I am just shy of 10 months Post-Op. I started at 305; lost 30lbs in the pre-op liquid diet then another 40lbs in the 8 weeks post op dropping me to 235. An amazing accomplishment.

As most of you know, after eight weeks, we’ve pretty much progressed to eating normal foods again. In the eight months since I have been able to eat normal foods, I have lost zero… now first off – this is the first time since I became obese that I’ve been able to maintain any significant weightloss but I know there is more to loose! I'm having trouble accepting that I'm doing everything right and that 235 is were my weight is supposed to be.

I can’t help but think that I lost all the weight from the pre-op & post-op liquid diet and the surgery has just prevented me from putting it back on.

What I’ve been doing in the past 8 months

- Working out 5x a week - 40min cardio & 40 minutes of lifting weights

- My daily calories are under 1000

- My daily carbs are under 40grams

- I stop drinking liquids 30m before; 90m after a meal.

- Every meal is a 4oz piece of grilled lean meat and some green veggies.

- I have not had any fried foods, fast foods, starches or even a single piece of bread product since the surgery.

I’ve gone back to the liquid diet a couple of times for a week or so and no change.

I’m starting to get discouraged. Prior to the surgery, I felt like I was destined to be 300lbs forever; now I feel like I’m destined to be 235lb forever. Both times I know there is room for improvement but nothing I do changes my situation.

What am I missing??

I haven't had the sleeve yet so this is just a general diet observation but it seems for your activity level you need to eat more. I wouldn't pretend to know of what but that's what jumps out at me. Have you talked to your Dr or the nutritionist?

I am just shy of 10 months Post-Op. I started at 305; lost 30lbs in the pre-op liquid diet then another 40lbs in the 8 weeks post op dropping me to 235. An amazing accomplishment.

As most of you know, after eight weeks, we’ve pretty much progressed to eating normal foods again. In the eight months since I have been able to eat normal foods, I have lost zero… now first off – this is the first time since I became obese that I’ve been able to maintain any significant weightloss but I know there is more to loose! I'm having trouble accepting that I'm doing everything right and that 235 is were my weight is supposed to be.

I can’t help but think that I lost all the weight from the pre-op & post-op liquid diet and the surgery has just prevented me from putting it back on.

What I’ve been doing in the past 8 months

- Working out 5x a week - 40min cardio & 40 minutes of lifting weights

- My daily calories are under 1000

- My daily carbs are under 40grams

- I stop drinking liquids 30m before; 90m after a meal.

- Every meal is a 4oz piece of grilled lean meat and some green veggies.

- I have not had any fried foods, fast foods, starches or even a single piece of bread product since the surgery.

I’ve gone back to the liquid diet a couple of times for a week or so and no change.

I’m starting to get discouraged. Prior to the surgery, I felt like I was destined to be 300lbs forever; now I feel like I’m destined to be 235lb forever. Both times I know there is room for improvement but nothing I do changes my situation.

What am I missing??

I am no expert either but I agree with mememeee, I think you need more for your workouts. Are you meeting with a nutritionist? I go monthly. Might not be a bad idea. I hope you break the stall soon, I can imagine it's infuriating!!!!

Hmmmm....methinks you need to keep track of your muscle mass. What might be happening is that you're losing fat, but gaining heavier muscle at the same time based on how lean your carb count is and how much you work out. That's definitely not a bad thing! But if you're looking for the scale to lose more, sometimes shocking the system with increasing carbs or revamping the exercise regimen is the way to go. Your body has the ability to become used to what your doing and thus your daily "healthy" lifestyle becomes what it wants to simply maintain where you're at. Surprising it by changing things up can help to restart the weight loss.

You very well may need more calories. Also, how many inches have you lost? how are your clothes fitting? Are you strength training?

A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. YES, muscle is lean/takes up less space, but a pound weighs a pound regardless of it's volume.

How much Protein are you getting in each day? I know men are supposed to eat more protein than us ladies, and most of the guys who have had really great success are getting in 90-120gr daily in protein.

If you're on obesityhelp.com I would recommend you contacting Frisco and Jimbo on the VSG forum. They are both very successful sleeve patients, Jimbo has a 300lbs loss, and I think Frisco has dropped 140+.

Are you on an antacid? I'm going to see if my doc will put me back on Nexium, as Tiffykins said that she got more hungry when she wasn't on an antacid. I might also see if I can get some phentermine.

Duodenal Switch is an option if your BMI is 35 still (or if it's lower and have co-morbidities, eg diabetes), but you'd really have to look into it as it's a serious step. OH have a DS forum.

I don't think I saw your height. With muscle, would this be in the "normal" weight range for you?

I agree, you should be seeing a nutritionist. Eating only 1000 calories a day, your body should be losing - I don't think even in starvation mode your body can/should be able to hold onto excess weight.

I agree with others, eat a little more for a couple days and see if that helps. I find that when i hit a stall, if i eat a few more calories i will lose. Strange, but true. Your body thinks it is starving and holds on to everything you give it when it isn't getting enough.

Try it!

Kelly

What you're saying doesn't sound right. If you're eating a thousand calories, working out five times a week, not eating carbs and nothing at all has happened in the past eight months, something is unique here about you. Your metabolism has to be *really* freaking *low*.

Dudes are a little different than women though. Women tend to need less carbs because they're little estrogen tornadoes and those carbs push all kinds of imbalances. With you it's testosterone and testosterone likes Protein and needs a few extra carbs to rebuild muscle in the glycogen cycle.

One thing you haven't mentioned is your fat intake. Fat is thermogenic. The fat on your body likes the fat you eat because it's then encouraged to burn both. Fat also releases the least amount of insulin -- zero- in your system. Your pancreas turns carbs into burnable sugar but it also turns protein into some percentage of burnable sugar. Fat, it just uses. You really can't get fat eating fat unless you eat the carbs to go with it, because there is no insulin accompanying it to effect the change into burnable sugar. So maybe you need more.

So...this is what i would do. I would try keeping my carbs down and adding some fat. Give that a couple days to a week. Any fat is fine -- nuts, a scoop of Peanut Butter, etc. If that didn't work I would switch it up and try adding a few more carbs and keeping the fat stable at about twenty percent of intake. And if that didn't work I would go see a doctor and get a hormone panel because something is definitely off. The only time a thousand calories is normal for a 235 pound man is if he's 97 years old.

I'm with most people above; you need to increase your calorie intake. You're male and you are working out 5 times a week, around 1000 calories isn't enough. Speak to a nutritionist to get some guidance, but my guess is you need to get to at least 1800-2000. Best wishes and good luck!

I'm not sure how the VSG people feel about the HCG diet? I'd research it and see if it is something you would want to try but you must follow it specifically. Several friends have had amazing weightloss on it., all over 40+ lbs. One of them had the sleeve for about a year and did the HCG to lose the 20+ and "reset" her weight. I did it about a year before my sleeve & lasted only 8 days but I am considering it down the road as my metabolism is so screwed up.

How tall are you? Have you lost a lot in inches or dropped a lot of clothes sizes? I believe you have turned a lot of your fat into muscle with your exercise regimen. You should be able to shake things up by by tricking your metabolism by changing your diet a little maybe?? You may need to up protein being a guy and working out. Maybe add calories a couple days a wk. Alternate days with more carbs. Congrats on your success!!

OMG... an 8mth stall... I sooooo gonna stop complaining about mine!

I agree with the other comments though. Try upping the cals and Water....

good luck and let us know how you get on! =]

I've hit my stalls, I hit the gym 4-6 times a week, I have found a few things successful to breaking the stalls

Calorie cycling 1200-1600 one day follow by 800-1000 the next two days, repeat....

Carb cycling 100 one day then 40 or less 2-3 days sometimes even in combination with the cycle above take in 100 carb on the high calorie day, I keep my carbs and calories clean meaning Protein for the calories and fruit for the carbs no processed carbs

Finally if i'm really stalled I go to 5 or 6 smaller meals a day keeping it within my calorie and carb range

Good luck!

I agree with the other posts. For a male and the amount you are working out, I do not think you are eating enough. Also, have you had a blood workup done?? Maybe there is an underlying medical reason such as a thyroid problem or insulin problem. Also, is there any medications that you started in this time period?? Some medications can make you gain weight as well (or stall losing).

And I also agree with checking your measurements/clothing sizes. Even though you haven't lost anything, I am sure your clothes are fitting better.

Good luck, and congratulations on staying motivated. It is hard to keep going when you have such a long stall.

Wow thanks for all the replies!!!

to answer the follow up questions - I am 6'. I had originally been seeing a dietician for the first few months and after reading through all the great replies, I made a follow up call this morning.

My dietician - after reviewing my meal plans (which haven’t altered much; the original meal plans are still on my fridge) she started asking about my workouts.

I should have elaborated more on the workouts themselves before as she feels they are beneficial health wise but aren’t promoting weight loss;

My workout routine has been 40min of elliptical; enough to get my heart rate up then the lifting is generally power lifting my chest, arms & legs. Quick back story- I had broken my back about 14 years ago as well as a pair of follow up surgeries, all of which were a large contributor to my weight gain. In the years following, any strenuous exercise, treadmills ets, were enough to lay me up for a few days; even a hike put me out of commission for a day or two. As you can imagine, I’ve been very cautious / afraid of hurting myself and was sticking to workouts I felt wouldn’t hurt anything but I thought were helping.

After reviewing this, my dietician referred me to a personal trainer.

I had a very lengthy chat with the trainer this morning as well; we are meeting up today. He agreed that my current workouts were definitely helping maintain my weight and not to disregard the accomplishment of keeping it off but it’s not prompting loss. He completely understood my apprehension (fear) of hurting myself. His focus will not be to get my scale moving again but to approach this as physical therapy sessions. With the weight I’ve already lost, it’s a huge relief on my lower back already. He wants to focus on strengthening my back, core / abs. In turn that will allow more vigorous workouts, which make sense.

I’ve blown out my back nearly a half dozen times since breaking it and wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone. I can honestly say I am more afraid of hurting myself then I was going getting the VSG surgery.