My guidelines are 3 meals a day with NO snacking. I'm sorry, but I get hungry in between meals. I snack on foods that are on the list of foods I can eat. I try to keep it within reason. I'm still getting the urge to eat throughout the day, just to eat. I'm good about eating when I'm

Hungry. Although sometimes I do eat a cracker or two for no good reason. I lost 14 lbs after 2 weeks. And today marks 3 weeks & I'm still at 14. I'm worried that I'm doing it all wrong & that I'm going to FAIL.

I find when I want to munch through the day, that I actually need to drink. And drink some more. You'll learn to master your tool soon enough. I'm still learning too. Don't be too hard on yourself okay?

My guidelines are 3 meals a day with NO snacking. I'm sorry, but I get hungry in between meals. I snack on foods that are on the list of foods I can eat. I try to keep it within reason. I'm still getting the urge to eat throughout the day, just to eat. I'm good about eating when I'm

Hungry. Although sometimes I do eat a cracker or two for no good reason. I lost 14 lbs after 2 weeks. And today marks 3 weeks & I'm still at 14. I'm worried that I'm doing it all wrong & that I'm going to FAIL.

I am not yet sleeved but a few things come to mind from all I have learned. Are you exercising? I know that is important , walking to start and then more as your doctor allows. Are you drinking your Water? I know it takes a lot of sip sip sipping to get the 64 ounces minimum in. I tink that water can't help but keep your hunger at bay as well.

Some people do better with many small meals. Perhaps you need to make your 3 meals much smaller to account for the Snacks?

Also it is probably hard not to compare yourself to everyone here- some lose so much so fast! I expect to lose more slowly because I have always had a lot of trouble with that- perhaps you need to relax and not expect too much from yourself.

From what I have seen you can give yourself a big boost if you keep the carbs low. I learned a lot from the You Tubes of juliarh - search for her. She keeps her carbs to 30 grams or under and is at 108 plus pounds lost at six months. I ave heard that eating carbs makes you want more carbs. My doctor explains it is if we have two gas tanks like a truck- one is all of our fat and the other is our main gas tank which runs on sugar and carbs. If you keep putting sugar and carbs in, your body wont switch to the fat as readily. Cut down on those and your body has nowhere else to go for energy but your stored fat. Makes sense to me! Those crackers, small as they are, could be derailing you. Bump up on the Protein.

Good luck to you!

Thanks Fern & Meggie for your responses. Honestly, I'm not getting close to 64oz of Water a day. I'll try drinking more & I'll cut out the carbs. Maybe a piece of low-fat cheese instead of 2 crackers? I'll figure something out. And you're both right about being hard on myself & about comparing myself to others. I have always been a slow loser. I went into this EXPECTING to lose slowly. I guess it's just the possibility of failure & depression setting in. I just need to get passed this...stall? I try to walk once a day at least but preferably would like to go 3 or 4 times. My doctor says just to walk & avoid the gym. He said if I was gonna go to only go for a few minutes. I'm NOT driving all the way to the gym for a "few minutes".

Thanks again. Your support is much appreciated!

Thanks Fern & Meggie for your responses. Honestly, I'm not getting close to 64oz of Water a day. I'll try drinking more & I'll cut out the carbs. Maybe a piece of low-fat cheese instead of 2 crackers? I'll figure something out. And you're both right about being hard on myself & about comparing myself to others. I have always been a slow loser. I went into this EXPECTING to lose slowly. I guess it's just the possibility of failure & depression setting in. I just need to get passed this...stall? I try to walk once a day at least but preferably would like to go 3 or 4 times. My doctor says just to walk & avoid the gym. He said if I was gonna go to only go for a few minutes. I'm NOT driving all the way to the gym for a "few minutes".

Thanks again. Your support is much appreciated!

I think the low carb thing will really help from everything I have seen. Low fat cheese or cottage cheese, etc.

I keep my water next to the bed and drink whenever I see it or think about it. The fluids are key!

Also, as I mentioned check out http://www.youtube.com/user/juliarh - I watched ALL her You Tubes and she gives a lot of advice and I have been inspired and motivated.

You are well on your way! I expect to be slow and just remember it is a journey. Hey look at it this way- the slower the loss the better chance your skin will recover!

Are you tracking your food intake? Those 20-40 calories and 4-8carbs can add up quickly, and grazing is a habit that is difficult to break.I was told to eat 4 meals a day, (no snacks either) consisting of a minimum of 15 grams of protein per meal, no more then 30-40gr of carbs, and I honestly never experienced a true stall. Some weeks I only lost 1 pound, but some weeks I dropped 6-8lbs a week. If you're consuming carbs, I recommend switching to a low carb/high protein snack if you feel you need to eat. I completely agree with the clear fluids comments. If you're not getting in your fluids, water retention can cause stalls. Once you start tracking your food, and if you're consuming the recommended calories/protein/carbs, yet you are still hungry, you might be experiencing reflux. I would get a gnawing twinge within an hour after I ate. I knew it couldn't be true hunger, and after talking to a few VSG'ers that were further out they all said it was possible acid causing false hunger. Talked to my surgeon, went on Prilosec once a day, and within a few days that twingey hunger feeling was gone. I'm still on a PPI, and have zero intentions of getting off of it anytime soon. At over 21 months out, I still never experience true hunger.

I find when I want to munch through the day, that I actually need to drink. And drink some more.

This ---^

I don't do so well at staying away from Snacks on the weekends, but during the week I just have a Water bottle on my desk that I sip out of whenever I want. This helps SO MUCH in controlling my appetite and head hunger!

I feel the same way, I was sleeved on march 1 and all I have lost is 13 lbs. but from reading the post I do know that I need to increase my water intake now it is only like 32 oz.. It is so hard to get it in.. but I know that I am going to have to do something different so that I can get different results. I keep thinking that I didn't go thru this surgery for nothing... My protein I think is pretty fair. I only put in my mouth protein and I try my best to stay away ffrom carbs...

You are only 3 weeks out and still healing, your body is in recovery so don't be so hard on yourself regarding the weightloss. It will come as long as you stick to the plan.

My guidelines are 3 meals and 3 "snacks", so to eat 6 times per day. I was told that with the small amount of food we are able to eat each time the only way to get the necessary nutrion I have to eat approx every 2 hours. I know every surgeon gives different guidelines, so I can only tell you what I was given.

Focus on getting your Water in and at meals focus on Proteins. My "snacks" usually consists of cottage cheese, ham, egg and other Protein rich stuff. Protein will keep you satisfied for longer.

Good luck and best wishes!

I find when I get hungry I need to increase my Protein and Fiber at my meals. That cuts down on my snacking. I have three meals and 2 Snacks. My snacks are a piece of turkey lunchmeat and laughing cow cheese, and a Protein Bar later in the day. With your meal if you can get in a little more protein/fiber, you may find that you're staying full longer. Also, try to increase your fluids. I also drink Special K protein Water. It's only 5 grams of protein, but the extra protein can help hold you over until the next meal.

Good luck!

i was just going to post something similar. I'm finding now that I feel hunger and thirst the same way--a burning in my stomach. so now i'm drinking drinking drinking. I'm trying to do just the 3 and no bored eating. So you're not alone

My guidelines are 3 meals a day with NO snacking. I'm sorry, but I get hungry in between meals. I snack on foods that are on the list of foods I can eat. I try to keep it within reason. I'm still getting the urge to eat throughout the day, just to eat. I'm good about eating when I'm

Hungry. Although sometimes I do eat a cracker or two for no good reason. I lost 14 lbs after 2 weeks. And today marks 3 weeks & I'm still at 14. I'm worried that I'm doing it all wrong & that I'm going to FAIL.

I was sleeved on 1/24/11 I eat 3 meals plus 2 Snacks a day and I'm down 35 lbs. The first month the head hunger was bad, I wasn't hungry but I still had the desire for about anything, chips, pop, anything. The food adds on TV drove me nuts. Hang in there it will get better.