Almost six months out, weight loss has stopped!

[dandeegan 21]

I was sleeved on August 20th and I've lost a ton of weight. Since December though, it seems to have just... stopped. I am concerned. Sometimes when I step on a scale I see that I've even gained a few lbs. Some major noteworthy things that may be relevant:

- I broke my foot on Oct. 19th and was in a cast and crutches for a while. I basically sat on the couch from October until about three weeks ago. I relied on people to shop for me because I couldn't drive nor walk, lived on Thanksgiving and Christmas leftovers, the holidays happened etc.

- On 1/26 I started back at the gym doing weight-training. I have NOT been doing cardio or any exercises that stress my foot because it's still sore. Mostly seated exercises for now (I'm dying to get back on a treadmill).

- I still don't eat much (relative to how much I used to be able to eat), although I can eat significantly more than I could 2-3 months ago.

- I've been feeling hungry lately, enough that I worry about it.

Here's a snippet of my weight log for a visual aid:

8/5/13 - 383

8/19/13 - 343 (surgery was 8/20)

10/21/13 - 293

10/28/13 - 291 (with cast)

11/4/13 - 285 (with cast)

11/18/13 - 275 (with cast)

12/24/13 - 262 (cast was removed)

1/13/14 - 266

1/20/14 - 261 (started back at the gym on 1/26)

2/13/14 - 265 (been working out 4 days a week)

Reading this objectively, I would deduce that between the weights, sitting around from the broken foot and the holiday leftover thing would explain away my concerns, But, I don't really eat bad food in general (chicken, tuna, brown rice, veggies, Protein Shakes when I exercise, etc). My eating isn't perfect but it's 90,000 times better than it was. Plus, I eat maybe 1/3rd in volume than I used to. Also, I was under the impression that the "honeymoon" period of surgery, where weight loss just goes and goes, is at least a year! Is this just a "plateau" and I may notice weight falling off again in a month or so?

[WombatVSG 56]

I'm a newbie, so this might not be too helpful, but-- It could be a plateau, just as you say. My understanding is the "not hungry" phase can last 6 months to 2 years, so it could be that you're on the short side of that.

I'm sure your injury and inability to be active impacted your loss, so now that it's doing better and you can be more active, your weight loss might start up again?

Is there any pattern to your hunger? For example, I have some hunger pains after I've had high carb foods.

Are you drinking Protein drinks? Maybe going part liquid diet would help?

Good luck, and hugs.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

Okay, this may sound a little harsh but I want to be blunt (and hopefully helpful) rather than mean, seriously.

Some of your language about food is a little wishy washy. "I don't eat bad food in general." "I still don't eat much (relative to how much I used to be able to eat), although I can eat significantly more than I could" "The holidays happened." All of this kind of makes me think that you aren't consistently following a solid plan focused on small amounts of lean Protein and green veggies, and that you aren't even really tracking what you eat. My apologies if I read your post wrong.

If you aren't logging everything you eat and following a strict plan for calories, carbs, and protein, my suggestion would be to start both of those things immediately. And there is no magical amount of time -- not six months, and certainly not a year -- where you can be careless about what you eat and the weight just falls off anyway. You haven't really lost anything in almost two months. In my mind, that's not a plateau, that's maintenance, and if you want to get out of maintenance and back into losing, you are going to have to change up what you are eating and, from the sound of it, how much you are eating.

I recommend the Beck Diet Solution book for dealing with hunger -- it will help you get to a point of being able to accept and deal with hunger and not treat it as an emergency that must be fixed immediately with food.

Best wishes to you.

[dandeegan 21]

Wow, you tore me up! Excellent harsh post! My language sounded wishy-washy because I didn't want to write a super long post going into too many details. I tried to keep it general, yet honest. I'm working so I don't have time to construct a proper defense, but I will say that my habits are nowhere near as bad as your perception of them. My lunch today was a pre-measured 8oz. container of brown rice, ground turkey with some Sriracha (that I made, weighed and packaged). That's how I live 97% of the time. I could lie and say I eat perfectly all the time, but I don't. If I have company and we order pizza, I eat a slice. We're human. That's all I really meant by the vague statements.

The support group I attend is run by the head nurse of the bariatric program. She always talks about the "honeymoon period" before your metabolism changes to the new caloric intake. They say it's about a year. I was referring to this, not to "well, I can eat 5 pizzas a day for the first year and get away with it!".

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I am not going to offer any new advice (unless you ask for it), but do want to pass along the length of weight loss period as explained by the doctors I have talked to: 18 months. This is an average for most people. 3 doctors have told me this from 3 different WLS centers when I was pre op. Hope that helps. Keep up the great work! It sounds like you have a really good plan catered to your way of doing things in terms of eating and working out. And it is working: 383->265 in essentially 6 months. That is awesome! I think you are just going through a normal plateau. I had one also around 6 months and busted through it with some more intensity in my workouts.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Fiddleman

[indecision 863]

One thing I can see that could possibly be an issue. Your lunch was 8 oz of rice and turkey. First thing I am a little over 10 months out and I in no way can eat 8 oz of anything let alone something with rice. Try sticking to the Protein first then veggies then fruits then carbs. This may help. When I make a meal that "may" contain some carbs like rice I will have 3 maybe 4 ounces of Protein a few veggies and a couple table spoons of rice or Pasta. I rarely eat rice or Pasta whether its brown or not.

Maybe try eating ALL of the turkey first and if you are still actually hungry and not head hungry then eat some rice.

I am like you I eat pizza once in a while. I eat Cookies sometimes and hell I even drink wine or liquor a couple times a week so I DO indulge. That being said 90% of the time I am good and stick to the protein first rule. This will fill you up faster by doing this.

Just my thoughts.

Edited February 13, 2014 by indecision

[lnelson796 117]

Same thing happened to me. Over holidays I stalled, in January got back on track (although I wasn't too far off track to begin with), increased my exercise, and gained 4 pounds. Now all of a sudden in the last 2 weeks I've dropped 13 pounds! It's like my body said ok, I'm rested up now, lets go! I fully expect another stall soon after losing so much so fast but I'll take whatever I get! I did track through the stall, but to be honest it became hit or miss because I felt like no matter how good or how bad I was, the results were the same. Now that the scale is moving the motivation is back to be more diligent on my tracking. Be patient and good luck!

[Bufflehead 6,358]

aww, sorry, I really didn't want to be harsh! I need to work on my tone. I will say, not for you but for anyone else who happens to be reading this -- I am a firm believer in having a plan with guidelines and following it as best you can, and logging all your eating and drinking so you can know exactly how well you are doing. I am not going to argue the particulars of the plan with anyone, since I am no expert, but I do think having a plan to work on is good.

[sassypants 674]

reading all the posts i believe you may have a bigger sleeve meaning you started with a bigger stomach to begin with so you have more room.
this you have to be careful because you will be able to eat more and this will have repercussions on your calorie intake stored fat burning and weight loss.
i am the opposite i have a little sleeve i can;t even eat 8oz of anything almost 2 years out!

Also wondering if feeling hungry is down to boredom of being laid up with your foot?

I personally don’t eat carbs with meals like rice Pasta potatoes I know I can get carbs from veg or Beans instead so that’s what I personally do.
my suggestion would be to look up how much you should be eating per meal on average for this far out (honestly I have no clue I can’t even eat 4oz in one sitting so I don’t know at all)
and try to reduce the carb portion per meal or eliminate it altogether in most of them, switch for Beans or a replacement extra veg instead that kind of thing.
yes we do need carbs but the right kind of carbs is better and less likely to be stored as fat cells which is what we are going for.
if you do have a bigger sleeve and are still feel hungry look for next to nothing options as far as calories go like lettuce and such to take that hunger away.
interestingly my sister watched some tv programme that said when we are thirsty it feels like hunger so we eat instead of drinking so maybe try a glass of Water or juice if you still feel hungry then maybe you are but that’s ok you have some low cal food options to deal with that.

This is just a set back a revaluation time its going to happen its how you move forward that counts.

I say it over and over as I AM a firm believer in a little of what you fancy does you good, if you want some junk and crap have some but don’t over do it an don’t let it become a daily habit that’s when problems occur and weight steadily creeps back on.
but we all have to workout how to eat this includes booze and “bad for you” stuff not just the good things.

Good luck don’t be discouraged!

[WombatVSG 56]

I agree with everyone who said cut back on carbs. My doc says no Pasta, no potatoes, no rice. Eat Protein first, them veggies. It's not easy or tasty, but that's what they suggest.

[Fixerupper 335]

I got a stall at six months for almost two months. Then it broke quite inexplicably, I did a little more walking that week, weight pounds just suddenly dropped off. I find that it is slower after six months but not over if we stay on program.

[dandeegan 21]

Thanks everyone!

I can't explain why I can eat 8oz. of anything. I can say that sometimes I can eat the whole container of turkey/rice, sometimes I can't. I used to worry that I've "stretched" my sleeve but I don't bother with that anymore. A couple of people have said (and it makes sense to me) that worrying about stretching is a newbie concern. How much I can eat in one shot varies. I like to eat salads now, and I can eat almost a whole bowl of lettuce, baby tomatoes and cucumber slices. Who knows!

My diet is more of a bodybuilding diet than a bariatric one. I have friends with 6 or 8 pack abs that I work out with, and I have sort of adopted their diets. One guy even has a 10-pack somehow haha. They use 2 scoops of Protein in their shakes, whereas I only use one. When they come over they can eat entire pizzas. I eat one slice, and if I'm feeling frisky I'll have a wing or two. I can't eat as much or as often as they do, so I just eat what I can. I have at least two scoops of Protein (Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey) during most of my days on top of the protein from food, so I generally don't worry about protein intake.

I emailed this post to the nurse that runs my support group, and this is what she said in response:

Hi Dan,

I think you have a unique situation with the inability to do cardio exercise but if I look at the numbers, you’ve lost a total of 118lbs in 6 months and should be extremely proud!

You may very well be in a “plateau” or just now building muscle with your weight training which may very well reflect as a few extra pounds. If you are journaling and getting in the required protein, Water, sleep etc it will start to come off again, especially when you start back with some cardio. Keep track but keep going!!

You’re doing great!

Lisa

[sassypants 674]

God I am about to be one of them know-it-all-pain-in-A-people so please do not take this the wrong way as I just have to say this lol
Body builders and competitive eaters both use lettuce to stretch their stomachs.
I know plenty of body builders, 4 of my friends are professional personal trainers and I went on a bunch of body building forums when I was checking out Protein powders its commonly talked about as a thing they do.
Not saying at all you did exactly this I still stand by my personal onion that you come out of your op with a bigger sleeve.
Within the first year you shouldn’t push/test the sleeve to see if you can eat more in one sitting than they tell you too to know.
this is your honest to god crucial time in weightloss the more you put in the harder you have to work to not only burn it off but also burn stored fat.
Generally the weightloss will start to slow down soon and be smaller and smaller numbers month to month.
Every body is different I know that and we all do whats right and works for us, just be aware.

[XXShelXX 346]

God I am about to be one of them know-it-all-pain-in-A-people so please do not take this the wrong way as I just have to say this lol Body builders and competitive eaters both use lettuce to stretch their stomachs. I know plenty of body builders, 4 of my friends are professional personal trainers and I went on a bunch of body building forums when I was checking out Protein powders its commonly talked about as a thing they do. Not saying at all you did exactly this I still stand by my personal onion that you come out of your op with a bigger sleeve. Within the first year you shouldn’t push/test the sleeve to see if you can eat more in one sitting than they tell you too to know. this is your honest to god crucial time in weightloss the more you put in the harder you have to work to not only burn it off but also burn stored fat. Generally the weightloss will start to slow down soon and be smaller and smaller numbers month to month. Every body is different I know that and we all do whats right and works for us, just be aware.

(peeks out) that didn't sound know-it-all-ish lol great information to know though about lettuce! I had no idea! I don't think the OP would take that in a way that wasn't intended. No one likes the posts that come off snarky from Bertha Better-than-you hahahaha and we have a few here.

[dlar57 29]

I can't understand how anyone can eat 8 oz ? I just get in 4 , plus I was told no rice ,