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there are 17,501 posts here on Bariatric Pal about the infamous "three-week stall" (it often strikes the third week after surgery, but not always - it can be the second week - or fourth - or fifth - but in any event, it hits most of us very soon after surgery. And no, I am NOT kidding about there being 17,501 posts on it. Here they are: https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=three-week stall best thing to do is just make sure you're following your program - and then stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you're following your program, the stall WILL break. It usually takes 1-3 weeks. And just so you know, this is likely the first of many stalls..

So for me, I've had stalls last anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. I tend to gain 2-4 pounds during a stall and then drop like 5-6 pounds when it breaks. Once I see I'm in a stall, I stay off the scale. Normally I weigh myself 2-3 times per week. When I'm in a stall, I do it once per week, just to see when it breaks. I stick with my diet, I change up my workout to "confuse" my body (if you do the same thing at the same time al the time, your body gets use to it and the exercises become less effective), and I focus on NSVs (Non Scale Victories) such as how I look, how my clothes fit, how my rings fit, if I've dropped inches, if I can fit into seats/booths better, etc...

Hi I got my sleeve surgery on August 22nd .. I've lost about 50 pounds but I was in the hospital a few days with sepsis and now I just got on the scale and gained like 8 pounds? I've barley eating so I'm confused any help ? Start weight 302 Surgery weight 288 Monday 251 today 260..

FORGIVE THE LENGTHY MESSAGE. NEED TO GIVE CONTEXT I am wondering if any one experienced this my starting weight was 139kg before surgery on the 15th of January 2023 on day of surgery it was 131kg 2 weeks post-op i was stalled for 8weeks which was not a bother to me at the time i healed quite quickly with no complications and was moved to solids within 3 weeks by the dietitian too. between January and April i lost some weight down to 111kg Since april i have not lost anything. I have gained and lost 3-4 kg since April till date which is September 6th 2023 I do everything many people say on every platform which had never been a challenge namely Monitor what i eat: I eat between 88 - 1200 calories I have more protein than anything eggs, lean meat, chicken, fish, shrimps carbs are mostly bulgur wheat. which i have sparingly 2ce a month. Plantain i have daily to balance my protein intake but not as much as protein. I prob have more grams of protein a day and that includes protein water. I work out 4-5 days a week for up to 1:30 - 2:00 hours each day In April i worked out more 4 days a week 2ce a day 2day time cardio 1:30 hours night time strength training. no weights heavier than 25kg i take my vitamins biotin and all recommended as well as powdered collagen Recent bloods shows everything within normal range. I am going into my 5th month and i am still 111kg Since April. My dietitian is numb on what is going on, the nurse recommended liquid collagen ( which makes no sense) and have said hormones.... but hormones cannot affect this 5months straight. I did bloods to check my thyroids and it showed elevated parathyroid (no idea what that means)..... not gotten an explanation as my vitamin levels and calcium levels are normal my nails are very soft and brittle and my hair falls like the weather ( only blessed to have a full head of hair but cant say it is helpful soon) No ...... the clothes i wore in April are still the same September. measurements are the same..... the only win i am getting from this is that my knee and ankle dont hurt as much when i workout. i dont burn out as i used to and i work out more than i used to before which was walking up to 50k-70ksteps a day. I have never been one who drank alcohol and havent started post surgery. I have never been one who ate junk food like crisps, tacos, burgers. I have not been diagnosed diabetic nor with PCOS i noticed when i had no carbs in my diet i lost fast but when i introduced carbs as suggested by the dietitian everything came on hold I NEED SOME SIGN THAT I AM NOT IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OR A LONG DREAM!!! Cos it feels pointless having done the surgery not to be an effective tool Anyone in a similar predicament before

As the title says, I hit my 3 week stall about 2 days ago. I have been through this before, so I know not to check my weight for a week now. The stalls are the worst part of all this, and as time goes on, they get longer and longer. But I've already been to this dance, so at least I know what to expect. My gerd is getting bad. I had to go up to 40mg every day and see how that works (going to every other day caused issues, so today starts every day again). I was really hoping that I would be able to get off PPI with this revision, but so far, no. At least I've gone from 80mg daily to 40. If I could get down to maybe 20mg I could learn to be ok with it. I guess time will tell. I was given the ok to try some ground turkey and HOLY CRAP I FOUND THE RESTRICTION!!!!!! I can eat scrambled eggs, avocado, hummus, refried beans, even cheese cubes....nothing. But I had 2 tbsp of ground turkey and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD there was ALL KINDS of restriction!!!!! I've never had this before. It's awesome!!!! I was told my stomach is the size of a golf ball, and I found it hard to believe before, but oh man I believe it now!!!

Hi! I had vsg 8.15 and have lost 24 lbs. This am I seem to be up 3 lbs. Not off course. Still eating pureed. Cals are between 6 and 700. I meet protein daily but water is tough. I usually get 52 ounces vs 64. I eat 3 meals daily plus 1 snack of string cheese. I still have some muscle discomfort in tummy area but find I'm emotional a lot. Dr is happy w progress but I'm super upset with stall or gain when I'm not even eating or drinking off program. Any thoughts?

Arabesque thank you, I have lost 80 pounds so far I am currently 160 the goal I was given from my doctors is 130. So I have 30 pounds left to go. I am 5’3. I know you are all right and the stall will pass. It’s just my first real stall I did not go through the 3 week stall and this stall just reminds me to much of all my diet failures. I know it’s all in my head and will pass!

I woke up with pain on my right side. Just felt tired today and uncomfortable. Anyone else experience this?!

Anyone else told their stall was probably caused by not eating enough calories I am 6 months out from bypass and eat about 700 calories a day. Have been in a stall for 3 weeks. My surgeon said I needed to start eating more not sure how I can barely eat what I do now

I swear, if this stall doesn't break soon... I did some research and found that indeed, 3 months is a common time for a stall to hit. It's just frustrating to see that nice downward trend come to a halt, especially when the "experts" tell you the first 3 months are the fastest weight loss. It really is a marathon, isn't it? Here's what my weight has been doing the past 30 days:

When I went to my 6 week post op consultation ,I happened to sit in close proximity to a woman who had also had the Gastric Sleeve .She thought she looked wonderful - I thought she looked terminally ill ."I'm nearly at my wedding weight " she said proudly .I smiled and said nothing .She was the opposite of how I wanted to look .Her hair was thin and lack lustre , her skin sagging and dull .I listened in horror as she explained she was still trying to lose weight .I thought she summed up the very look I never wanted to have .Her slimness did nothing to inspire me .So I am 3 months post op .I can now walk freely , breathe better ,and I fit into my favourite jeans .I am not at my ideal BMI but if I don't lose further weight ,I'll be content .I eat more healthily and do more . So I suppose that is my story and I'm happy with it .

I woke up with pain on my right side. Just felt tired today and uncomfortable. Anyone else experience this?!

FORGIVE THE LENGTHY MESSAGE. NEED TO GIVE CONTEXT I am wondering if any one experienceD this my starting weight was 139kg before surgery on the 15th of January 2023 on day of surgery it was 131kg 2 weeks post-op i was stalled for 8weeks which was not a bother to me at the time i healed quite quickly with no complications and was moved to solids within 3 weeks by the dietitian too. between January and April i lost some weight down to 111kg Since april i have not lost anything. I have gained and lost 3-4 kg since April till date which is September 6th 2023 I do everything many people say on every platform which had never been a challenge namely Monitor what i eat: I eat between 88 - 1200 calories I have more protein than anything eggs, lean meat, chicken, fish, shrimps carbs are mostly bulgur wheat. which i have sparingly 2ce a month. Plantain i have daily to balance my protein intake but not as much as protein. I prob have more grams of protein a day and that includes protein water. I work out 4-5 days a week for up to 1:30 - 2:00 hours each day In April i worked out more 4 days a week 2ce a day 2day time cardio 1:30 hours night time strength training. no weights heavier than 25kg I take 2-3 liters of water throughout the day no compared to 3 months ago. Up to 1liter during my work out and the rest throughout the day. mostly sips. I do get hungry but try to drink water to quench or use the plantain (carb for the day) to satisfy myself i take my vitamins biotin and all recommended as well as powdered collagen Recent bloods shows everything within normal range. I am going into my 5th month and i am still 111kg Since April. My dietitian is numb on what is going on, the nurse recommended liquid collagen ( which makes no sense) and have said hormones.... but hormones cannot affect this 5months straight. I did bloods to check my thyroids and it showed elevated parathyroid (no idea what that means)..... not gotten an explanation as my vitamin levels and calcium levels are normal my nails are very soft and brittle and my hair falls like the weather ( only blessed to have a full head of hair but cant say it is helpful soon) No ...... the clothes i wore in April are still the same September. measurements are the same..... the only win i am getting from this is that my knee and ankle dont hurt as much when i workout. i dont burn out as i used to and i work out more than i used to before which was walking up to 50k-70ksteps a day. I have never been one who drank alcohol and haven't started post surgery. I have never been one who ate junk food like crisps, tacos, burgers. I have not been diagnosed diabetic nor with PCOS i noticed when i had no carbs in my diet i lost fast but when i introduced carbs as suggested by the dietitian everything came on hold I NEED SOME SIGN THAT I AM NOT IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OR A LONG DREAM!!! Cos it feels pointless having done the surgery not to be an effective tool Anyone in a similar predicament before

I am am at the same point and I am still struggling to get to 600 calories a day. I hit a massive stall and did not lose any weight for 3 weeks. Scale finally moved this week. Stalls happen your body needs a chance to recover. Stick with your doctors plan and the stall will pass.

Using my day of surgery weight, the calculator suggests I'll be 195lbs at 3 months. I'm 204.4 today, but assuming this blasted week-long stall breaks soon, it seems likely I'll be somewhere around there in another 26 days. It tells me to expect 178lbs at 3 months and 158lbs at a year, with a low of 151lbs at 18 months. I would be pleased as punch with that if it happens! That would be exactly 100lbs down from my highest weight, which seems unreal.

Not hundreds but thousands of posts about it. I never understand, when it is something that almost every single person experiences after their surgery & it can be so demoralising, that surgeons & support teams don’t warn & prepare people for it. Yes, it generally occurs around week 3 +/-. The stall can last 1-3 weeks. It likely won’t be your one & only. Your body shuts down to reassess your needs as a result of the weight you’ve lost so far. This is when your body resets things like your digestive hormones, etc. The stall will break when your body has made the adjustments & is ready to move forward again. Stick to your plan. Don’t stress your body more by making additional changes to your activity or food intake other than what your plan recommends or requires. While waiting fir the stall to break, celebrate the weight you’ve lost so far. It’s a fabulous achievement.

Here is my 4-week post-op update: Highest weight: 251 Start of 2 week pre-op diet weight: 238 Day before surgery weight: 226 Today's weight: 214.8 I had a stall that began exactly at the 3-week post-surgery mark and lasted 7 days. Below are photos taken before surgery and this morning.

You are doing great! PCOS or menopause or something did slow things down for me, but the surgery does work. 2+ years out and I’m still tinkering with how carbs and preservatives trigger inflammation in me. I still track when inflammation strikes and you will find your ebbs and flows too. I don’t know if you tried WW or any other plan? I remember the normal loss of 1/2lb a week. Just keep thinking of how this loss compares. WLS does work. Body measurements helped me through the many stalls, speaking of which, you’re probably heading into or out of your “3 week stall.” It’s temporary, you will get to where you hope to go. Here’s to good health!

1) you're experiencing the extremely common "three-week stall". Happens to most of us within the first month or so of surgery, usually (but not always) the 3rd week, hence, the name. It typically lasts 1-3 weeks before breaking 2) the gain is almost certainly water or very full intestines. Give it a couple of days and it should be gone.

my first stall was during weeks 2 and 3 post-surgery, so it started one week after my surgery, too. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days if it's messing with your head. As long as you stick to your plan, the still WILL break. It usually takes 1-3 weeks.

My first (of MANY stalls) was at 2 1/2 weeks. Every time I have a stall, I gain 3-4 pounds. Then I gain and lose the same 2-3 pounds throughout the stall. Once it finally breaks, I lose like 5 pounds in 1shot, then go back to losing my normal 2-4 pounds a week until another stall hits. That's why paying close attention to Non Scale Victories (NSVs) is so so important.

It appears I'm also experiencing a 3 week stall. At 2 weeks post op (surgery 1/24/24) I had lost 10 lbs. It's now 3 weeks post op and I'm still the same weight. I sure hope this stall doesn't last a month! I have been discouraged a bit, I think, because any time I've tried to lose weight in the past it has been agonizingly slow and not permanent. I had hoped that I'd lose faster after VSG and I found myself thinking this morning that I did this drastic and permanent thing just to have the same result I have always had - no weight loss for weeks at a time despite my best efforts. Reading about this "infamous" stall gives me a little hope, although I don't understand how I'm not losing weight when I'm consuming 500 calories a day or less, mostly protein and no fats/sugar. I appreciate the topic and the comments, and I'm hoping the stall breaks soon!

Stalls tend to last 1-3 weeks and you’ll likely experience a few of them while you’re losing. They’re actually an important part of your weight loss. It’s the time when your body shuts down to reassess your new needs based on your weight loss. Your body works out what it needs now in regards to digestive hormones, metabolism, etc. When it’s done this & it’s ready to move forward again, your stall will break. Stick to your plan. Don’t make any additional changes other than what your plan requires - don’t stress your body more.