15 months post op HELP

[123mollie 13]

Hey all! I’m 15 months post op vsg. Starting weight was 248 (5’4” 29 yr old female) and current weight is 175. I’m still working SO HARD to get to goal (155) but I’m SO STUCK.

I religiously track and weigh my food. Literally have tracked it for 552 days in a row. I drink at LEAST 64 oz of Water every day. Exercise 3-5 days a week for at least 30 mins.

WHY have I been teetering up and down the same 5 pounds for months?! I realize my “honeymoon” phase is over.. but I’m determined to hit goal. What can I do?! 20 pounds seems SO easy but my body is NOT cooperating. I do suffer from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis— but my numbers are all “in range”. I’m not giving up.. but dear lord! Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks! — Mollie

[AZhiker 2,251]

Check out the intermittent fasting threads. IF is a very powerful tool. It took my last 15 pounds off lickety-split. There are several ways to do it. Probably the easiest is to limit the hours in which you eat. Skip Breakfast. Eat from noon until 6 or 8 pm. This means you are fasting for 16-18 hours each day. This puts you into a fat burning mode because the insulin levels are low for most of the day. After a few days, you will feel great and will not even miss breakfast.

Try to limit your snacking. Every time you eat something, insulin goes up and the calories go into fat storage. Insulin = fat. That is the simplest way to explain it.

Another IT technique is ADF (alternate day fasting). You limit your calories on 2 or more days during the week (do not have to be consecutive). Limit to 400-500 only. The eat regularly on the other days. This sort of throws a curve ball at your metabolism and can be very effective.

A third way is to do a 24 hour fast once a week. Skip breakfast and lunch one day and don't eat until dinner time the next day.

You can use any of these tools or combine them. Some folks use all three.

[New&Improved 1,780]

Also maybe look at your Protein Intake and your carbs intake

[Saxons 71]

I haven't got any insights, but feel your pain. I was 265lbs (51 year old female 5'9"), and I am stuck on 193. Goal is 175,but I just can't budge. It's easy to say watch your caloric intake, no snacking etc etc. If we were all good at that, we wouldn't have needed surgery in the first place!

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

9 hours ago, 123mollie said:

Hey all! I’m 15 months post op vsg. Starting weight was 248 (5’4” 29 yr old female) and current weight is 175. I’m still working SO HARD to get to goal (155) but I’m SO STUCK.

I religiously track and weigh my food. Literally have tracked it for 552 days in a row. I drink at LEAST 64 oz of Water every day. Exercise 3-5 days a week for at least 30 mins.

WHY have I been teetering up and down the same 5 pounds for months?! I realize my “honeymoon” phase is over.. but I’m determined to hit goal. What can I do?! 20 pounds seems SO easy but my body is NOT cooperating. I do suffer from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis— but my numbers are all “in range”. I’m not giving up.. but dear lord! Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks! — Mollie

I can relate. Years out, the calorie range that once worked for me changed. I was frustrated. I have no experience with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Could it be a stall or eating maintenance calories?

Some options to try. Log your food and dial your calories back by 100. If you are doing the same workout repeatedly, try different types of exercises every other day.

Wishing you the best,

Jennifer

[S@ssen@ch 745]

I was stuck, gaining and losing the same 3 or 4 pounds for about 3 months. I already did a sort of intermittent fasting for other medical reasons, so I started taking a hard look at what I was/was not doing. I started with faithfully logging my intake. I had gotten lazy and fallen into some bad habits. While that was helpful and all, I think what made the difference is that I changed up my exercise routine. About a month ago, I started doing a brief yoga and stretching set every morning. We're talking 10 minutes. That's it! I've lost about a pound a week since then, which I'm VERY happy with. Bonus: it has miraculously given me more energy and focus. It has also improved my flexibility and strength.

The Hashimoto's is going to make it harder for you to lose weight and keep it off, regardless of your labs being within normal limits. Unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast. That doesn't mean it's impossible, just harder.

Tip: while humans like routines, the body easily adapts to our routines and will try to "equalize" itself to whatever set "normal" it has decided upon. Keep your body's natural processes on its toes. Change up your routine, either diet or exercise, every so often.

[123mollie 13]

Thank you everyone!! I have looked into fasting several times and thought I’d like to try it! You’ve convinced me to give it a go! Hope it’s the thing my body needs to kick the last 20 pounds!!!

[AZhiker 2,251]

2 hours ago, 123mollie said:

Thank you everyone!! I have looked into fasting several times and thought I’d like to try it! You’ve convinced me to give it a go! Hope it’s the thing my body needs to kick the last 20 pounds!!!

It is the INTERMITTANT fasting that kicks starts the metabolism - not just sustained, extreme caloric restriction. That could actually do the opposite.

[Serengirl 176]

On 10/21/2019 at 9:43 PM, AZhiker said:

It is the INTERMITTANT fasting that kicks starts the metabolism - not just sustained, extreme caloric restriction. That could actually do the opposite.

So do think its better to try to eat higher calories in a shower time window nd then fast the rest of the time? How far out were you when you tried IF AZhiker.

[AZhiker 2,251]

At least 6 months out, because the focus initally has to be on getting the nutrition in. By 6 months, I was very close to goal, but just couldn't budge the last 10-15 pounds. I think your volume capacity will determine what kind of eating window to use. If you can only eat a small amount at a time, you will not be able to get all your calories into a small window. From what I've read, for the greatest effect, the fasting period needs to be at LEAST 12 hours. 8 hours is better. Some people only eat one meal per day, which is fine if you can consume that much food all at once.

[Cheeseburgh 3,075]

I had surgery 8/18 -14 months post op.

Bad news:
The only thing that worked for me was working out at a gym 5-7 days a week towards the end. I did that for 3 months and lost the final 25-30. It was really hard but I was determined to get there. I lost weight slower and it was frustrating at times. My calories were in the 800 range.

Good news:

I don’t have to workout with that frequency to maintain so far, I just stay really active. I’m going to get back into a routine of 3 days a week because I know it will help in the long run.

You can lose weight without exercise but you can’t keep it off without it.

I wish it wasn’t true!

Edited October 24, 2019 by Cheeseburgh