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I HATE STALLS!!! I am almost three weeks out and I believe I was in a stall last week. Week One- 17 pounds Week Two- 0 pounds Week Three- 3 pounds I was so encouraged after that first week, I figured the weight would just start falling off. Not so much, this process is difficult and NOT the easy way out. STAY STRONG!!!

Actually, I don't think 2 days with no change on the scale really counts as a stall. For me, a stall has to be longer than a week. That said, stalls are a normal, natural, and necessary part of the process of losing weight. If you plan to lose a substantial amount of weight, then you will experience stalls. Almost everyone experiences their first stall about three weeks after surgery. Just follow your program. Focus on getting in all of your Protein and fluids. Stay off the scale. And, Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

Stalls are a normal, natural, and necessary part of the process of losing weight. We all experience stalls, and just about everyone stalls about three weeks post-op. If you intend to lose a lot of weight, you will experience periodic stalls. Just follow your program. Focus on getting in all of your Protein and fluids. Take your Vitamins and supplements as directed. Exercise. And, Embrace the Stall http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

The following extract brought it home to me totally - I can so relate to all the efforts it takes. I wish many fellow bariatric patients would read it - especially those at the beginning of the journey or trying to decide about surgery. Because let's face it: apart from a few lucky ones who can stay at their target weight without much of an effort, this is what we are all facing after loosing so much weight: Extract: "...Janice Bridge, a registry member who has successfully maintained a 135-pound weight loss for about five years, is a perfect example. “It’s one of the hardest things there is,” she says. “It’s something that has to be focused on every minute. I’m not always thinking about food, but I am always aware of food.” Bridge, who is 66 and lives in Davis, Calif., was overweight as a child and remembers going on her first diet of 1,400 calories a day at 14. At the time, her slow pace of weight loss prompted her doctor to accuse her of cheating. Friends told her she must not be paying attention to what she was eating. “No one would believe me that I was doing everything I was told,” she says. “You can imagine how tremendously depressing it was and what a feeling of rebellion and anger was building up.” After peaking at 330 pounds in 2004, she tried again to lose weight. She managed to drop 30 pounds, but then her weight loss stalled. In 2006, at age 60, she joined a medically supervised weight-loss program with her husband, Adam, who weighed 310 pounds. After nine months on an 800-calorie diet, she slimmed down to 165 pounds. Adam lost about 110 pounds and now weighs about 200. During the first years after her weight loss, Bridge tried to test the limits of how much she could eat. She used exercise to justify eating more. The death of her mother in 2009 consumed her attention; she lost focus and slowly regained 30 pounds. She has decided to try to maintain this higher weight of 195, which is still 135 pounds fewer than her heaviest weight. “It doesn’t take a lot of variance from my current maintenance for me to pop on another two or three pounds,” she says. “It’s been a real struggle to stay at this weight, but it’s worth it, it’s good for me, it makes me feel better. But my body would put on weight almost instantaneously if I ever let up.” So she never lets up. Since October 2006 she has weighed herself every morning and recorded the result in a weight diary. She even carries a scale with her when she travels. In the past six years, she made only one exception to this routine: a two-week, no-weigh vacation in Hawaii. She also weighs everything in the kitchen. She knows that lettuce is about 5 calories a cup, while flour is about 400. If she goes out to dinner, she conducts a Web search first to look at the menu and calculate calories to help her decide what to order. She avoids anything with sugar or white flour, which she calls her “gateway drugs” for cravings and overeating. She has also found that drinking copious amounts of Water seems to help; she carries a 20-ounce water bottle and fills it five times a day. She writes down everything she eats. At night, she transfers all the information to an electronic record. Adam also keeps track but prefers to keep his record with pencil and paper. “That transfer process is really important; it’s my accountability,” she says. “It comes up with the total number of calories I’ve eaten today and the amount of Protein. I do a little bit of self-analysis every night.” Bridge and her husband each sought the help of therapists, and in her sessions, Janice learned that she had a tendency to eat when she was bored or stressed. “We are very much aware of how our culture taught us to use food for all kinds of reasons that aren’t related to its nutritive value,” Bridge says. Bridge supports her careful diet with an equally rigorous regimen of physical activity. She exercises from 100 to 120 minutes a day, six or seven days a week, often by riding her bicycle to the gym, where she takes a water-aerobics class. She also works out on an elliptical trainer at home and uses a recumbent bike to “walk” the dog, who loves to run alongside the low, three-wheeled machine. She enjoys gardening as a hobby but allows herself to count it as exercise on only those occasions when she needs to “garden vigorously.” Adam is also a committed exerciser, riding his bike at least two hours a day, five days a week. Janice Bridge has used years of her exercise and diet data to calculate her own personal fuel efficiency. She knows that her body burns about three calories a minute during gardening, about four calories a minute on the recumbent bike and during water aerobics and about five a minute when she zips around town on her regular bike. “Practically anyone will tell you someone biking is going to burn 11 calories a minute,” she says. “That’s not my body. I know it because of the statistics I’ve kept.” Based on metabolism data she collected from the weight-loss clinic and her own calculations, she has discovered that to keep her current weight of 195 pounds, she can eat 2,000 calories a day as long as she burns 500 calories in exercise. She avoids junk food, bread and Pasta and many dairy products and tries to make sure nearly a third of her calories come from protein. The Bridges will occasionally share a dessert, or eat an individual portion of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, so they know exactly how many calories they are ingesting. Because she knows errors can creep in, either because a rainy day cuts exercise short or a mismeasured snack portion adds hidden calories, she allows herself only 1,800 daily calories of food. (The average estimate for a similarly active woman of her age and size is about 2,300 calories.) Just talking to Bridge about the effort required to maintain her weight is exhausting. I find her story inspiring, but it also makes me wonder whether I have what it takes to be thin. I have tried on several occasions (and as recently as a couple weeks ago) to keep a daily diary of my eating and exercise habits, but it’s easy to let it slide. I can’t quite imagine how I would ever make time to weigh and measure food when some days it’s all I can do to get dinner on the table between finishing my work and carting my daughter to dance class or volleyball practice. And while I enjoy exercising for 30- or 40-minute stretches, I also learned from six months of marathon training that devoting one to two hours a day to exercise takes an impossible toll on my family life..." Extract ends.

I have read lots of posts on this site about the week three stall...just type that in the search area and you can read lots of posts about it. I was sleeved 2/26 so I am at week two. I hope not to have a big stall starting next week but if I do I know it happens a lot. The weight will come off ....it just your body adjusting to everything! Good luck!

A stall at three weeks out is very, very, VERY common. You are generally back to a typical activity level and your intake has been severely restricted. You are healing, and have not been taking in sufficient calories to met your basic needs at rest. Just keep following your postop instructions. 8 kg. in three weeks is still a significant loss!

A stall at three weeks after surgery is very common. None of us lose at a constant or steady rate. Everyone stalls, and just about everyone stalls about three weeks after surgery. Stalls are a normal, natural, and necessary part of the process of losing weight. If you intend to lose a significant amount of weight, you will experience stalls. Just follow your program. Make sure you are getting at least 64 oz of Fluid and reaching your Protein target every day. Take your Vitamins and supplements as directed. Exercise when cleared. Stay off the scale. And, Embrace the Stall http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall.

Pretty normal - go for a hunt on these threads about the three week stall, and the three month stall and you’ll see they are both common! It will pass, just stick to your plan. 50lbs in 12 weeks is amazing, of course! No diet gets you that! Bit hard to tell cos your profile doesn’t give us your weight or goal - but rest assured, stalls are normal. I often find I lose SIZE in a stall!

I am still at 154.5 so for the last two weeks I have been at a stall on my weight loss. I was banded May 15, so I am almost 3 months out from my lap band surgery. I have been very discouraged lately because the weight loss has stalled but I am confident I will get the weight loss going again real soon. I have not been exercising but plan to change that immediately. Going walking tomorrow morning. I have been eating really well. I have not cheated with carbs, sliders, sweets, candy or fast food. But I have noticed I am getting a little lazy. I am not getting in enough protein. I am not eating enough vegetables. I am doing well not eating late at night and I drink non-calorie drinks all day long. My hunger goes away for 4 hours after I eat so I may be in the green zone. I think I am in the green zone because I am not hungry between meals. But I do skip meals and I am not eating my protein first, veggies next. I have been very discouraged because three months out I thought I should be 30 pounds down. I started at 187 and now I am 154.5. Gotta get out there and exercise because I am not eating too much food but without the exercise I am at a stall and not losing right now. I am battling the negative comments flooding my head. But I will be happy with the thought that weight loss that comes of slow is probably the best way for me to get the weight off. Slow and steady win the race!!!!!!! Would love your input please. Jenn

yes. Do a search on this site for the three week stall. There are over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding...). Happens to almost all of us... Just stick to your program, stay off the scale if you have to, and trust the process. Your weight loss WILL start up again...

First of all, as far as I know there is no definition of a "stall." Is it when you don't lose weight for one day, two days, a week, two weeks, a month? That said, there were many, many months, including my first month after surgery, when the scale did not move for 3 days and then there sould be a drop on two or three pounds. Most months I lost 8-9 lbs, which is a little more than a quarter pound a day, As the months went on, I sometimes stayed at the same weight for longer periods. In April 2011, I stayed the same for six days and then lost half a pound, but for the month I was down 8.5 lbs. In May 2011, I stayed the same weight for 11 days, and lost only 4 lbs that month. The following month I lost 11 lbs. What I am trying to illustrate is that if you stick to your plan and just trust that you will lose, it will be a lot easier on you emotionally. When I got on the scale and saw the same number a few days in a row, I just said to myself, "Well, maybe tomorrow." Plateaus (I like that word better than "stall") happen. They start, they end. Take a deep breath and just move on.

The three week stall is so common. I am sure there are threads on this forum and others devoted to nothing else. I did not have it (and I was expecting to), but based on what I have seen, I might be in the minority. Folks say to simply stay on track with your program and it will break. You are so early post-op it is not anything anything you did or didn't do. It is your body adjusting.

I am almost three months out from surgery and have only lost 52 lbs including the 18 lbs lost in pre-op phase. I've been in a stall for a week but I continue to walk 4 miles a day seven days a week. I feel like I am losing inches but the scale doesn't lie. Breakfast is 2 scrambled eggs and 1/2C fruit. lunch is 4oz of lean Protein. dinner is 4oz lean protein and 1/2C cooked vegetables. The hardest part is getting in 64 oz of Water and I have to force myself to reach that amount each day. My plan doesn't allow yogurt until six months out. I do drink two mugs of caffeinated coffee in the morning which I'm not supposed to be doing. One cup of caffeinated coffee is allowed at six months. I do have a container of sugar free Jello in the evening and during the day I have one or two low fat cheese sticks. Hopefully soon the weight loss will resume. I'm getting a bit discouraged with my progress. The surgeon predicted I'd lose 17 more lbs but I'd like another 30 lbs more than that. At this rate it will be a year before I can reach my goal. One good point is that I've been taken off blood pressure medication, have had my statin Rx dose reduced by half and had my CPAP pressure settings lowered.

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.

Lisalisa1212. I am 5 months out and have gone from 268 to 199, so I don't think you are doing too bad. I had a stall that started about a month ago that lasted for three weeks and even now I'm loosing again, but it is really slow. I think the days of loosing 10 pounds per month are over. A lot depends on your starting weight, what did you loose before surgery, your sex, and age. It is hard to compare yourself to others. DrPitt2b you seem to be on much more than a stall. Have you talked to your Dr about the results?

Does anyone know what taking BCP's does to weight loss? I started taking a continual double dose of my BCP'S so that I'm not constantly having my TOM, and have only lost two lbs in the three weeks since then. My weight loss stopped the day that I started the double dose. Coincidence?? It is totally possible that the stall is just a long third week stall, but I'm about six weeks past surgery and have basically been in a stall for three. And I'm eating my Protein, getting my Water, getting exercise, and having about 600-700 calories daily. Ideas anyone?

the dreaded three week stall - happens to almost all of us. Search this site for it - there are literally over 15,000 posts on it just stick to your plan and stay off the scale if you have to. It usually lasts 1-2 weeks, and then you'll be on your way again P.S. it's USUALLY the third week, but not always. Mine was weeks 2 & 3. My weight loss started up again during week four, and I dropped like 6-8 lbs in a couple of days.

first week is from the IV fluids they gave you in the hospital. Some people gain as much as 10 lbs from that (I can't remember how much I "gained" - maybe 4 or 5 lbs). It can take up to a week for it to work its way out. Also, almost everyone has their first stall within the first 4-6 weeks after surgery. It's usually the third week (thus, the "three-week stall"), but not always. Mine was weeks 2 & 3. During week 4, it broke and I dropped like 6-8 lbs practically overnight.

I agree with this - sounds like the dreaded three-week stall (usually happens during the third week, but not always - the first major stall can happen any time during the first 4-6 weeks or so of surgery). Just stick to your plan and the weight loss will start up again. My first stall lasted two weeks, but once my weight loss started up again, I dropped like 6-8 lbs within a couple of days.

The three week stall is a real thing. Perhaps your holding onto water weight? have you not lost anything?

Our bodies are complex systems, not simple machines. @@Babbs has a great explanation of the technical/biological reason for the three week stall.

they happen to most of us. The first major one usually hits sometime during the first month post-op. We call it the "three week stall" because it's most often the third week, but not always. mine was weeks 2 & 3. they typically last 1-3 weeks, but I've heard of them lasting longer (although USUALLY 1-3 weeks), Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days - and know that it WILL break.

sounds like you're doing everything correctly. i'm in the same boat. down 80lbs since feb and i've stalled out over the last month. i run 5 miles three times a week and log all of my calories keeping sub 1300 a day. i feel like stalls kinda work themselves out. you're definitely at a calorie deficit and you're killing it with exercise. if someone has advice i'd love to hear it as well. but for me the stalls have gone away after a while.

I had the surgery on March 28th... I stalled not once, not twice but three times so far. I'm down 35 pounds so far, and am currently in my 4th stall. My body is in a routine of staying the same 1.5-2 weeks and then randomly dropping 5 pounds in one day, just to do it all over again. Its normal, just keep doing what your doing, stay positive, and the scale WILL move, I promise!!!!

I, too, am at 3 weeks and have stalled. I have been averaging about 65 Protein, definitely getting enough Water, and walk at least 6 miles per day and go to the gym three times a week for 40 minutes. My calorie intake has been no higher than 700 per day. I haven't lost a pound in about ten days:( Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App