I am 6 months out and I have lost a good amount of weight, but, not as much as I was hoping for. I am 6 months out and I am down 61 lbs since surgery. (18 of the pounds was immediate after surgery) Which I no way could have done on my own, but, I just feel like my weight loss is slowed drastically and I really have to work at losing now, going to the gym 4/5 days a week and eating healthy. The honeymoon is over and im scared that if I dont exercise or eat low carb that I will gain and/or just not lose anymore weight. Its exhausting how much effort I have to put into losing weight. I dont want people to think, boy, she had weight loss surgery and she is still fat! Plus I can eat normal size portions. Not big ones, but, I can eat a small meal with my family! I stay away from potatoes, rice, pasta and most bread products, on occasion I will have wheat bread or crackers. Anyway, how are you doing this far out and further? Does the weight still come off after the window of opportunity is passed? I need some hope and encouragement!

Wow! Thanks everyone for sharing your stories! I love to hear how everyones journeys are going! There are so many ups and downs in this proccess! I just got my lab results back and I have too much vitamin b12 and folate levels in my system and my bad cholesterol is too high and my PCP wants to put me on cholesterol meds! So I went off blood pressure meds and on cholesterol meds! Of course thats contributed to my low carb diet! I will take the meds because i am scared to stop low carb and go back to old habbits, if that makes sense. The low carb diet is keeping me on track even if the weight loss is slow...very slow!!! LOL! Good luck everyone!

OMG I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. I have been feeling so alone and was sure everyone was perfectly happy and doing everything right and I was somehow the looser who can't figure things out. Yes I am disappointed and with a doctor appointment this past week telling me 33 lbs which is 40% of what I want to loose is considered failure for the sleeve yeah I am feeling like **** in a deep dark hole. On top of the fact I been on a stall for 3 wks. I was loosing my mind and desperate last night and asked for help on the facebook page and realized I need to go from 900-1000 calories down to 600-800 and from 50 grams of carbs a day down to less than 30. I didn't want to do that but I don't want to be a failure with this. I have another 50lbs to loose and was content loosing 2 lbs a week but now I am not even doing that even though I am exercising which I hate. I was hoping to have lost 50 by now and then continue on 2lbs a week until goal.

Finally today I woke up and decided I am going to go on a liquid protein shake for a couple days to get things moving because I can't take this anymore.

Bellabr, I am so against the idea of 600-800 calories a day, to me, that is just insanity. Our bodies need a minimum amount of calories just to function, approximately 1200 calories a day. Perhaps, your problem isn't that your eating too much, it is that you are not eating enough. I was suffering a major stall. My man, who is a nutrionist and personal trainer, looked at how many calories I was eating a day and about had a heart attack. As a result, he now fixes all my meals for me every morning for the day. I am averaging a minimum of 1200 calories a day, and, based on my fitbit calories burned for the day, add anywhere from 100-400 calories more based on how much I have exercised that day. Since doing this, I am no longer stalled, the weight is coming off consistently again, and by gosh, I feel so much better! Now that I am properly feeding my body, I don't feel sluggish, hungry or anything else.

Susan, so are we supposed to be eating at least 1200 calories during our losing phase? Im 8 months out and have stalled / slowed down since November. And i can't seem to jump start my weight loss. I sometimes get in 900 calories, but never hit 1200. Any advice you can give me would be great!!!!

Susan, dh said the exact same thing. He thinks I am eating way too little and before I wasn't exercising but now that I am burning at least 500 calories a day, my body might be starving, but the doctor and everyone else said no way can you loose 2 lbs a week on 1200 calories a day, I don't know anymore. I still haven't figured out what will amp my metabolism. 3 months out and I don't know my numbers that is more frustrating than anything.

And my calories aren't coming from crap. The only bread I eat is the low carb tortillas to make chicken quesadillas and in 3 months I ate sushi twice. besides I haven't touched white rice, potatoes, or Pasta. So I am stumped honestly.

Ok I do believe some days I can eat more - A LOT MORE - and I have learned why...I feel like there is more restriction in the AM or the First Meal so I do not push it AT ALL. I eat one to two pieces of string cheese in the morning. I can get hungry around 12, but I try to push it until 2 and drink a yummy lemonade crystal light with lotsa ice...if I do eat earlier I try not to eat lunch, but stick to a 100 calorie snack like a bananna. Then I eat lunch at two which makes it easier to have a later dinner and not be hungry at night. I get home around 7pm and eat and then if 11 rolls around and I am hungry I eat a cucumber. My two pieces of string cheese are 80 calories each, my bananna is about 100 calories. My lunch I stick between 250 to 350 calories...if it is 350 it better be a lot of food so I am not hungry when I get home, but most of the time it is 300. Then dinner is also 300. So if i eat a snack to stay under 1000 calores a cucumber and light dressing. Most of the time my meals don't equal 300 calories as if it is just meat I might only be at 200, and I honestly try to avoid the snack before a 2pm meal. So really 90% of the time I eat two pieces of string cheese, a lunch and dinner. Which may equal around 700 to 800 calories. I only stalled once, and I had a very bad cold. I have always lost. And this is with NOT working out. I wanted to get down a few more pounds before I unleash the beast. When I work out I GET HUNGRY! I eat whatever I want for a meal to meet the 250 to 350 calories...most of the time it is baked chicken, with mashed potatoes and gravy. I sometimes get ribs or chicken salad and always have full fat. Calories are not the same, but you do have to count and I feel you should be below 1000 in order to lose. But if you are not muscular you might have to be lower than 1000. You have to create a big defecit so your body eats your fat. I am going to get a DEXA body fat test next week to see what my true body fat % is. That should help me determine a realistic goal for me. I am feeling a little hungry...Time for Lemonade Crystal Light - OMG it is so good!

If someone is eating 1200 calories and losing it is because thier body is burning more calories than they are consuming. You have to find what calorie count works for YOU. The nutritionist says 1200, but I believe this is what normal women who do not have the sleeve and who are not fat should eat. Maybe this will be my maintenance place, but this is not my losing place. I have read MANY doctor's posts on MANY different websites and they say the reason why you lose so much in the beginning is because you should be around 500 calories a day. For the first six months I was between 500 and 600. I can eat up to 1000 now, but DO NOT EVEN TRY TO COME CLOSE TO THAT. The liquid diet I tried with this hospital before I thought about surgery had you consuming around 600 to 800 calories a day.

Everyone here is basically going to do what they want. Heck yeah, you are going to lose weight on a 500-800 calorie a day diet. Of course, you will probably be losing muscle, which is definitely not good for you. It's that muscle weight which will allow you to maintain your goal weight when you reach it, I don't want to lose muscle, I want to lose fat. I want healthy muscles. I am not so desperate to get the weight off quickly that I am willing to jeopardize my health. Not only that, I don't want to gain it back either.

And, I kind of figure of course those doctors want me to do 500 calories and lose a ton of weight as fast as possible. Then, everyone will see that and think, "wow, I want to do what she did". Which means, they will be on the phone, scheduling the surgery with the same doctor, making him/her more money. Don't get me wrong, I love my sleeve doctor, he saved my life. But, I do know what is smart weightloss, I too have spoken with nutritionists, doctors, personal trainers, etc. And, I have done lots and lots and lots of research. Everything and everyone I know recommends a minimum of 1200 calories a day to fuel our bodies. If you want to eat more and lose weight, here is a thought, get off the couch and move. Walk, run, go to the gym, anything, just get moving. A pound of body fat equates to approximately 3500 calories. So if you have a calorie deficit of 500 calories (meaning that you burn 500 calories more than you eat each day) you would lose approximately one pound per week. I would rather properly fuel my body by giving it the calories it needs to function, eat a healthy diet, and get off my butt and move to lose weight. My sleeve is a great tool to help me do this, and so is my brain, lol.

But, as I said, that is just my opinion. YMMV.

As someone who is not yet sleeved, but scheduled, this is a great thread to read. I have had WLS, and some things are universal.

There is a "window" of opportunity, so they say, but remember that "window" is not an expiration date. Your sleeve doesn't come with a set number of days, and once they're gone you can't lose weight. As long as you're alive, you're metabolizing. And as long as you're metabolizing, you have the ability to lose weight. Try to stay away from "stinking thinking" -- things like I'm never going to lose weight or This is impossible. Things like that have a bad habit of causing self-fulfilling prophecies and will become as negative/true as you allow them to.

Everyone has a BMR - basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is the number of calories you need just to live, but do no activity. Your BMR is higher when you're heavier. You need more calories just to exist obese than you do to exist fit. Right now my BMR is about 2200 calories. At goal it's about 1500. Point being - it changes, and calories are not a "one size fits all" thing. You can get a rough idea of your BMR here. Base your intakes & activity levels accordingly.

Stalls - true stalls, do happen. Stalls, not "plateaus", last for a long time. "Stalled" is generally at least 6 weeks (but some will not call it a stall until 3 mos) of no change in weight, and no change in size, despite being in a fat burning mode. I've seen a lot of people (me included) hit stalls and it's dismaying how many want to give up because of them - they think "it's over, I've lost what I can lose." Maybe try to think of your weightloss like... the stock market. Stocks (and your weightloss) are going to rise, they're going to fall. Sometimes you'llbe thrilled, sometimes you'll be depressed. But that doesn't mean you should bail out (physically or emotionally). It has to be a long term comittment - stick with them, because what you're really after is a nice, even, long-term average.

Some stall busting ideas:

• Going back to basic - how you ate 4, 6, 8, 10 weeks post-op before you started experimenting and cluttering up your core foods.
  
• Add in more calories, rather than trying to remove.
  
• If you're also following a low carb diet, have a night where you add in more carbs. Or try a structured/researched plan such as the Atkins fat fast.
  
• Try changing your workout routine. E.g. add in more cardio, or do something lower paced for a longer time.
  

And Susan brought up a really good point. Muscle burns calories. That's (partially) why muscular people can eat ridiculous amouts of food and stay lean. Ever seen a body builder eat? I used to work with one, and his average daily Breakfast started with a DOZEN eggs. If you're starving yourself and not exercising, or just starving yourself period, you're guaranteed metabolizing muscle mass, which is going to make it even harder to lose weight.

HTH. You guy are all awesone.

^{I am 5 months out, and not losing as quickly as many are on here, but I am also enjoying every stop along the way. This includes donating clothes that I can no longer fit, the way my body feels in the shower, how I can now cross my legs when I sit in meetings, now feeling comfortable sleeveless and even in shorts, and the comments people have when they have not seen me for a few weeks. It all feels really good. Think about it. If I just woke up one day at goal I would not have the opportunity to enjoy the ride. I'm lovin it!}

^Ducker

I'm thrilled with my results. Had surgery 12/12. weight at surgery 251, as of today down to 208.

Early on, I was very disappointed.. only because I was looking at others dropping big numbers and thinking something was wrong with me.. BUT, I've learned that we each have our own journey to weight loss and wellness.. Each is so unique and we do ourselves a disservice when we compare and compete w/ others... As long as we are doing what we need to, the weight will come off IMHO...

Discouragement will happen... but don't dwell there.. switch stuff up, measure yourself.. I've gone from a size 30 to 24/26 and I've lost 35 lbs since surgery that was almost 3 months ago.. I only recently started losing again... We will be fine.. we just have to work our sleeves!!!

It has been sixmonths for me and i am not even at 50 pounds yet...am i eating too much? Too little? Here is a sample day:

B: 3/4 special k Protein Cereal (it is low fat low carb and 10 gr protein) + 3/4 cup skim milk+ small banana

S: turkey pepperoni and cheese stick

L: chicken with salad + l/f dressing

S: chobani n/f yogurt

D: 3-4 ounces lean protein + veggies or fruit

S: s/f fudge pop (35 calories)

I generally drink 65-80 ounces of Water every day

Too much? Too liitle? Would exercise help?