This train is slowing way down

[Betty1971 383]

Holy cow. I cannot even believe how slow this has gotten to be. My first 65 pounds basically melted off, I did what the dr told me to do and the pounds just came off. I am no longer in a stall, I mean its coming off, but good lord is it ever slow!

I am following my program to the letter. Water, Protein, macros, exercise, sleep and patience but that last one is tough........we went to Arizona the beginning of March and I did not have a scale with me. I was so flipping proud of myself. No alcohol at all, I didn't cheat on garbage food, we hiked ALOT, we swam a lot, I was so excited to get home and get on the scale and I only lost 3 pounds

I don't know how or if its possible to speed anything up, I don't know if this is just how its going to be, at times I am thinking I am just destined to fight the fat the rest of my life!

3 POUNDS IN THREE WEEKS!

[Creekimp13 5,838]

You're under 180 and losing a pound a week. That's terrific progress. Be thrilled with that...seriously. You hit the smaller numbers and it gets HARDER. It's not a sprint. You didn't gain it all in a few months....and your body is gonna fight you as the last of it comes off.

On the plus side....a little more time gives your skin better chances of reshaping with less sag. Patience. I know it's tough, but it's what's necessary.

Hang in there!

[Betty1971 383]

2 minutes ago, Creekimp13 said:

You're under 180 and losing a pound a week. That's terrific progress. Be thrilled with that...seriously. You hit the smaller numbers and it gets HARDER. It's not a sprint. You didn't gain it all in a few months....and your body is gonna fight you as the last of it comes off.

On the plus side....a little more time gives your skin better chances of reshaping with less sag. Patience. I know it's tough, but it's what's necessary.

Hang in there!

Thank you but good golly gosh lord god its hard!!!!! I am just beside myself, I feel like I am killing myself with no results!!!! I know the scale is going down so I do see some progress, just so slow.

I am constantly afraid that I am stop losing at any given time and its the end of its my new normal.....the head games never stop.

[Arabesque 6,565]

So frustrating I know. You were probably told or heard the adage that the more you have to lose the faster you lose at the beginning. The other side of that saying is the closer to goal you are the slower you’ll lose. Seems that ‘s where you are. The initial weight loss rate is so motivating and then this slow down can suck the enthusiasm out of you.

Hate to say it but I think battling weight will always be a monkey on our backs. We’ll just have way better skills, knowledge, tools, etc. to more successfully manage & control it than we ever did before.

You’ve done so well so far don’t give up or let this get you down. You’re still losing & that’s a win.

Good luck.

[Creekimp13 5,838]

I think sometimes people get this idea that when they finally reach the magic number....everything changes. The reality is...nothing changes. You look great, your health is better, but you've still got a lifetime ahead of you where food is always gonna be a concern and where life's stressors can poke those old bad habits and get you in trouble. Reaching the goal is NOT the end of the journey.....so try to relax and prepare for the coming chapters. There are a lot of them. LOL.

Your body is stalling a little cause you've just lost a crap ton of weight and our bodies have dozens of strategies to keep us alive during bad harvests/poor hunting seasons due to a bazillion year of developing evolutionary defense mechanisms against starvation. If your body is convinced you're starving to death...it locks things down even tighter.

As bizarre as this sounds, sometimes you can get a stall to break by eating a few hundred MORE calories than you usually would for a week. Just to get a metabolic shakeup going, add some exercize to eating more. It might get you unstuck.

But honestly....patience is where it's at. You will eventually lose what you want if you're sticking to your program.

Start thinking about where you go from there. What coping mechanisms are you working on putting in place for future rough waters? Where will you turn when food is not the right option? A couple different times I thought I had these bridges licked....and really thought I had everything nailed down fitness wise....and a new challenge showed up.

Not meaning to sound discouraging...I don't feel discouraged and feel more at peace with this whole thing than I ever have....but I'm just letting ya know, there's more to it than just hitting the magic number.

Wishing you the best:)

Edited March 22, 2021 by Creekimp13

[Creekimp13 5,838]

19 minutes ago, Betty1971 said:

the head games never stop.

Nope, they don't. Three years out, been at goal over two years......still dealing with them.

[Betty1971 383]

32 minutes ago, Creekimp13 said:

I think sometimes people get this idea that when they finally reach the magic number....everything changes. The reality is...nothing changes. You look great, your health is better, but you've still got a lifetime ahead of you where food is always gonna be a concern and where life's stressors can poke those old bad habits and get you in trouble. Reaching the goal is NOT the end of the journey.....so try to relax and prepare for the coming chapters. There are a lot of them. LOL.

Your body is stalling a little cause you've just lost a crap ton of weight and our bodies have dozens of strategies to keep us alive during bad harvests/poor hunting seasons due to a bazillion year of developing evolutionary defense mechanisms against starvation. If your body is convinced you're starving to death...it locks things down even tighter.

As bizarre as this sounds, sometimes you can get a stall to break by eating a few hundred MORE calories than you usually would for a week. Just to get a metabolic shakeup going, add some exercize to eating more. It might get you unstuck.

But honestly....patience is where it's at. You will eventually lose what you want if you're sticking to your program.

Start thinking about where you go from there. What coping mechanisms are you working on putting in place for future rough waters? Where will you turn when food is not the right option? A couple different times I thought I had these bridges licked....and really thought I had everything nailed down fitness wise....and a new challenge showed up.

Not meaning to sound discouraging...I don't feel discouraged and feel more at peace with this whole thing than I ever have....but I'm just letting ya know, there's more to it than just hitting the magic number.

Wishing you the best:)

I appreciate you!

Your words are not discouraging, its ENCOURAGING knowing somebody understands how frustrating this is.

You give up your part of yourself (stomach) and FOOD for heavens sake, you take life style change and fitness to a whole new level and you almost get addicted to the results in the beginning so when it slows down reality really is a hard pill to swallow.

[Jaelzion 1,123]

1 hour ago, Betty1971 said:

Thank you but good golly gosh lord god its hard!!!!! I am just beside myself, I feel like I am killing myself with no results!!!! I know the scale is going down so I do see some progress, just so slow.

I am constantly afraid that I am stop losing at any given time and its the end of its my new normal.....the head games never stop.

If it's any comfort, my weight loss slowed down quite a bit too - to the point that other friends and family who had WLS were asking me why I wasn't losing faster. But it just kept going and going. 2 pounds a month until almost two years out, I found myself at a normal BMI and below my original goal. There's a Chinese proverb that says: "Do not fear going forward slowly, fear only to stand still." As long as your weight is trending downward, you're still moving forward. Hugs. 🤗

[Guest]

The closer to goal and lower your bmi, the harder it gets. It has taken me 4 months to loose the last 10 pounds. Partly due to a low bmi (current bmi is 21) but mostly due to deciding to slowly enter the maintenance phase - a more realistic, long term sustainable way of eating. I increased my daily calories and carbs/fats and the weight loss slowed to a trickle. The last several weeks I actually increased both daily calories and macros and was able to loose 4.4 pounds so I'm 0.6 pounds to my goal of 135. I told my nutritionist that thin feels better than a whole cake tastes but not better than a piece of cake once in a while. She agreed, everything in moderation.