I hate talking about (or even hearing people complaining about) weight loss stalls or plateaus. Know that I am not a complainer, and I understand and appreciate that there will be stalls along the journey. However, mine have come early, and I'm pissed.

About me: Male, HW: 270, SW: 245, CW: 222, Surgery Date: 6/28/17. I'm 1 month and 20 days out. The scale has been stuck for a week. I exercise 4-5 days a week, eat trace amounts of sugar/carbs. I'm eating less than 1000 calories a day, and burning an excess 400 calories when I work out. Working out = pure cardio (walking and jogging).

I have set goals for myself to be under 200 lbs by October 31. At this rate, I'm getting a little depressed about it. And I know stalls are most likely to happen in month 3.

Any advice or suggestions on how to break the stall? Should I eat more (good) calories?

Stalls are quite common for sleeve patients. So much so that they even coined the phrase EMBRACE THE STALL. The best advise is to just continue to follow the meal plan you were given. I had RNY gastric bypass and my weight loss leveled off at 7 months and I transitioned naturally into the Maintenance phase. Many sleeve patients do not transition to Maintenance until after 2 years.

You've lost 23 pounds in a little less than 2 months post-op. That's a really good pace. I've learned that while you need to have goals (and mini-goals), you can't hold too tight to dates on a calendar for certain milestones. The body is just going to do what it is going to do. And stalls have been, in my experience, more frequent than periods of loss.

Everything about this journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Continue to keep to your plan and the weight will come off in its own time.

Good luck!

1 hour ago, bcl1628 said:

I hate talking about (or even hearing people complaining about) weight loss stalls or plateaus. Know that I am not a complainer, and I understand and appreciate that there will be stalls along the journey. However, mine have come early, and I'm pissed.

About me: Male, HW: 270, SW: 245, CW: 222, Surgery Date: 6/28/17. I'm 1 month and 20 days out. The scale has been stuck for a week. I exercise 4-5 days a week, eat trace amounts of sugar/carbs. I'm eating less than 1000 calories a day, and burning an excess 400 calories when I work out. Working out = pure cardio (walking and jogging).

I have set goals for myself to be under 200 lbs by October 31. At this rate, I'm getting a little depressed about it. And I know stalls are most likely to happen in month 3.

Any advice or suggestions on how to break the stall? Should I eat more (good) calories?

you realize your surgery-day weight is like 25lbs off from my GOAL WEIGHT, right?

in other words, you are a lightweight, and still losing about 15lbs/month pace. when you see people on here dropping 20-30lbs a month after surgery, those are typically young white males who started at like 400lbs (btw - i'm not being racist, or misogynist, or ageist. the fact is, surgery works worse for the older, the black, and the ladies). stop comparing yourself to that. for your low beginning weight, you are losing weight very very rapidly.

stalls are normal, healthy, and necessary. just chill. DON'T ramp up exercise any more than you are. or drop your calories. that will be counter-productive. your body will probably start to conserve even more. keep doing exactly as you have been and wait it out.

btw - "goals", like the 200lb by Oct 31 one you set, are stupid. your body couldn't know or care less about what arbitrary number you mind has come up with. so stop that noise too. it's like you are trying to come up with a way to be unhappy. when you should be over the moon right now. practice acceptance.

19 minutes ago, blizair09 said:

The body is just going to do what it is going to do.

exactamundo.

Dr. Weiner in one of his excellent videos says that in the first year, 90% of weight loss is pre-determined by genetics. only 10% is determined by environment (i.e. what you do/eat). slowly over the years, that changes, so that by year 5 and on, it's the opposite - your weight is determined 90% by what you do and only 10% by genetics.

in other words, you could totally eat like crap the first year, not exercise at all, and you'll still get 90% of the results you would if you did everything perfectly right.

the surgery works. you WILL lose the weight your body is going to lose, no matter what. success or failure comes after the initial loss.

I'm just going to trust the process. I've been stuck at 203 for over two weeks now. Monday I weighed in at 201.7 but then it went back up. I've been stuck at 203 but people have noticed I look slimmer. I'm just telling myself that even though the scale isn't going down and it's been weeks, it doesn't mean my body isn't changing. I'm trying to up my protein and liquids and hopefully this stall will break soon. I know i'm on the "lighter weight" side so it isn't going to come off as quickly but man...over 2 weeks of this stall...it's a little hard to deal with and stressful and I'm getting nervous that I might not lose anymore weight but I'm just keeping hope that this stall will break soon enough.

I stopped weighting myself. I figure I'll get my weight at the doctors when I habe my 3 mos visit them only weigh once a month. There's to much up and down for me to weigh frequently. I think it'll just frustrate me if I keep weighing frequently.

look at it this way, newly bariatrisized people (myself included)........ we will lose the weight. it might be 6 months, it might be 12 months, it might be 18 months. but the weight WILL come off. and if it doesn't? congrats, you will be the one person that gastric bypass doesn't work for and they'll study you in Geneva for the rest of your days and you'll be famous in all the scientific literature.

me? i'm gonna go find a new hobby. and try to get used to a new life of NOT obsessing about my weight all the time. after all, that's a big reason i had the surgery.

You are lucky you went that long without a stall. I personally "stall" 2 weeks out of every month. A stall is basically not seeing the scale go down. I promise, your body is not stalling, it is just busy dealing with the changes and reorganizing, and will show the pounds lost when it is good and ready.

Even though we frequently hear people say that the weight will come off regardless of what you do, it's not really true. If you are consuming 2000+ calories, you won't experience much, if any loss. Most of us just can't consume that many.

We don't need to do MUCH, but we do need to eat fewer calories.

@Goggyween was essentially force-fed calories. Hopefully Goggy can weigh in here..

2 hours ago, Berry78 said:

Even though we frequently hear people say that the weight will come off regardless of what you do, it's not really true. If you are consuming 2000+ calories, you won't experience much, if any loss. Most of us just can't consume that many.

We don't need to do MUCH, but we do need to eat fewer calories.

@Goggyween was essentially force-fed calories. Hopefully Goggy can weigh in here..

And I'll add on that if you don't foster the good eating habits that are necessary to sustain a major loss, you'll just gain much (if not all) of it back anyway. There are stories on this site of people that have done that every. single. day.

The way I eat was made a habit before I even had the surgery. And at almost 17 months after I started the six month pre-op diet, I still eat the same way (really the same exact things every day).

One of the crazy things that can happen during a Stall (Absolutely my experience Each time) is that your body will shrink, even if the scale is frozen. I had a 5-week stall happen at about 4 months, but dropped 2 pant sizes over that time. As my loss has naturally slowed down, I continue to lose inches (waistline moved from a 52 in September, 2015 to a 36 as of August of 2017).

Embrace the Stall, for sure. Also - Look for your Other Victories along the way.

God Bless

^^^ Al Roker might have REPEATED that quote. but i assure you he didn't invent it.

now... "i pooped my pants"... that is attributable to Al Roker.

I will make a note on the Al Roker quote - that is simply where I first heard it. BTW "I pooped my pants" can only be attributed to Al if you include the rest of the sentence - "I pooped my pants.....in the White House" - Al Roker

do not defend Al Roker. he is not one of us.

Stalls are frustrating. Slower than anticipated weight loss is frustrating. Patience takes a lot of work!

I'm 12 weeks out and "only" down 32 lbs. I just knew because I was doing so well pre op that I would have a lot faster weight loss post op. 10+ pounds a month is great but I had expectations of greater loss in these first few months.
I'm down 83 lbs total in the 9 months since I met with my surgeon. If I keep up at 10 lbs a month that is 113 lbs lost in a year. That would be awesome!
You are not alone with the frustration.
I take joy in getting rid of clothes that don't fit and buying "new" clothes (goodwill and eBay mostly). I get very excited about the non Scale victories like seatbelts fitting and running up a flight of stairs. Heck even doing lunges at gym with my trainer gets me excited (they are so much easier! Still a challenge but I really struggled 50 lbs ago!)
Good luck and keep at it.

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