the slippery slope and excessive rate of loss

[mousecat88 2,279]

Saw my primary care today. She is concerned that I've lost 15lbs in 5 weeks. My bariatric surgeon's office said I should be at 7-10lbs loss every 4 weeks at this point, so I'm not TOO much higher. She is concerned I am not eating enough Protein so she ran my labs a month early. Will know Monday. I lost 4lbs this week alone. I am 3lbs from goal weight and actually concerned I am losing too fast and will be underweight or just look weird. I have an appointment with my dieitian in October to work out a meal plan to maintain. My trainer wants me to stop cycling, but I am like addicted to it. He doesn't think my muscles are as defined as they should be because I should get 120g a day with the stuff I do, which is physically impossible with my tummy. I would need to add in a shake and it would just be a lot to stomach - literally. I am at about 700 cals a day at this point, so at a large deficit. But I am full. I can't eat more. Odd to be in this conundrum. I'm not going to cut back exercise until I see the dieitian. If I lose another 15 by then, then I know I have a serious issue because I will be 128 and look WEIRD. I FEEL good. I don't feel weak or tired. I feel functional and healthy.

I'm not mentally ready to stop exercise or to try some carbs that may not make me sick. It is such a slippery slope. I don't *think* I'll be the type to give into cravings and regain... but I am scared to risk it. Carbs were my vice and I conquered my cravings. I don't want them to return, so I keep them away from me. I also have a very sensitive tummy. BUT I also don't want to be a weird stick figure, either. I am still healthy-appearing now, but another 15lbs will be no bueno. Another 10 is pushing it. And this is without the skin removal which will shrink me much more.

Kinda actually worried. How does this stop. Where is the equilibrium. I know I will be at GW by Monday. =/ I should be happy, but I am worried because it isn't slowing down. I am hoping it levels out over the next month and you don't see that ticker drop dramatically as it has been lately.

I feel like I got in this routine and it has been so successful, but now it is time to switch it up and that is scary. I don't want to fail so bad that I am failing in a new, unexpected way.

Sorry for the ramble.

TLDR I can't stop losing and it's becoming excessive. The rate has actually increased lately, rather than slowed.

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[mousecat88 2,279]

so totally random but my labs just posted for my Protein and they are significantly higher than my 6 month labs and totally within normal range so HOLLLLA. that's one less thing to stress over!

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[Healthy_life2 8,319]

2 hours ago, mousecat88 said:

Saw my primary care today. She is concerned that I've lost 15lbs in 5 weeks. My bariatric surgeon's office said I should be at 7-10lbs loss every 4 weeks at this point, so I'm not TOO much higher. She is concerned I am not eating enough Protein so she ran my labs a month early. Will know Monday. I lost 4lbs this week alone. I am 3lbs from goal weight and actually concerned I am losing too fast and will be underweight or just look weird. I have an appointment with my dieitian in October to work out a meal plan to maintain. My trainer wants me to stop cycling, but I am like addicted to it. He doesn't think my muscles are as defined as they should be because I should get 120g a day with the stuff I do, which is physically impossible with my tummy. I would need to add in a shake and it would just be a lot to stomach - literally. I am at about 700 cals a day at this point, so at a large deficit. But I am full. I can't eat more. Odd to be in this conundrum. I'm not going to cut back exercise until I see the dieitian. If I lose another 15 by then, then I know I have a serious issue because I will be 128 and look WEIRD. I FEEL good. I don't feel weak or tired. I feel functional and healthy.

I'm not mentally ready to stop exercise or to try some carbs that may not make me sick. It is such a slippery slope. I don't *think* I'll be the type to give into cravings and regain... but I am scared to risk it. Carbs were my vice and I conquered my cravings. I don't want them to return, so I keep them away from me. I also have a very sensitive tummy. BUT I also don't want to be a weird stick figure, either. I am still healthy-appearing now, but another 15lbs will be no bueno. Another 10 is pushing it. And this is without the skin removal which will shrink me much more.

Kinda actually worried. How does this stop. Where is the equilibrium. I know I will be at GW by Monday. =/ I should be happy, but I am worried because it isn't slowing down. I am hoping it levels out over the next month and you don't see that ticker drop dramatically as it has been lately.

I feel like I got in this routine and it has been so successful, but now it is time to switch it up and that is scary. I don't want to fail so bad that I am failing in a new, unexpected way.

Sorry for the ramble.

TLDR I can't stop losing and it's becoming excessive. The rate has actually increased lately, rather than slowed.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using BariatricPal mobile app

You have done phenomenal.

The only way to slow/stop your weight loss is to eat your maintaining food plan (Higher calories and adding more carbs) Switching to maintenance mode is not easy.

Time to reassess what you are doing. Work on your head space to transition into maintenance mode. Your health is dependent on changing your diet to support your fitness level. Don’t burn muscle and undo all the work you put in. Many of us had to graze to get out maintenance plan calories or fuel for our fitness level. Your restriction will become less over time. It gets easier.

Finding your balance takes time. You can exercise less as you learn to increase your calories. If you choose to be athletic you may want to hire a sports medicine dietitian. You have wiggle room to work your way into maintaining. 5’3” your healthy BMI zone is 105lbs to 141lbs. Choose a weight that you feel healthy at to maintain.

Join us in the maintenance thread - Link below.

https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/425802-the-maintenance-thread/

[FluffyChix 17,409]

Ok, so reality check time.

You are 143lbs and 5'3". You could be built like a brick sh*thouse. And you still are NOT in danger of being dangerously underweight. You are at the VERY high end of normal. So take a deep breath. And don't stress.

Here's the standard chart. But you may not be built standard.

Now that we're all breathing and know there isn't any reason for anxiety...congrats! That was a very FAST trip. Your PCP is an alarmist--so is your surgeon. Average weight loss per week is 2-4lbs. Yes, it does usually slow down. But you are building muscle and tearing it down at a very fast pace. Your strength training builds muscle and your biking tears it off of you.

Now...more reality...with the amount of exercise you do, I've no idea how you live on only 700cals/day. I don't care if that's weight loss or some kind of monkey butt magical maintenance. You need more calories.

You have 3 macros and only 3 macros to choose from:

Protein - no one needs (or few need) 120+ grams of protein per day unless you are in that 1% of 1% elite athlete zone.

Carbs - you probably are metabolically flexible at this point, and could handle 50-100g per day. But I understand fearing the carb monster. It is real! And carbs (non-veggie sources) are a slippery slope trigger for many.

Fats - here is where a major source of calories reside. Some of us can't do super high fat meals. We get nauseated. But when you suppress your carbs, the % of fat naturally goes up relative to everything else. It doesn't mean you're eating gobs of fat. You could probably easily up your fats to become 65-75% of your diet. (AKA keto). Healthy fats and easy sources for fat:

avocado

olives

nuts

nut butters

olive oil

butter

coconut oil

palm kernel oil

lard, tallow

Omega 3 oils

These foods have the smallest volume footprint but pack in the calories and are nutritionally dense.

I would personally start by upping your calorie load by 200 cals per day. You can pretty quickly get up to 1400-1600 cals and then stop and see where you are. You may continue to lose quickly. Your metabolism is amped up. But for most of us, we start slowing down in the last 20 lbs. And at 5'3" and 120lbs, you would STILL only be smack in the middle of normal and healthy. So technically you "aren't on your last 20lbs".

Congrats. You are a beast!

[mousecat88 2,279]

Thanks, Fluffy. I know the BMI chart has a lot of wiggle room, but I have dem hips and a natural hourglass figure. About 135 is as low as I can go without looking too thin, even if lower is still considered "healthy". I need to get over my mental block against carbs. My dietitian had said 90g of Protein for exercise, but my trainer wants me at 120g. I am going to start with something innocuous like trying to sip a Protein Shake throughout the day. That'll add those 200 calories and another 23g of protein. Really it's a mental game with myself to accept foods I was afraid of and KNOW I am a different person and won't fall back into the same habits.

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[mousecat88 2,279]

... maybe not so much hourglass anymore because RIP BOOBS lmao

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[Healthy_life2 8,319]

12 minutes ago, mousecat88 said:

... maybe not so much hourglass anymore because RIP BOOBS lmao

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Maintain at a weight that saves your BOOBS. *smile* We understand your fears. Trust yourself. Look at all you accomplished. You know you are the type of person to keep your weight in check long term.

[2Bsmaller18 435]

I added carbs to slow weight loss down but purposely choose food that is not something I used to like or that was super tempting. So I will eat a half to one sheet of a plain graham cracker. I knew I needed the carbs and a little more Fiber. If I ate a bagel I think that would be a slippery slope for me. I also will occasionally eat a 1/4 cup of Cereal on top of yogurt. It was 85 calories (granola type of cereal). That is besides adding nuts and nut butters, cooking my egg in olive oil, adding butter to veggies etc. I can't increase calories with all healthy foods yet. I still have too much restriction.

I too can still lose 15 lbs on the chart and be in the normal BMI but i think for me I would look too sickly. A month ago I was still loosing 2-3 # per week was too quick and was concerned that in 1-2 months I would be getting too close to getting underweight. Besides we are carrying extra skin that the BMI chart doesn't accommodate for so I don't think 115 on me vs someone who has always been thin looks the same. I am more muscular too.

Mentally its is frustrating since if I lose 2 pounds over a few days I get panicked that its too fast and I am not in control of it but if I gain 1to 2 pounds then the fear of rebounding creeps in. I have to remind myself that all day long the scale will jump a few pounds but look back at the trend over the last few weeks. Now that I have been able to bounce around and only lost 3 pounds in the past month I feel more in control.

I had a thought today that it was like when I was first pregnant; it consumed every thought all day long. Then you kind of get over the newness of it. I think that's mentally where I am. I think it will take awhile of being at a stable weight to forget that we just went thru this major life changing surgery.

[CoramDeo 39]

What surgery did you have?