Hi everyone-

I'm really just at a loss for what to do. I have been hanging around on these boards for the past 4 months since surgery but only posted a few times. I keep hoping to find someone else that is having the "I'm not losing enough weight" problem that I'm having.

I started at 240 a year ago and went into surgery at 226 pounds on December 6, 2016. I'm 4 months post-op and have only lost 37 pounds. After month 1 I was down 19 pounds- and I was thrilled. However, after months 2, 3, and 4 I'm only down 12, 2, and now 4 pounds, respectively. I've only lost 6 pounds in 2 months! So basically when I started to eat real food (or more than an average of 600 calories a day) the weight loss stopped.

I did have a problem at 7 weeks post-op where my gallbladder flared up and I was hospitalized for a few days. I then had it removed at 8 weeks. Since then I stopped losing. I've been cleared for exercise for the past month and since then I've been increasing my walking to now where I can walk 40 minutes at around 3.3 mph and not die- lol. I walk 2-3 times a week, stretch and do yoga 2 other days of the week.

I'm definitely getting in my Protein (around 90g per day) and I make my Fluid goal of 64oz- sometimes more but usually right at that because too much fluids make me nauseous. I'm eating fat-free cottage cheese with 1oz of no-sugar-added peaches for Breakfast. Then lunch is usually a tuna pouch with 6-8 rice crackers and a tsp of olive oil mayo. dinner is some sort of stir fry (maybe a tsp of sesame oil) or a piece of chicken breast and broccoli. In between the meals I'm drinking a Premiere Protein shake each time.

My program says to only 2oz per meal until 6 months. Isn't this pretty small compared to everyone else? I'm trying to stick with that but I'm still pretty hungry and so I go back and eventually eat about 4 oz when all is said and done.

I'm drinking Powerade Zero, unjury Chicken Soup sometimes in place of one of the Protein shakes, and sugar-free hot chocolate in the morning- 1 cup. All of these foods are on my "allowed" lists from my doctor so I don't know what is going on - except that I'm eating 4 oz at each meal instead of 2.

I have PCOS and have always found it impossible not to gain weight. Is this why I'm not able to lose it? Am I doing something wrong? Not doing enough?

Please help- I'm starting to get pretty down and feel like maybe I should just resign myself to always weighing 189 even though I should weight more like 130-

Erika- my friend is a little extreme and even at a yr out is at 600-800 calories now. My surgeon told me to focus on Protein now just going into.my 3rd week, but eventually 900-1200 calories a day would be an end goal. Nutritionists that specialize with bariatric patients help a ton. I saw one that goes with my insurance last week, and seeing one directly to do with my surgeon April 18th and she is open to questions from me anytime. Helped a ton so far. I personally don't know what I am doing yet (havent even had puree yet), but what my friend told me is to treat premiere Protein shakes as Meal Replacements, like Breakfast or lunch and then food protein rich at other times. But I have no idea. I am going to try weighing myself 2 times a week now, because I am getting discouraged due to a stall already [emoji20]. I hope by Friday I am down something. Fingers crossed. I also started taking measurements, because many say we lose inches over weight and not focus on scale as much.

Finding Erika sorry for the late reply! I see that there have been some great responses and tips so far. As for my programme here in the UK please see below:

A healthy diet

There are five main food groups and a healthy diet comprises a mix of them:

Protein foods – such as meat, fish, eggs, beans – include 2-3 60-90g (2-3oz) portions per day. You must be particularly careful to chew meat, chicken and fish thoroughly before you swallow – the recommended bite size is the size of a 20p piece. Eat the protein part of your meal first.

Milk and dairy – choose low-fat cheese and limit amount to 30-60g (1-2 oz). Choose skimmed milk and low fat yogurt varieties.

Fruit and vegetables – try to have 4-5 portions per day. A small glassful of unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice counts as one portion.

Carbohydrates – bread, potatoes and cereals. One small portion of 60-90g (2-3oz) at each meal will be fine.

Fatty and sugary foods – use a small amount of olive oil for cooking and replace puddings with a low fat yoghurt or stewed fruit. As mentioned before, beware of the soft calorie-laden foods such as chocolate, sweets or ice cream (see section on dumping syndrome).

Fluids

Choose non-carbonated fluids. Avoid diet and/or regular fizzy drinks. These make you feel uncomfortable and the gas produced by these can stretch the pouch.

Your best choices for fluids are water (try squeezing some lemon into water), artificially sweetened, non-carbonated flavoured waters, coffee or tea, herbal teas, clear soups, and diluted 100 percent unsweetened fruit juices.

Read labels carefully to be sure your healthy sounding drinks do not contain lots of calories.

Do not forget that alcoholic drinks can be high in calories, so moderate your intake.

Aim for 10 glasses of fluid a day.


Meal ideas for normal diet:

Breakfast
Coffee or tea or 200ml skimmed milk or 200ml vegetable or fruit juice
1 slice brown bread or roll (toasted) or 50g breakfast cereal
10g butter/margarine or 20g low fat spread
1 portion jam, honey or low fat cheese spread or 50g lean meat or 1 egg

Lunch
50g poached fish or 50g meat or 50-75g chicken/ Quorn/ tofu-based product
1 tablespoon risotto or rice or 1 tablespoon mashed potato or 1 small boiled potato 1 peeled grilled tomato or 2 tsp broccoli or carrots or a small mixed salad

Evening meal

100g boiled spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese and 1 peeled grilled tomato
Or 3 small slices of low-fat cheese, 1 slice brown bread and a small, non leafy, mixed salad (tomato, cucumber)

Or 1 tablespoon tuna or egg salad with diced pickled vegetables, 1 slice brown bread Or 50g baked potato with cheese and ham with1 tablespoon of tomato salad

Steps to success:

Limit portion sizes for meals to a side plate or about half of a normal portion. Using measuring tools such as food scales to check your portion sizes can help initially. Eat the protein part of your meal first followed by the carbohydrate and the vegetables. Do not eat more for fear of getting hungry later. Remember that it will take time to get used to what your smaller portion looks like. Eat slowly and if you do get hungry later on have a ready-prepared snack such as a piece of fruit or a low-calorie yoghurt.

Stop eating as soon as you are no longer hungry. You have to listen to your body’s feeling of satisfaction and fullness; otherwise there is a great risk of you stretching the pouch.

Eat slowly, taking 20-30 minutes to complete your meal. Most obese people are used to rushing their meals and, as there is a time delay from stretching the wall of your stomach and it telling your brain you are full, you need to be careful with this one. Try placing your knife and fork down between mouthfuls.

Chew foods thoroughly, aiming for 15-20 chews per mouthful. Swallow the food once you have achieved a smooth puree consistency in the mouth. Take tiny bites (cut meat up to the size of a pencil-top rubber) and chew each piece 10–25 times. Stop eating after about 20 minutes and if you are hungry again a few minutes later have a little more.

Eat three meals per day –You should be satisfied eating three meals a day without getting hungry in between meals. Beware of developing 'grazing' eating patterns of small snacks throughout the day.

Eat healthy, solid food –Many soft foods are high in fat or carbohydrates and as a consequence you may be taking more calories than you should and your weight loss will slow down or stop. Choose solid foods without lots of sauce (e.g. small meal of chicken and vegetables) and you will eat less overall and stay full for longer.

Do not drink while eating as you could feel full too soon before you have eaten the right amount of food. So avoid fluids for half an hour before your meals and for one hour afterwards.

Do not eat or graze between meals as this will slow down the weight loss. You should not need to eat between meals because of hunger if you are eating three sensible meals per day.

Only eat good quality nutritious food (see above).

All drinks should be zero calories – Calorie laden drinks, including alcohol, will simply add calories to your daily intake. Women need calcium and this can be obtained from skimmed milk. You should avoid juice, squashes, milkshakes and. fizzy drinks (the gas can also cause considerable pain), Drink adequate fluid between meals as mentioned before.

How much exercise should I do?

It is recommended that adults should aim to be active daily. Over a week, activity should add up to at least 150 minutes (2½ hours) of moderate intensity activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more. One way to approach this is to do 30 minutes on at least 5 days a week. Alternatively, comparable benefits can be achieved through 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity spread across the week or combinations of moderate and vigorous intensity activity.

I'm using this as a guide but still finding it difficult to eat much (better since I last posted to you) and I struggle to do any exercise (except long walks) because I feel so tired! My hair is thinning so badly as well but I know it will be worth it in the end! [emoji4]

Could it be possible you're trading some fat loss for muscle gain, netting out at less weight loss but better fitness?