale!

There's been a lot of posts on the three week stall. You might just got yours early. Remember you just had MAJOR surgery. Your stomach was cut out. Your body needs time to heal. Weight is just how much force gravity is pulling. (Can't remember the actually definition right now) Your weight might be "stalling" due to numerous factors, bm, bloating, etc. I can almost guaranty you, you are still losing fat. Put the scale away for awhile.

Ok - I have failed this challagne - miserably - with a three week stall including a two lb gain. But the stall finally broke last week with an almost 6lb lose. I am not too disappointed. Ready for the next challange. Bring it on!! SW...194 CW...185.4 GW...180

I had a three week stall at week three that I just finally have come out of. I tried changing around everything, increasing Protein, walking, Water, decreasing carbs. Nothing helped. I have no clue what eventually knocked me off the stall, but I do know one thing - it sucked! I can't imagine how you're feeling six weeks into one. My clothes don't feel a whole lot different, but I was slowly losing an inch here and there, so if you're not measuring, maybe that'd help you keep going? I know you already acknowledged the low water, but that would be one thing to add. When you work out it can be really important to replace water. Hmmmm...Have you tried switching up the type of workout you do? I know other times I've reached plateaus in diets I was able to get over the plateau by exercising at a different time of day, for example, moving it to early morning to get my metabolism up. Or changing which workout I was doing so that I wasn't stuck in the same thing every day. On that same token, are you eating the same types of foods every day? That's another thing that will throw me into a plateau. My brother is a creature of habit and has the exact same lunch every day. If I do that, I will stay put at the exact same weight. My body likes it when things are consistent and will try its very best to keep them there. Are you getting in enough fiber? That might help keep your digestive system moving. I'm not sure if it will help the scale, but it would be a healthy thing to have in your diet. I'm not sure what else, but you will get through this! If you are doing the right things your body will eventually have to give up and let the scale move. For the mean time, maybe put the scale away (I know this is so ridiculously hard to do, maybe you'll be better at it than I was!), set some fitness goals instead of scale goals, and measure. You can still be successful even when the scale isn't moving.

I am wondering and I bet a few others might be too but.... I have seen it common for a rather large group of us to experience the "three week stall" (right after surgery) - but are there any other common stall times that commonly occur during the post sleeve journey?

@@lilijo, Congratulations on your surgery! Yep, the three-week stall is definitely a thing, especially when your first few weeks after surgery have seen such fast weight loss, like you! Your body is just catching up from the stress of surgery and the quick weight loss. You’ll lose again when you’re ready as long as you follow the program! In the meantime, what should you do? Stay positive, because there is no point in getting down about something you cannot control. Stick to your diet, since that is what will let your body lose more weight when it is time. Bump up your liquids, since that can never hurt. Focus on non-scale victories, since there will be TONS of progress during this time, like feeling better and losing inches if not pounds. Congratulations again, and good luck!

You won't lose weight every single day. And weight loss stalls happen. The three week stall is very common. I've had several stalls over my journey and the longest one lasted 23 days (that was in month 3), in fact I just got over a two week stall yesterday as I finally lost another pound. Also, since you're exercising you may put on muscle which weighs more than fat so it may not look like you're losing weight when you weigh yourself, but if you take measurements you'll be able to tell the difference with that. Try not to stress yourself out during stalls because the stress can prolong them (almost impossible to do, I know).

Finally broke my three week stall and had a 3 lb weight loss. 187 on the scale today. Woot woot! And I had two Christmas cookies yesterday- what a mind game. I’d did make a conscious effort to get my 64 ounces of water this week. I’m 15 weeks out and I am at about 900-1200 calories a day and I get at least 45 minutes of exercise 6 days a week (I use a Peloton bike). For those on a stall, listen to what everyone else has said and stay the course.

Hello kteacher, I was doing just fine until Dec.23. I woke up with some chest pains that continued throughout that day and I could not get to sleep. I called 911 at 3:30AM on Dec.24 and had to go to the ER. I was concerned about my heart or a blood clot in my lungs. They took some blood tests and one (D-DIMAR) came back positive so they had to do a CT skan. My heart test all came back OK and there was NO blood clot in my lungs. But they did find a large Hematoma on my spleen. I had to stay in the hospital until christmas day about noon. They said it could be causing the pain in my chest area. The spleen could have been bumped and bruised during surgery, but I am going to be ok as far as I know. It will be absorbed by the body. The only time it usually causes problems is when it is infected or if it bursts inside the body. The doctor said that it doesn't appear to be infected. I had plans to leave on christmas day, to go out of state to visit family for Christmas. I ask the surgeon if it was OK to travel and he said it would be OK. So I went to visit Family and I just now arrived back home from the visit. Other than that, I am doing Ok. I am on my three week stall or either things got messed up from me being in the hospital. Dr. Husted told me that I would only have 1 incision instead of 5. I found out that I was the 2nd patient that he had performed the one incision surgery on. You must have been his first one because you had surgery on 11/20 and I had surgery on Dec.2. I am so thankful that I only had one that had to heal. I do not regret having had the sleeve done. I am hoping that after this stall, I will get back to losing so I will be on my way to my goal weight. I hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that you are doing ok from your surgery. I only have lost 16 pounds since Dec.2. I am going to go back to the Y soon so that it will help to burn some calories. I went to the support group on Dec.14 and I hope I get to go in Jan. I hope to meet you at one of the support group meetings. I will be posting more in a few days after I rest up from my trip. Thank you for your reply and have a nice day!!

I have only weighed myself once since my surgery because of the swelling and three week stall so many people talk about. I'm going to weigh myself on my one month surgerversary. I made myself a picture board where I'm going to post my picture each month so I can see the change.

@@Buffer is your Vitamin regimen only a multi vitamin or is it also a Calcium and a sublingual B12? Early out, for me, my surgeon told me the most important thing would be hydration. I had issues drinking shakes post op because they would quickly fill me up and I could never finish. That in turn impacted my Water intake. Vicious cycle. I can sympathize with you. The game changed for me was finding a Protein powder with no gum additives. Manufacturers add cellulose, guar or xanthan gum to "thicken" shakes. For me the increased viscosity made them "heavy" and difficult to finish. If your protein contains these it could be making you feel too full and making them less desire-able for you. A three week stall is not uncommon, stick to your program that your team has outlined for you and you should start seeing results again soon. Your body could still be reacting to the surgery and drop in daily caloric intake that it may be trying to preserve itself before allowing itself to lose more. Also, check with your team about your Fluid intake. Personally I would focus on hydration. A common reason why bariatric patients end up in the ER is dehydration. Again, check with your team before considering any changes to their plan for you, they know best.

Three week stall is normal. Search on the forum under stall and you will find a zillion posts on it. Your body is readjusting to the weight loss and to your new calorie intake, it's spent three weeks being just constantly confused and now it's rearranging stuff. It probably is retaining water. It probably is pulling inches off your body - have you measured? Just because you do not see scale movement doesn't mean your body is not still losing or on track. Stick with it, the stall will end, even if it takes a few weeks. Just make sure you're still keeping yourself hydrated and keeping your protein up. Stalls do not last forever =) Hang in there.

it's the infamous "three-week stall". If you do a search on this site for it, you will literally find over 15,000 posts on it. Almost everyone has that. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. It typically lasts 1-3 weeks. Your weight loss WILL start up again. And just so you know, you're likely to go through several of these on your journey.

I feel the three week Stall pain....been there the last couple of weeks. Stall broke and I lost four and a half pounds in the last two days. Just suddenly. It happens...the legends are true:) I'm 5 weeks post op and eating 1000-1200 calories a day, tolerating more foods, and have a lot of energy. Feeling really good:) Wishing you all a quick end to the stall:) It'll happen. (someone asked for my stats on another thread...don't know if this is helpful to anyone, but figured it was on topic.) Started at 270 in June. Lost 30 pounds in 6 months of pre-surg diet visits using the Mayo Clinic Diet mostly. (240) Lost 10 pounds in 2 week pre-surg liquid diet. (230) Lost 14 pounds first month after surgery. (216 today) So, I lost 23% of my excess body weight the first month (60 pounds excess weight on day of surgery)....which beats the heck out of the 18% that is the average first month weight loss. Feeling positive!

Look up the "three week stall" Many get it. Mine lasted for over 3 weeks at started about 2 1/2 weeks out. Just do what your doing, and your body will start to let go again.

LOL! That's exactly what "they" do call it: the dreaded three week stall. You can google it: dreaded three week stall You can also use this board's search function to find posts about the dreaded three week stall. People have been doing WLS a long time. Eventually, most of us all discover the same things.

Quite possibly more than calories, is what those calories are (what is your average calorie count these days?) Since you are already taking B12, that's not likely it (B12 is more of an RNY thing than a VSG thing, but some can be intrinsically low it irrespective, or just diet is low in it for now, though most multivitamins have enough to do the job.) Overly low carbohydrates are frequently a cause of low energy in the absence of other anemia indicators, as that is where our quick energy comes from. It is what helps us chase down that antelope for dinner, or quickly climb a tree to avoid being a lion's dinner (hoping it's not a leopard chasing us!) We typically burn off our glycogen reserves (basically stored carb, held mostly in the muscle tissues) and the water that keeps it in solution first,, usually in the first couple of weeks or so, and then pause while we start to access our fat reserves to rebuild the glycogen back to a functional level - hence the typical rapid weight loss followed by the "three week stall". You may well still be trying to rebuild your glycogen stores to get you that everyday energy that you are expecting. I have seen some programs that specifically want their patients to do a bit of lightweight "carb loading" after surgery to counter this problem - things like oatmeal, cream of wheat, sloppy mashed potatoes, unsweetened apple sauce, watered down fruit juice, etc. I never had consistent energy problems as you describe, though I did run out of gas more quickly for a while - afternoon naps in the first 2-3 weeks were common and my bedtime shifted an hour or so earlier (my circadian rhythm has stayed shifted by an hour or so ever since - about an hour earlier to bed and hour earlier to get up,) but even within the first week I was outpacing my wife on our walks (granted, not a real high bar, but still....) I was back at the gym within the first 2-3 weeks, mostly to keep my wife in the habit, I basically just walked on the treadmill or did some gentle bike or elliptical work to explore range of motion, but moderate energy was there. I was up into the 900-1000 calorie range within the first couple of weeks, and the doc was adding more veg to the diet as my protein was satisfactory at 90+. I wasn't specifically carb loading, but neither was I avoiding them - just eating as healthy as possible within the limitations. Later, however, after about four months I was running into an energy wall after about an hour in the pool, and after consulting with the RD on it and added some complex carb ahead of my gym time, I found that a simple piece of toast made all the difference in breaking through that wall. So simple things can make a difference.

Dragonsmate, good for you! Now, when you hit the three week stall, don't get into a tizzy.....

Lots of people talk about the dreaded three week stall. Sounds like some of you maybe experiencing. I haven't got there yet, only 9 days out. But I've read about it on here, around 3 weeks post op lots of people reach a stall in the weight loss. I don't know why...