I'm so angry I could spit nails. I had surgery a year and a half ago and I am nowhere near goal. I am and have been a model sleever, high protein, low carb, low calorie, regular exercise, water, YADDA YADDA YADDA. I read, frustratedly, all of my cohort here on the forum, chirping happily about reaching goal in 6, 9, and 12 months. At only 5'3" and 167 lbs, I am still genuinely fat. My fat thighs and belly are still in the way and restrictive, I'm still at the very top of "normal" sizes in 14R bottoms. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR. And I have no genuine data to guide me on whether I should still be super low cal (<800) or what. I am upping my cardio, since my exercise has all been of the yoga/TRX variety, and I am getting back on the bandwagon of high water intake but, WTF. I should be at goal already, I want to be 125 pounds and I don't think at my stature that this is asking the moon!!!! Grr, sigh. =(

you have to find what works for you. Have you tried circuit training? Perhaps your calories are too low. Are you still losing, just at a slower rate? What does your doctor say? Have you been to see him/her regarding this?

Have you been examined to make sure that you have correct restriction in the sleeve? Was it made too big or for some odd reason stretched a lot?

If all is OK physically I'd suggest that you do an in depth study of your actual caloric intake and exercise routine, perhaps use a site like myfitnesspal.com. We all have a tendency to underestimate our caloric intake. If all is OK there either see a nutritionist and a physician to make sure there are no glandular issues.

We wish you the best!

How much have you lost?

I'm sorry

Can I ask what your starting weight was?

I would shake up your exercise routine with something like a bootcamp. Not a "ladies" one, but a good challenging workout where you work so hard where you get to the point of searing pain in your abs from endless sit-ups for time or tasting blood in your mouth from running 10 shuttle runs in between every 20 burpees you do. Yoga just isn't that great for weightloss.

Hi all; I track everything that goes in my mouth, have since surgery, on fatsecret.com. My sleeve is in great condition and was made tightly with a 32F bougie. As of a few months ago all labs came back normal, maybe a tad low on the B. I have lost 127 pounds, with 40 more to go to goal. I have not lost an ounce in 55 days. I take in between 800-1000 cals on any given day, with carbs <50 and protein >70. I run, bike, elliptical, yoga, TRX, pilates, and dance tango for hours at a time, 5 days a week. I have lived like this for 18 months, still not even close to goal.

It has been almost three years since I had my surgery, and I am still not at goal either. In fact, I went up some in the past six months. But, I am starting to lose again now. It is important not to compare yourself to others. Everyone loses differently and this isn't a contest. I have learned and accepted that even though I may be doing everything right, my body just doesn't like to give up that much weight in a week. I will get to goal, it is just taking me longer, and I am okay with that because I know I am exercising and eating healthy, and even if I am not losing, that is still good for me.

Globetrotter, It sounds like you are doing everything right. I'm sorry that you haven't made your scale goal, but it sounds like you are doing an amazing job! Have you had your body fat percentage checked? Perhaps you dont really have that much fat left to lose because you've converted it all to muscle?

I know that several of the posters here have posted pictures where I can't believe they weigh as much as they state they weigh. LilMissDiva comes to my mind. She posted a picture of herself wearing size 0 jeans and stated that she weighed 150 or 160 in the post, and I think she is TINY.

I'm going to be in your boat, though, when I lose more weight. I don't remember ever wearing less than a 12 in jeans in my life because of how widely set my hips are, so it will be interesting to see what size I end up wearing.

Good luck! I hope you get the answers you are seeking!

Could you have alot of skin? I know that some folks can have even 20 lbs of skin "hanging around". Unfortunately if thats the problem, surgery is the only way to fix it. I'm anticipating this issue for myself. I have been this large since I was 12 or so... my skin has been stretched out forever.....

Sounds like your body just doesn't want to let anything go right now. Maybe you need to change something up. Perhaps the bootcamp basics from LilMissDiva and then changing an exercise routine? Maybe try something a bit more challenging - your body might be very used to what you're doing.

Sounds to me like you might be experiencing a stall. Let me qualify that a little by saying that the term stall is abused. A stall is not going four days without losing anything, or 2 weeks. A stall is an extended period of no weightloss, think 3+ months. And not just no weightloss, but no weight and no measurement changes (e.g. you aren't stalling if you're just adding muscle weight to replace fat weight, hence the scale is not moving).

I stalled for about 13 - 16 months when I had the lapband. I'm prety sure I was doing everything "right" - or at least I was doing everything textbook. Nothing made a difference and my stats didn't budge. Then, within a span of about 9 days, I went from my stall weight of almost exactly 250 (down from about 385) to 241. I remember that 241 very clearly.

I know the whole concept of "burn more calories than you take in and you will lose weight" and that's true in an overarching kind of way, but I know from my own experience there are at least temporary exceptions. I think there's also some truth to the idea that different quality foods burn more or less purely.

Here are some things you might want to look at:

• Cut out any artificial sweetners: crystal light, diet sodas, SF foods, etc. There are some that are obvious, and some that are well hidden so you need to be diligent about food labels.
  
• Try to get around 1200 calories a day. Especially during long-term caloric defecits, our bodies find ways of hanging on to what they have. Remember your body doesn't know "dieting," it just knows basic survival.
  
• Add healthy fats (oliveoil, avocado, etc.)
  
• Try to keep carbs to no more than 20 per day. Try to make the 20 you get come from low glycemic sources.
  
• Insulin inhibits fat burning. If you don't already, stop eating about 4 hours before you go to bed. Eating, then sleeping soon after does yucky things to your insulin levels.
  
• If you've been doing the same exercise routine, switch it up.
  
• If you're still relying on protein shakes, try getting away from them and more toward solid proteins.
  
• Check and see if you're in ketosis. Easily done with a pee stick suck as Ketostix. In theory, bariatric patients should be in a sort of perpetual ketosis.
  
• You can try a temporary "stall buster" diet, there are many. One of the ones recommended with the Atkins plan would probably be most doable (physicall), like the "Fat Fast" (Atkins). http://www.low-carb.com/atarfatfa.html
  

HTH

Starting Monday (I'm battling a cold right now) I am going to do a variation on the 5 Day Pouch and up my cardio, see what happens.

Globetrotter,

you know how I feel your frustration... I am in a very similar boat! Regardless of what I do, I can't shift anymore and I have been bouncing around the same weight since the end of Oct... it is a right royal pain in the a**e and I have tried all the tricks under the sun to change things but my body just isn't responding!

Not sure what else to do but keep plodding along... sorry that is of no help! Just want you to know that you aren't alone in your frustrations!

You definitely are NOT alone, as Coops and I can attest to! Frustrating? YES!!! But I'm done comparing myself to others, and I just will keep working my sleeve. At some point I may change my goal weight, but for now I'm keeping it and I will keep on working towards it.

HANG IN THERE, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!