Hi my wonferful family,

I can really use some suggestions and word of encouragement. I am 32 days out and I feel like I am failing already. I thought I was doing pretty well with 32 pounds gone. But this week alone I have added 2.4 pounds back on. At first I thought it was because of the Water. I have finally been able to drink about 70 ozs a day. But now, i'm not sure.

I wanted to ask about the importance of the Protein shake. i don;t eat much but everyday I fail to make it through a Protein Shake. So to make up I eat a can of tuna and 1 egg everyday. I don't know if not getting to my protein goal of 50-60 grms a day is hindering my weightloss. I am trying to suck it up and not be a baby. If you guys tell me its the lack of protein, then I know what I have to do. I was out of the 250s and now I am back knocking at its door.

I do workout about 30-45 mins a day (in 20 min sections). I just don;t want to feel like I went through all of this for nothing.

Thanks for listening.

You have lost 32 lbs. in 32 days? That's wonderful!! However, your body has to adjust to the huge changes you are making and may be trying to get in balance by holding on to some extra Water. 2.4 lbs is nothing that can't come off in one day. If you are eating fewer than 1000 calories a day there is no way you cannot lose weight eventually. Most of us have a stall sometime after surgery (2,3, or 4 weeks out is most common) and this may be what is happening to you now. If you can, try weighing yourself less frequently. It's great watching the pounds fall off when they do but agony when the scale stops or reverses, so maybe try a once-weekly weigh in. I started doing that after 3 weeks and there is always a loss each week but sometimes a small one, a pound or two. But eight pounds a month is 96 lbs. in a year!

The importance of Protein is that if you don't consume enough in your diet your body will break down muscle tissue. This will make you weak if it lasts long enough and more seriously, your heart is a big muscle and you don't want it damaged.

Eat according to your plan, drink your water, take your Vitamins and Calcium and you will do great.

Yeah I agree with foxbins it too early to give up now.. You have to get your protein in. Don't get in the habit of eating too many carbs. If you do eat carbs go with the complex one's they tend to stay with you longer. Your body inside is changing and you have to give it time..

Also if you taking in little amounts of food eventually it catches up with you. Your body thinks your starving, goes into survival mode and holds on to anything it can. Which is sometimes the reason for a stall

I found out the more Protein I eat the more weight I lose. I try to eat between 70 to 100 grams of protein a day. If you follow your doctor's nutritional guidelines you will not go wrong.

Hang in there. You are doing great!!!!

Good luck

Deb

Hey! remember too that around the 3rd week, most people stall -- that could mean the 4th or 5th week for you -- and a stall means that you stop losing weight, might regain, for a least a couple of weeks -- this is your body's way of adjusting to so much weight loss at once!

Bodies typically do not lose weight consistently -- if you graphed out your weight loss, you would see a stair step kind of pattern -- lose, then stay the same, lose, stay the same, etc. That is NORMAL. The body, when dealing with weight, relies on ancient mechanisms that keep it from "dying during a famine." Right now, your body thinks it's in a famine, so it's gonna cling onto anything it can!!

BUT!! There is no physical way your body cannot continue to lose if you are doing the right things -- eating Protein first (at least 60 grams), drinking all your Water (at least 64 oz.), and getting in some exercise. That's it. Really! Think about it --you're probably not getting in even a 1/3 of what you used to eat -- so it's really just the body fighting the process. And we ALL go through it -- some people have been on stalls for months!! (Not that I wish that on you!)

That said, give it a couple of weeks -- I know that sounds like forever, but really, the next couple of months are going to zoom by and pretty soon you'll be thinner than you have been in years! Trust me

And if you're concerned about the amount of protein, calories, etc -- you might want to try to journal your food -- I use fatsecret.com -- I really, really like it (and I think it's got an app for cell phones too). But others use other things as well. I recommend it because it gives you a clue as to what you are eating, etc.

I hope this helps -- please hang in there and at least know most, if not all, people here have been on a stall -- me included!! (3 of them so far!)

Take care and big hugs!

Bodies typically do not lose weight consistently -- if you graphed out your weight loss, you would see a stair step kind of pattern -- lose, then stay the same, lose, stay the same, etc. That is NORMAL. The body, when dealing with weight, relies on ancient mechanisms that keep it from "dying during a famine." Right now, your body thinks it's in a famine, so it's gonna cling onto anything it can!!

So unfair, isn't it? If your body is smart enough to realize you're starving and hold on to fat then why the heck isn't it smart enough to dump the extra calories that we eat and don't need so we don't become obese and die of a heart attack or something?!? lol

Stick with it over the first 7 weeks of the year I gained just over two pounds then this past week I broke through and lost 12... Change the types of protein your eating, maybe the type and inensity of exercise, drink more water if you can, check with your doctor see what suggestions they have, just mix it up in general to break through... remember it's a marathon not a sprint... You can do it!!!