VERY SLOW WEIGHT LOSS PLEASE HELP

[kbrookings 0]

Before surgery I could eat extremely healthy and strict and lose very quickly (like 5 lbs a week); so why after this surgery am I not losing more than maybe 2 lbs a week? It is so frustrating knowing I could be losing more WITHOUT the surgery. Am I not taking in enough calories? My dietitian says to keep my calories closer to the 300 mark which isn't helping, plus I HAVE been. Weight loss was decent, but now like 1 lb a week.

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT WORKS FOR THOSE WHO ARE 6-7 WEEKS POST SURGERY!!! THANK YOU!!!

[Katiebal_Lecter 28]

I wish I had answers for you (and me). Everyone’s dietitian seems to give them different requirements. I’m 5 months post op and am losing on average three pounds a MONTH. I’ve lost 35 pounds since surgery and 45 overall. It is so frustrating and discouraging, I hear you there.

300 calories seems like an extremely low amount and could be harmful, but I’m not a dietitian...

I guess I’m just writing to let you know you’re not alone in the struggle...

[kbrookings 0]

Thank you! Hard to hear how people are losing so much. I know it is about being healthy, but like I said, I could lose more withOUT surgery; so frustrating. Just wish I knew if I should exercise more, so then intake more, or what?

[Tracyringo 503]

Your weight loss will be consistent. Follow your plan. The weight loss phase was the worst for me because it was slower then everyone else around me. I had to keep reminding myself it wasnt a race but my journey which would not be like everyone else. You will lose all the weight you want to lose if you stick to the plan and you will make it by your year kbrookings.

[catwoman7 10,948]

re: 5 lbs a week - that's pretty common for month #1, but beyond the first month, no. I know people on shows like "My 600 lb Life" lose can lose a ton of weight really quickly, but they start out at much higher BMI's than the average WLS patient.

It seems like most of us lose in the 15-25 lb range the first month, and then maybe 10-12 (maybe 15 for some) lbs for a few months - then it drops again...and then drops again....until it finally stops. So at 2 lbs a week at seven weeks out, you're a little under that, but not by much. If you're following your clinic's plan (and it sounds like you are), that's about the only thing you have control over (other than activity level - which you also have control over). The other things that affect your rate of weight loss (age, gender, genetics, metabolic rate, starting BMI, your body composition (people with muscular bodies burn more calories)) you really don't have much - if any - control over. So do what you can - i.e, follow your plan and try to be active. As long as you're trending downward, you're good.

you're also not starting at as high a BMI as some of us. I started out at 373 lbs. I lost 16 lbs the first month, then 10-12 lbs a month until month 6 or 7, then 5-8 lbs a month until I got to about the year mark, then it dropped again. By the end, I was eking out maybe 2 lbs a month.

here's the difference I found (surgery vs. no surgery). My rate of weight loss was about the same. The difference was, before surgery, I'd drop about 50 lbs (and that was on my more successful attempts - most of the time it was only 20 lbs), then I'd hit a brick wall, and then my weight gradually went back up 'til I was back at square one. If not higher. That didn't happen this time. I kept going. And I didn't put it back on.

[kbrookings 0]

Thank you. I know I need to be patient. Just wondering what others are doing. Weights and really exercising? Just walking? Maybe I should up my calories and work out? I dont know...

Thank you so much for the reply.

[catwoman7 10,948]

Just now, kbrookings said:

Thank you. I know I need to be patient. Just wondering what others are doing. Weights and really exercising? Just walking? Maybe I should up my calories and work out? I dont know...

Thank you so much for the reply.

walking is fine. A lot of people do that - especially early out.

[Pkump 46]

I am losing slow also, but it is giving me time to get in better shape.

[Hop_Scotch 1,627]

Those 5lb in the first week of a heavily restricted diet are likely to be 4lb of Fluid loss.

You've already lost any fluid retention so you won't see any of those big fluid losses. At your current weight of 216lb you are not going to be losing 5lb a week on an ongoing basis, it isn't sustainable.

2lb a week is great though it may not seem like it to you.