Slow Weight Loss

[Washington_girl 7]

Advise needed. I am 8 weeks out from bypass. This second month I have lost 3 lbs total. It is so frustrating. I understand there are stalls, I have read up on them and get they are a true problem during the early weight loss stages... but this feels more then a stall. I feel like I am doing something wrong. I started working out a month ago, 3-4 times a week... hard hiit style training. I increased my calories to 900, I drink 60-80oz Water, 80 grams Protein. I try to do a low carb diet, between 30-50 grams a day. I track my food and weight most of the time so I know my macros and calories are pretty accurate.

Here are things I know I am not doing right.... I do not eat slow. I eat slower then I used to, but not that slow. Dense food will get stuck if I am eating to quickly... and it takes a bit to move through. I am trying to slow down. I recognize I eat dinner faster, because I tend to be hungrier. I have incorporated a later afternoon snack to help combat this.

I have a hard time not drinking while eating. I try to remember, but honestly mess it up about 30-40% of the time. This doesn't cause me to over eat. I pretty much portion out and plan my food for the day.. and stick to that. I'm working on this change. I've started setting a timer.

I have been eating small amounts of unhealthy food. For example, we went to dinner the other night and I had half a slice of pizza, or I took a bite of my kids Halloween candy. I track all this in my food journal and I stay within my macros and calorie count for the day. Before surgery I would allow myself these "cheat meals". I believe that this helped throw off my metabolism. This type of eating has been proven to work for non Wls patients... but guess I don't know how it works now with the surgery.

I lost about 100 lbs before surgery. My surgery weight was 243. I am curious if my weight loss is slower because my body was already in mass weight loss mode... and therefore didn't really shock my system?

I was also in ketosis before surgery... I have slowly been coming out in the last month as I add back more grams of carbs. (I was at 15-20 grams... now at 30-50 depending on day). I am wondering if this is causing slow weight loss?

The only other relevant information I can think of is I recently went back on birth control and have not had a period for about two months. BC is just to help control cysts... so it is not a necessity I be on it.

With all this information... any ideas? Anyone with similar problems? Any suggestions to kick up weight loss? I have been hovering around 224 for a month now and I am getting pretty frustrated.

I am not seeing a change in inches either, at least stomach. I meet with my trainer this week to test my fat to muscle ratio... so I am hoping for some good news there. I just need to see that what I am doing is making a difference. I am getting ton of compliments... but I am a numbers analytical person so I need to see hard numbers changing.

Critique, advise, and suggestions are definitely wanted. I am open to changing things up, if it seems like sound advise. I am also willing to wait it out... as long as it will lead to changes. I feel a realistic goal is 6 lbs a month. I would love more, but expect at least 6. 3 lbs a month isn't cutting it.

Thanks for any help!

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[Odie 249]

I lost very slowly too, I blamed it on my yoyo dieting for years before!! But then it just seemed to fall off me. 2 1/2 years out I have lost 120 but I'm having a hard time with the last 25!! I just went back to basics! Plus I don't exercise, my bad!!

[LibrarianBecky 91]

I am nearly 7 months out from gastric bypass. I lost about 60 pounds before surgery. I have lost an additional 55 pounds since surgery. (My surgery weight is nearly exactly the same as yours.). My doctor and I are both happy with my loss, but I have lost slower after surgery than many people. At this point, I would like to lose another 30-40 pounds, but it is a fairly slow process at this point (~5 pounds a month). Best of luck to you. You sound like you are doing a lot of things right. Stick with it. It will happen if you stick with it.

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[Djmohr 6,965]

Because you lost so much before surgery, it may just go slower for you. The only thing i can say is that i went through a 28 day stall (NO weight loss), and it was very frustrating.

I was getting less calories than you and working out 5 times a week for an hour each time (cardio).

Both my nut and my trainer told me to eat more and excercise less. I had never been told that in my life so i was shocked and scared. But i added 100, Protein heavy calories and took my work outs from 60 to 30 minutes.

Within 3 days, the weight started dropping again. For me after than initial loss of 60lbs in 8 weeks, i slowed to between 5 and 10lbs per month on average. Now keep in mind there were months where I lost 0 and others where i lost 15.

What is your current BMI? How close to goal are you? You lost alot of weight up from so you may simply be taking a break.

Call your nut and see if she can make some recommendations. At 8 weeks post op i was no where near 800 calories. I simply could not eat enough within my 3 meals per day and ultimately i had to add Snacks like cheese & lunchmeat or shrimp. Looking at my fitness pal i was averaging around 450 so way under and exercising an hour a day.

I would also say, i really stayed on the plan until i was about 8 months post op before i would even consider a taste of something I shouldn't have. Those things can certainly cause a stall to happen.

[catwoman7 10,872]

I was around 700 calories a day at eight weeks out - and I was worried i was too high...

also, I didn't go off plan *at all* for several months. Now at 18 months out, I'll occasionally have a cookie or a small slice of pizza, but that's pretty rare - maybe once or twice a month. I'm about 95% on plan.

[Washington_girl 7]

Yes, I agree... I need to be more constant and not "cheat" with high carb, low nutrition foods. I will work harder on that. I emailed my nutritionist about where I should be calorie wise. I kind of know she is going to say, don't worry about calories, just focus on nutrition... that has been the message every check in. But I am a numbers person and I need that specific number to stick to. We had a conversation at 1 month check in and she said I should be around 1000-1200 but we didn't clarify when that should be.

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[Travelher 915]

I'm 6ish weeks out and I'm falling in the 650-800 calorie a day range now. I started slowly adding 1/2 banana once per day into my shake a couple of weeks ago. Then I stalled for a week elliminated the 1/2 banana...boom started dropping again. I'm not exercising like crazy but getting 10-14k steps in a day. I have not so much had a piece of popcorn. I figure I'm one of those people with a carb sensitive body.

[catwoman7 10,872]

Yes, I agree... I need to be more constant and not "cheat" with high carb, low nutrition foods. I will work harder on that. I emailed my nutritionist about where I should be calorie wise. I kind of know she is going to say, don't worry about calories, just focus on nutrition... that has been the message every check in. But I am a numbers person and I need that specific number to stick to. We had a conversation at 1 month check in and she said I should be around 1000-1200 but we didn't clarify when that should be.

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I think I got to the 1000-1200 kcal range when I was close to a year out. I'm still in that range at 17 months out.

[Washington_girl 7]

I heard back from nutritionist... she basically said what I anticipated... I am doing what I need to and stalls just happen. She didn't seem to concern with the "cheats". More just reiterated my Protein should be 80-100 and carbs half my Protein. I clarified where I should be calorie wise and she said 800-1200. Thanks for those who responded. Reassurance is always nice to have and hearing others experiences and perspective. I am going to try to up my protein closer to 100 grams and work on avoiding "cheats"

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