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21 lbs in five weeks is very normal. We started off at about the same weight, and that's about where I was at that point I think shows like "My 600 lb Life" give people unrealistic expectations about their weight loss. You have to remember that those people start off at MUCH higher BMIs than the average WLS patient. Most of us lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month. So your loss is perfectly normal! I went on to lose over 200 lbs - so the surgery works as long you're committed and stick to your plan. Edited to add that almost all of us hit our first major stall sometime during the first month after surgery. It's usually the third week, thus we call it "the three week stall". That may explain the 2 lb drop over those couple of weeks (367 to 365 lbs). If you search this site for "the three week stall" you will find over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding). but overall, you have lost 21 lbs since surgery. Again, that's a normal loss for the first five weeks.

Thanks for sharing! I recently had my six week evaluation and so far I’ve lost 12 kilos or 26 pounds after surgery, so I’m pretty much on track for my starting weight. Yes, the stalls can be very frustrating and I had one for almost three weeks in the beginning of this month. But then the number on the scale started moving again. I still vomit sometimes, especially after dinner, no matter how careful I try to be. Happened tonight. So that’s my biggest problem, still.

That is still amazing. When have we ever been able to lose 13 pounds in 11 days? I did hear that there is a common three-week stall. Sometimes it is just good to throw out the scale and weigh in monthly.

So my first week big loss… next three weeks stall… they suggested I up my calories and protein… now I gained! 🤦🏽‍♀️ This is really frustrating! Im tracking everything - weigh and measure every bite. I’m hoping there’s going to come a point where my body just gets it together and everything clicks… I’m just wondering when that will be. Right now I’m feeling very bloated and constipated (things moving, but slowly).

Ok, breath. Sounds a pretty common story so far from what you shared. You’ve lost weight (yay!) & you’ve experienced your first stall. You sound like you’re doing okay really. You didn’t say how much you’ve lost but while there are average rates of loss, some lose more rapidly, others more slowly. Age, amount you have to lose, starting weight, general health, how your body reacts, etc. will influence your rate of loss. And that’s fine. Weight loss is never a straight evenly paced downward line. It goes up & down, zigs & zags, plateaus., … As long as your general trend is downwards you’re doing great. Almost every single person experiences at least one stall. The first usually occurs around week 3 +/-. They usually last one to three weeks. They can be frustrating but are just your body taking a time out to come to terms with the changes (surgery, change of diet, weight loss, etc.) Just like you experience & react to emotional stress (like your current frustration), a stall is a physical reaction to the stress you’re physically experiencing.

Hello all I thought I’d put my first post up to encourage others as I’m definitely a snail not a hare with weight loss, but getting there all the same. I had lapband surely nearly 15 years ago. Lost nothing. Didn’t work for me at all. Felt like a failure. Saved up again and decided to have the lapband removed and a bypass. Wasn’t that hopeful due to my previous experience but was desperate. Weighed 310 pounds and BMI 45. Surgery was fine with no complications. However I only lost a couple of pounds each week for the first few weeks. On about 500-600 calories a day. As food increases to about 800 calories at week 6, the slow but steady weight loss continued of 1 to 2 pounds a week. About six month stage I was light enough to join a gym. This made a huge difference to my mental health and energy. I took it slow but went three times a week. I was now on about 1000 calories a day and losing (you guessed it) 1 to 2 pounds a week. Sometimes I would lose 4 pounds a week but then nothing the week after. I didn’t really stall at all. I saw other people posting phenomenal weekly weight loss numbers. Not me! So here I am a year out and I’m eating about 1200 calories a day and losing 1 to 2 pounds a week. Lost over 100 pounds so far and feel fine plodding on as I am. So my advice is, keep tracking food, when you can try exercising, and don’t worry if your weight loss is steady like mine. You get there just the same. And, I’ve never felt better!

if you're swollen, that likely means you're retaining water. Might explain the weight issue. like others have said, it could also be the infamous "three-week stall" (that most of us experience) a little early - or you could still have some of the IV fluids in you that were given to you in the hospital. Some people leave the hospital up to 10 lbs heavier than when they went in!

I’m with you. I just had my appointment today and was so stressed that I was going to get lectured or my team would think the same things. I have about 150 more pounds to loose (at least) - so I was expecting to have lost at least 30 this month. It was just a goal I set for myself, but I really thought I could do it. After loosing about 23 pounds the first 7-10 days, I thought I’m so going to crush this…. Then a stall hit. My period came back (had it three out of the last 4 weeks) and I’ve been beyond drained. Turns out my BP was low and I’m mildly dehydrated. I kept saying “if I could do more I’d loose more”. The dr and dietitian both told me to ease up on myself. They said I’m doing great and they are pleased with my progress (turns out my weight fluxed up with my period so I’m down exactly 20 pounds from surgery day). Even so - they are happy with how I’m healing and told me to get hydrated, up my protein & calories (they gave me a range) and then told me to follow up with my pcp (see him Monday). But to stay on plan and they both think I’m off to a good start and that I will do well. The first month is all about healing, recovery and getting used to our new routines as we progress through the phases. They asked me what NSV I noticed when I was frustrated with the scales and encouraged me to keep watching my body change because that is sometimes a better indicator of progress (and I do see a lot of changes). I know it is hard, especially when we set goals for ourself and we don’t meet our own expectations. But slow and STEADY wins the race… we can do this!! I was so stressed going into my appointments but I was so happy when I came out hearing their encouragement to keep doing what I’m doing.

Hello and welcome in the forum, its great to have peoples from other countries who contribute and share their journeys and knowledge. I didn't know anyone who had this surgery either, so this forum was super helpful. In the months waiting my surgery I read thousands of back pages. You are at a really difficult place in your journey. Everything is hard to learn, eating and drinking are difficult. Lots of people find it hard to drink the shakes, I just drank milk with dried milk powder in to boost the protein or milk with peanut butter and fruit. You just have to wait until you can have real food again. We have all been there, it sucks. There are still foods that are off my menu, mainly chicken and the very preloved cooked salmon. I hope that I can eat them one day but its still a small price to pay for my weight loss and getting my life back. I wouldn't change a thing You may get a stall in your weight loss soon. If you want to read up on it, put three week stall in the header. There are thousands of posts. It saves a lot of anguish and asking yourself 'What am I doing wrong' Just take it day by day and trust the process. Go back and ask your team if they have any info that will help you just now with food and drink choices and make sure you have enough medication for the nausea. Good luck in your journey

Almost everyone hits their first stall AROUND the three week mark. Some before and some after. You will go through a few of these along the way so if the scale is getting to you try to weigh yourself less often.

you're probably going through the infamous "three week stall" early. I did as well - mine was weeks 2 and 3. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you stick to the program, the stall will eventually break and you'll be on your way again. They usually last 1-3 weeks. constipation is a common issue for WLS patients. It's due to the high protein diet and some of the supplements some of us take (i.e., calcium and iron - both known to back people up). I've been taking a capful of Miralax every morning for years, and so do a lot of others. Other people take things like stool softeners or magnesium tablets - whatever works!

During the healing phase of weight loss surgery, your weight will fluctuate for various reasons. You're healing from major surgery, just follow your program recommendations and have realistic expectations. You're three weeks post op, and that's when the majority of wls patients experience their first stall, which can also include some weight fluctuations like you described. My weight increased and decreased and bounced around a bit during the healing phase, I stayed focused on hitting my fluid and protein goals, and today I'm 6 weeks post op revision to RNY and the weight is falling off now, because I'm past the healing phase and back to exercisisng. I started losing fat and gaining muscle pretty soon after surgery, according to my smart scale. Muscle weighs more than fat, so even tho I was losing fat, I was gaining muscle, so the scale didn't move, but I was losing inches, my clothes were getting bigger. Just keep doing what your team told you to do and you will be fine.

In my first month I went from 300 to 250lbs. Once I finally made it past the three week (everything makes me sick phase)… I actilually began eating a little later than recommended because I couldn’t keep anything down. I’m now 1 1/2 months post op… I’ve finally gained my energy back and am working out but I not only stalled but gained 3 lbs my mom feels like I shouldn’t get down about it or obsess about it but has this happened to anyone else?

I hit my first stall at the three month mark and stalled for 3 weeks. After that I was a chronic staller and had to fight for every pound. Stalls are fairly normal. They happen. Having as many stalls as I had is not normal so you'll likely be fine and not stall as much as I did. But yeah, it's just your body readjusting itself. It'll likely happen a few more times in your journey. I'd say to try not to stress about it, but from experience all I did was stress so...

Welcome to the July Peeps and also to the site. I'm sorry about your stall. That has to be frustrating going that long without the scales moving. After I lost 12.6 in week one, I lost 5.6 in week two and only 2.6 in week three. I need to be happy that I''m 20 lbs down but it feels like my progress has slowed to a crawl. At my 2-week post-op visit my surgeon told me not to worry about it. It's temporary and my body was going through changes. Many on the forum have mentioned a "Week 3 stall", so you are not the only one this happens to. It's temporary and you should break out of it soon.

Hey y'all. I just wanted to post a Three-week update. I feel good. Pretty much normal even. Except, of course, with a smaller stomach capacity Incisions are fully closed. The small ones look good and only the largest still has any leftover scabbing. I'm trying to stay positive since I've lost more than 20 pounds since surgery. But my weight loss progress has slowed more than I thought it would this early. Maybe it's the third week stall we keep hearing about. W1: -12.6 lbs W2: -5.6 lbs W3: -2.6 lbs My conservative diet plan sucks, but it improves a little this week, since I can add cottage cheese, shredded cheese, beans, canned fruit and some specific well-cooked veggies (only carrots and asparagus look appetizing). I am logging everything. I am getting 80-100g of protein, 50-90 oz of water/fluids, and 650-750 calories daily. I have not done great on my steps/walking/exercise, but plan to fix that this week now that things at work has calmed a bit. I have now lost a total of 48.6 lbs since I started losing weight in late March when I had my "Oh Hell No!" moment and contacted the surgeon's office. I am feeling pretty good about that.

Yes, you are over thinking this. During this phase, the first month or so, there is virtually zero correlation between your loss rate and what you are doing, as there is a lot going on with your body changing states trying to adapt to this big caloric deficit that you have thrown at it. Do a search here for the three (or third) week stall and you will see lots of anxiety over what is my weight loss doing and what have I done? Your loss will slow, often stall and maybe climb a bit before going down again. It often happens right around the time that our diets are moving from one stage to the next, so "that mush be it!" but it isn't - even those of us who never had all those stages go through something like this. Short answer is that when you go into a serious caloric deficit like this, your body first starts drawing on you glycogen reserves, short term carb reserves stored in you liver and muscles, which give you your quick response bursts of energy. There is a lot of water weight associated with glycogen. Once that is largely consumed, your body usually pauses to see if you are really serious about this caloric deficit thing. Then it will start to draw on your fat stores, which is what we are here to do in the first place. Fat also burns more slowly than glycogen/carbs (its that 9 cal/gm vs 4 cal/gm thing,) and it has to rebuild some of your glycogen reserves again (water weight on) so weight can be real flaky here for a while. If you really feel that you aren't eating enough, then a bit more wouldn't hurt and may be helpful, though that won't be what gets your loss moving again. I was up around 1100 calories fairly quickly, within the first couple of weeks, but I was also progressing on food types more quickly than your program suggests, and we had no specific caloric guidance. Others on these forums at that time were insisting that anything more than 6-800 calories would be death to your weight loss. I did fine, at least with my decent guy metabolism, and they did fine as well. I wouldn't rush things on too much, as it is much easier to add more later if you feel the need to than to cut back once you get used to eating a certain amount. I didn't increase my average calories from there until I was within about 10 lb of goal weight (at about six months) and needed to slow things down.

I lost rapidly during the first two months and then stalled for 3+ weeks during month three, even though I was following the program well. It drove me crazy! When the stall ended, I lost 8 pounds in two weeks. I've resumed losing at a pretty good rate since then.

most of us experience our first major stall within the first month or so after surgery. We call it the "three week stall" since it's often the third week post-op, but not always. Mine was weeks 2 and 3. And no, your body isn't done. I'd lost about 10 lbs by the time I hit my first stall, and I ended up 20 months later down over 200 lbs. if you stick to your plan, the stall will break and you'll be on your way again. If it's getting to your head too much, then stay off the scale for a few days. The stall typically lasts 1-3 weeks.

I had RNY in 1990 and regained all I lost. I always blamed myself but now know that the surgery failed due to a fistula between pouch and stomach. I didn't know that revision was even possible until 2020, just before the pandemic struck. I started the bariatric program in early 2021. I discovered that I am a food addict with trigger foods: sugar, wheat flour, rice, white potatoes, and processed food. I cut out those foods and the result was fantastic! I lost 70 lbs prior to surgery. Despite this success, I went ahead with laparoscopic revision surgery on 12/21/21 at age 73. I weighed 247 at the time of surgery, down from 317. Unfortunately, I fell in that very tiny group of bariatric surgical patients that develop serious complications. Ten days after my revision surgery, I was airlifted back to the hospital with peritonitis and sepsis, caused by a rupture of the jejunum below the anastomosis. I was hospitalized for 7 weeks and underwent three endoscopic procedures and two open surgeries before they finally found and corrected a residual abscess. I left the hospital with a 15-cm long open surgical wound, which took 8 more weeks to fully close. I am now fully recovered and am back to exercising daily. The endoscopic procedures stretched the new anastomosis so I have no more restriction than I had pre-surgery, so I still have to be very careful about what I consume. I typically go through month-long stalls and then drop a few pounds. I do lose inches during the stalls. I've dropped from size 32/4X to size 20/XL and now weigh 214 lbs., just past the 100 lb loss mark. After being on a restricted diet for over 16 months I struggle with near-irresistible cravings in the afternoon and evenings. The clinic wants me to limit intake to 800 calories. 😱 It is daunting because I know I will never be able to go on a "maintenance" diet and must continue to avoid my trigger foods forever. Even when I choose protein snacks in response to cravings, each snack adds 100 or more calories to the daily total so my daily calorie count is between 900-1200 calories. (I will gain weight at 1500 calories.) I've done a trial of weight loss drug CONTRAVE but had to discontinue due to side effects. This is a horror story, but don't let it dissuade you from your revision. Complications are extremely rare.

Hi all, For me these posts help keep me in check on a few things. Everything is going well and my nutritionist has released me to more foods. On Monday I added baked and grilled fish, soft veggies, fruit etc. He still doesn’t want me to set my macros until next month but once me to get 100-120 gr of protein, and up my carbs a bit. So, I’ve added berries and banana. My weight loss has slowed down, but with adding foods and so much water loss I’m not surprised. Plus of course, you hear about the three week stall. With the added food, I certainly have more energy. Now, I need to add cardio. The weights have been going well and I’m getting stronger Pre Surgery Weight: 336 Surgery Weight: 330 4 week Weight: 305.6. Goal weight: 275 Note: I was having some light headed issues, especially when getting up. It was my blood pressure dropping. I’m now down to 1/2 a pill per day. I am hoping with more weight loss I’ll be off completely. Good luck everyone.

On 2/15/22 I underwent revision from VSG to RNY due to hiatal hernia and reflux issues. My surgery weight was around 230 lbs, actually a few less due to three days of liquid diet. In the 5 months since revision surgery I've lost about 40 lbs, but have been at a steady weight for over five weeks. I'm currently around 15 to 20 lbs away from my final goal. I had a post surgery follow up with the surgeons office and they just suggested I try to stay closer to the dietary guidelines. I probably was a little short on protein but in the couple weeks since have worked diligently to increase protein and reduce carbs. Yet the scale hasn't moved. Looking for experiences from others who had revision without a large amount of weight to lose. How did it go for you? Is this just a stall or my new normal? Should I expect to continue to lose, or am I pretty much at my new set point after five months?

You will likely soon hit the "three week stall" (do a search for it here) where your loss will slow or stop and possibly even increase a bit. This is entirely normal and totally unrelated to what food phase you are in (people who are still on liquids as well as those who have been on soft foods since the start go through it.) It has to do with the matter that initially you are losing a big chunk of water weight associated with your glycogen stores (basically stored carbohydrate) being depleted due to your low calorie intake. Once that is depleted, your body shifts gears to burn your stored fat, which burns more slowly, so the weight loss slows a bit, too. Entirely normal. In our program they specifically tell us that their patients tend to do better as they move into real food - not strictly from a loss rate perspective, but for the sake of feeling better and more energetic, which leads to being more active and helping to maintain a more sustainable loss over the long haul. I was starting to nibble at the gym again after a couple of weeks, not for the sake of boosting loss rate (it didn't need it...) but for maintaining the habit (and not allowing my wife to use me as an excuse for not going!) I was certainly not burning any more calories there than at home, but more just starting to get a bit more variety in activities.

I joyfully kissed all my shakes away on day one week three. It was always my goal to rely on real food to get all my nutrients in & not depend upon supplements or meal replacements. My surgeon was also okay if I was not hitting my protein goal while going through the first stages as long as I was making an effort so that took off some pressure. But as @ShoppGirl said it does depend upon how much you can eat. (I wasn’t able to eat much but usually hit 40-50g of my 60g protein goal.) I found a good high protein yoghurt (15-20g) & a yoghurt smoothie (22-30g) to keep my protein closer to goal. I also did things like make my scrambled eggs & rolled oats extra milky to get in a little more protein. But being lactose intolerant I realise this isn’t quite as easy for you. Were you given a caloric goal or a recommended carb intake or limit? How many extra carbs or calories are you getting in by consuming lactose free/dairy alternative products? Because we eat so little it would take a lot to really have a negative impact on your weight loss. I drink a lactose free milk because I can’t drink a lot of ordinary milk. (No issue with other dairy though.) And even though it has about double the calories, it didn’t have an impact on my weight loss. Milk alternatives can actually have fewer calories than cows milk (per 100mls): Full cream cow’s milk – 281 kilojoules (67 calories) Rice milk – 255 kilojoules (61 calories) Regular soy milk – 241 kilojoules (58 calories) Oat milk – 213 kilojoules (51 calories) Reduced-fat cow’s milk – 191 kilojoules (46 calories) Reduced-fat soy milk – 153 kilojoules (37 calories) Skim cow’s milk – 142 kilojoules (34 calories) Sweetened almond milk – 123 kilojoules (29 calories) Sweetened cashew milk – 123 kilojoules (29 calories) Coconut milk – 95 kilojoules (23 calories) Unsweetened cashew milk – 73 kilojoules (18 calories) Unsweetened almond milk – 69 kilojoules (16 calories) Same with carb content. Macadamia milk: 1 gram of carbs/cup Hemp milk: 1.3 grams of carbs/cup Soy milk: 1.6 grams of carbs/cup Almond milk: 1.99 grams of carbs/cup Flax milk: 2 grams of carbs/cup Coconut milk: 3.38 grams of carbs/cup Oat milk: 9 grams of carbs/cup cows milk: 12grams of carbs/cup Have a chat with your dietician. They should be able to recommend lower calorie or lower carb alternatives if your intake is excessive for you to try. PS - Stalls rarely have anything to do with the calories or carbs you are consuming but are a natural part of your weight loss journey. Your rate of loss is never constant but zigs & zags, ups & downs & plateaus. Your body stalls or takes a pause (as I heard a surgeon say recently) to catch up with the changes - surgery, weight loss, change in diet or activity, etc. Think of it as your body is stressed & it needs time to recover & accept the changes. Just like you do if emotionally or mentally stressed.

almost everyone has their first major stall sometime during the first 4-6 weeks after surgery. It's usually the third week (hence we call it "the three week stall"), but not always. i just did a search of this site for you on the "three week stall" - there are 17,500 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding). here they are: https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=three week stall your calories are fine. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you stick to your program, the stall will break. Usually takes 1-3 weeks.