Ok guys, I am frustrated, a feeling which I have NOT had up until this point. I began my journey 11/23/2012 and have lost a record 208 pounds in the past 9 1/2 months. Yeah, I know I shouldn't be complaining, but I am officially stuck, the first time this has happened to me at this level. In the past 13 days I have only lost 2 pounds. The part about this which is driving me crazy is that I am so close to goal. I actually had a couple different goals as I have gone along. My initial goal when I started was 245, then I lowered it to 225, then I figured I would try and be less then high school weight so I figured 215 lbs. These goals were set when I was losing big weight each month. Lately people have been telling me that I need to stop losing weight before I look to skinny, so I upped my goal back to 225 lbs (I was 220 in high school, I'm 6' 2" tall). The problem is that I am totally stuck, I have been bouncing back and forth between 237-238 for about 10 days now, this has NEVER happened before. I know I shouldn't complain, my wife things I am nuts and all, but what I tell her is that when I put such unbelievable discipline and effort into weight loss, how could I not be losing weight???? I am eating probably 1500 calories per day PLUS running 3 miles a day, 4 days per week, not to mention all my other normal physical activities. A guy my size and energy level needs more then 1500 calories to just maintain weight, then throw in the dedicated exercise. How could this be happening???? Experts out there that have reached goal, is that old myth about the last 20 lbs or so being impossible to come off true? It feels that way to me. Advice is really needed! Attached are my most current pics. The bottom one is me exactly one year ago at the exact same event.

wow..you look fantastic...I don't think you should lose to much more...Im pre-op so I can't say much more than I just did..

Some of the vets are doing 5:2, maybe a change for a while to shake things up might help?

Do you do any weight training? I was just reading an article about how both cardio and weight training are essential for loss.

If I find it, I'll post.

I was in a month long stall and not quite as close to goal as you but i can feel your pain.

You are an inspiration Frank!

I gotta say....absolutely fantastic job. Major difference. congrats.

Wow! What a difference! You look great. I am just 5 weeks out, but have been stalled for 18 days! It is finally starting to move in the right direction. If you are eating so little and working out, it is bound to move sooner or later!

Hi Frank - You can try focusing on HIIT exercise combined with anaerobic exercise. Lifting is essential for leaning out and building lean muscle in a healthy way. You need to shock your body out of homeostasis and the closer you are to healthy BMI, that more intensity this is going to require. You might check out my 12 week strength challenge in vet forum from earlier on in the Summer or any number of my posts that talk about cross fit WOD (workout of the day). Hate to tell you, but pure cardio does lead to fat retention after a while. I hit that wall too when purely running for exercise before busting through it with said strength challenge and cross fit workouts. I now eat over 2000 calories a day, have a good muscular physique and still have to be careful about losing body fat weight versus lean muscle weight. It is a careful balance of eating enough to offset calorie deficit from working out hard. Eat clean and add anaerobic exercises combined with HIIT and you will reach goal in no time. I try and keep my weight between 175-180 for my 5'11" frame (started at 360 and hit weight goal at month 7) and really push fitness, clean eating, 1.5-2 g protein per kg and water daily. If I am not eating, I am drinking. Going on month 13 now.

Awesome Job. I just started my journey and reading your post has me really inspired!! Can you share how you were able to be so successful with your journey in such a short time period??

You may want to shock your system, less cardio and more weight training to build lean muscle. this might help you get passed this hump.

I can't figure out how to post something so I am replying to this message - this is just a message of frustration I started out at the Mayo Clinic because I live in Rochester, but Medica informed me that Mayo Clinic is out of network. So they gave me a list of places that were in network and the one that worked the best for me was Gunderson Health Systems in Onalaska. They were so nice and helpful and they accepted the nutrition things that I had done at Mayo. I completed all the necessary requirements and the Gunderson Health System was going to submit my request today, but the insurance company apologized, but the customer service rep that I spoke to prior to going to Gunderson told me the wrong information so they will not pay for my surgery. I spoke the bariatric program manager at Gunderson and she looked back at the notes and she has a note from the business office that they spoke to a specific person at Medica who pre-certified my surgery but Medica said it doesn't matter, even though it was pre certified, they still won't cover the surgery because they are out of network. The did say they will cover all the appointment that I had with dietitians, psych and the surgeon. grrrrrrr!!

PS - If someone can tell me how to start a new post - please let me know. I went somewhere where it let me post but when I tried to send it they wanted me to enter recipients???

Frank - you look awesome and have already been incredibly successful with your sleeve! But, I totally get it...when you have goals that aren't being met, it's very frustrating.

It makes sense to me that your weight loss would slow down as you get closer to goal. I have had several weeks where I lost NOTHING despite eating 900-1200 calories a day with vigorous exercise, watching carbs, lots of Water. (I'm no Fiddleman, but I have ambition!)

What would happen if you changed things up a bit....walked for an hour vs. running or swam or lifted at the gym? Went back on liquids for several days or tried the 5:2 plan or other dietary changes? Maybe that would be the change your body is looking for?

My younger brother is 6'2" and dieted down to 189lbs. recently and he looked like a P.O.W. The weight was too little for his frame.

Try to keep these past two weeks in perspective...you DID lose weight....just not like before. The pounds may come off more slowly as you get closer to your goal weight.

Good luck - you look fantastic and I can only imagine how great you feel too. Anything that is worthwhile is rarely easy. And you are in the right place for a "vent"!

Well, Fiddle has some great advice for ya, and so does HoosierGirl...

I suppose it doesn't help to point out how incredibly far you have come and how quickly you have lost your weight and how you haven't had a stall (I'm going to go out on a limb and say that losing only -2lbs in the last 2 weeks certainly does NOT qualify as a stall.) Because you already know all of this...

And all you can see right now is that you have a GOAL and you want to GET there. I totally understand, appreciate and respect that.

Please trust the process. Keep your healthy habits and as others have said you could try to shake things up, either with your workouts (adding in weights is a great idea...getting ready to do that myself in a few weeks, I'm more of a cardio-lover but my weights only 1x a week aren't enough so I'm taking a class soon and will be lifting 2x a week for an hour, in addition to my weights already and my cardio routine) or you can switch up your diet....or you can be patient and realize that there is no expiration on your sleeve and it might take you a little longer to get to goal than it did to lose the weight at the beginning.

Stay faithful, keep working your sleeve, and you will eventually get there. And if not, you are really looking at 12lbs in frustration? In the grand scheme of things, how much will those 12lbs change who you are and what you are about? Keep it all in perspective...and congrats on a job well done!!!

Thank you all for the nice and helpful comments. I'm going to start weight lifting on Monday, it's about time. I don't know if my idea was backwards or not (I guess not since I lost a ton of weight), but I wanted to lose as much weight as possible before I started to bulk up weightlifting. I had planned on doing it once I hit 230 lbs anyway, so I will just push it up. I guess my body and system are just in a "funk" and need some jump starting. I am just SO darn close. The thought of shocking my system with another liquid diet makes my head start to spin. As I have mentioned before I was on a 35 total day liquid only diet in the beginning. It was tough, I can't imagine doing t again even for a day. If I had to do it though I would, we'll see.