Surgery date: 05 June 2020

Starting Weight: 199 LBS

Current: 184 LBS

Gender: F

Hey all, I just have a question regarding weight loss after post op. I'm wondering if you guys hit a plateau really fast? I just barely had my surgery and I've now been stuck at 184 the last week. It has me really frustrated and sad because I'm still in the liquid phase and should be losing more. I can only think the issue is my liquids. I've noticed that I don't have to urinate but maybe 3 times a day. And it just feels like my body is holding onto the water. I drink about 3000 ml a day so far but even when I drink more it doesn't seem to help? Anyone have this issue of being stuck already at the weight after 1 week? Thanks

Edited June 16, 20206 yr by PrairieDogs

Your body is still healing, and most people gain wait during their hospital stay due to the IV fluids, so I really wouldn't worry quite yet. I know its hard but I would suggest not weighing yourself for a week or two and focusing on your Water and Protein goals and the weight will come off, I promise! Best of luck!

Sent from my Alcatel_5008R using BariatricPal mobile app

Edit: I would also contact your surgeon about what you described to be water retention, always best to be safe

I would guess that about 99% of us have our first stall during the first month or so after surgery. It's usually the third week, but not always. Mine was weeks 2 and 3. My weight loss started up again week 4, and I dropped like 6-8 lbs within a couple of days. To save you the time, I did a search on the three week stall for you. It's VERY well-known among WLS patients. A lot of clinics even warn you about it beforehand (mine does - so I knew what it was when it happened to me). Anyway, here are all the posts about it. Over 17,500 of them:

https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=three week stall

p.s. as the above poster said, it could just be water retention, too. The IV fluids they give you in the hospital have a lot of sodium in them, and a lot of people are salt sensitive. Although usually that's gone by the end of the first week.

Edited June 16, 20206 yr by catwoman7

I've stayed at 175lbs (down from 192) for over 2 weeks now...

It is frustrating, but I have googled and found a lot of people have stalls in the first few weeks as your body is adjusting. I will say - this is why I had the surgery. Earlier in the year - I dieted and got down to 178 and stalled for 10 days or so and finally gave up. So that keeps creeping in the back of my mind. I am trying to stay positive though.

12 minutes ago, Lanie992 said:

I've stayed at 175lbs (down from 192) for over 2 weeks now...

It is frustrating, but I have googled and found a lot of people have stalls in the first few weeks as your body is adjusting. I will say - this is why I had the surgery. Earlier in the year - I dieted and got down to 178 and stalled for 10 days or so and finally gave up. So that keeps creeping in the back of my mind. I am trying to stay positive though.

don't give up - there was one vet on this or some other forum (it's been awhile...) whose first stall lasted 3.5 weeks!

Ok thanks guys that makes me feel a lot better. I'm going to click all the links so I appreciate it. That makes sense with the salt since the ivs I had and I've been doing diet poweraids so im going back to water then. I just was upset because I've lost weight faster than this before when I was sick and throwing up daily. I just gotta be patient I guess. And I agree I shouldn't weigh every day it just makes me lose my mind at this point.

6 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

don't give up - there was one vet on this or some other forum (it's been awhile...) whose first stall lasted 3.5 weeks!

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I clicked your link with threads of other people who stalled so that helped a lot. I tried to diet it all off on my own and was able to get to a similar weight through dieting and just stalled out, so I gave up on doing it the natural way... and went for surgery... (after I gave up on the dieting and got back up to 192 lbs.)

I figure the stall is a temporary thing since my calorie intake is so low and I've given up carbs and sugar ---even when I was dieting (before surgery) - I was never able to give those things up.

I am doing everything by the book. No cheating. So things have to change soon. I go to the doctor tomorrow for my 2nd post op appt... I will see what he says since I haven't lost any weight since he last saw me.

One good thing about loosing slowly is supposedly you don't get as much saggy / extra skin, so that is a positive.

Edited June 16, 20206 yr by Lanie992

Stalls are very common & this is just the first of several you will experience. Some last a week others a couple of weeks. My longest, just before I hit goal, lasted almost three. They are frustrating but keep your spirits up. You will start losing again.

I always thought of the stalls as my body needing to take a breath to come to terms with my weight loss to that stage. Remember your body is going through some big changes: surgery, reduced food intake, a change of diet & removal of foods your body was used to/dependent upon (sugars, fats, caffeine, alcohol, carbs, etc.), plus a increase to your physical activity.

Some veterans will suggest you adjust your diet to start the weight loss again but I just kept to my plan & it started again.

I suggest you contact your medical team about your infrequent urination & possible fluid retention sooner rather than later just in case something else isn’t going on.

Good luck.

Be patient, trust the process--the scale WILL start moving again. The stalls are VERY frustrating but hang in there as your body adjusts to it's "new normal" (God I hate that phrase related to covid-19 but it's true here) and they will be temporary.

15 hours ago, Lanie992 said:

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I clicked your link with threads of other people who stalled so that helped a lot. I tried to diet it all off on my own and was able to get to a similar weight through dieting and just stalled out, so I gave up on doing it the natural way... and went for surgery... (after I gave up on the dieting and got back up to 192 lbs.)

My big stall started at 2 months post-op and lasted for 3.5 weeks. Like you, it was right at the same weight where I had stalled when dieting before surgery. I think it's very, very normal for bodies to have some weight where they tend to get stuck, no matter what method you are using to lose.

It's really hard to not feel anxiety about it. It's going to remind you of all your failed attempts before. But like you say, you're eating much better and much less than you were before, so you'll almost certainly smash through the barrier eventually. My stall ended 2 weeks ago, and I'm now 4 lbs under my lowest weight during the stall.

12 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Stalls are very common & this is just the first of several you will experience. Some last a week others a couple of weeks. My longest, just before I hit goal, lasted almost three. They are frustrating but keep your spirits up. You will start losing again.

I always thought of the stalls as my body needing to take a breath to come to terms with my weight loss to that stage. Remember your body is going through some big changes: surgery, reduced food intake, a change of diet & removal of foods your body was used to/dependent upon (sugars, fats, caffeine, alcohol, carbs, etc.), plus a increase to your physical activity.

Some veterans will suggest you adjust your diet to start the weight loss again but I just kept to my plan & it started again.

I suggest you contact your medical team about your infrequent urination & possible Fluid retention sooner rather than later just in case something else isn’t going on.

Good luck.

Good call on talking to your doctor about the reduced urination. They might need to check some labs to make sure everything is ok.