1 Month Post Op Weight Loss

[Renee Z 4]

Hello everyone. I'm new till this app but so far love what I'm seeing! I had gastric sleeve surgery on July 17th, just 1 month 3 days ago. My 1st two weeks was amazing regarding my weight loss! I lost 20 lbs! But after that I hit a platue that has lasted 2 weeks and I'd actually gained 2 lbs during that time. I got very discouraged because I was sticking to the recommended diet but couldn't get past the thought that maybe I was just someone who wasn't going to lose the weight. This past week though I began losing again, although it's been extremely slow and nothing compared to the 1st two weeks. I've lost 3 lbs in a week and a half. Although I'm eating right, I'll admit I'm not exercising. I'm sure that's a big part of it. I used to do yoga before gaining this 100 lbs a few years ago and tried the other day but still haven't lost enough weight for my mobility to be where it needs to be to do yoga without it hurting. So I guess for now I should start walking. I just hate this heat! So to avoid it I'll start getting up early in the morning, while it's still cool and before work. I will be honest though....the platue I experienced, and now this very slow weight loss has me very discouraged. At this point I figured I'd have lost enough for it to be dramatically noticeable to others, but that's just not the case.

Sent from my LM-Q720 using BariatricPal mobile app

[catwoman7 10,867]

almost everyone experiences the infamous "three week stall" (the first major stall you hit, was is usually sometime during the first month or so after surgery. It's USUALLY the third week, hence the name). If you do a search of this site of the "three week stall", you will find over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding)). You will likely hit several of these stalls along your journey. When you hit one, just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days - and know that the stall WILL break, and you'll be on your way again.

and yes - weight loss rate falls off a lot after the first few weeks because most of that initial drop is Water. So much depends on things like your starting BMI, gender, age, metabolic rate, etc - but most people seem to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month, and then about 10 lbs month after that. As you get closer to goal, the rate of weight loss decreases even more.

I think a lot of people's expectations are shaped by shows like "My 600 lb Life" and are therefore very disappointed when they lose 15 or 20 lbs the first month - and then 10 lbs a month after that - but you have to keep in mind that the people on those shows start at MUCH higher BMI's than the average WLS patient. You are doing absolutely fine - so stop worrying about it and just enjoy the ride! I lost 16 lbs the first month, and about 10 lbs a month after that (again, dropping off a few months later), and I lost 100% of my excess weight. And I started off at over 300 lbs.

[ms.sss 14,679]

8 hours ago, Renee Z said:

At this point I figured I'd have lost enough for it to be dramatically noticeable to others, but that's just not the case.

You may find others won’t notice for a while (no one outside my immediate family noticed until I lost 50-60 lbs! Lol)

[Arabesque 6,482]

@catwoman7 is absolutely correct. Your rate of loss does slow as you progress so what you’re experiencing is usual. The only difference is some may lose at the higher rate for a little longer some fir a shorter time. Depends upon how much we have to lose & just our individual differences - gender, age, weight loss history, metabolic rate, activity, etc. I wasn’t a big exerciser - just walked on my treadmill. Started off slow & slowly increased to about 20 mins as I felt stronger. Then I struggled with low energy & low blood pressure so I stopped & used resistance bands for a while.

As @ms.sss said you may have to lose more before others notice the loss. It seems the more you have to lose, the more you’ll have to lose for others to notice. A good friend noticed after I lost about 15kg - so about halfway to my goal. I was also wearing a straight line dress that had been a little snug (& pulled across my ass) before surgery but was hanging loosely when she saw me.

[Tony B - NJ 641]

On 8/21/2021 at 1:49 AM, Renee Z said:

Hello everyone. I'm new till this app but so far love what I'm seeing! I had gastric sleeve surgery on July 17th, just 1 month 3 days ago. My 1st two weeks was amazing regarding my weight loss! I lost 20 lbs! But after that I hit a platue that has lasted 2 weeks and I'd actually gained 2 lbs during that time. I got very discouraged because I was sticking to the recommended diet but couldn't get past the thought that maybe I was just someone who wasn't going to lose the weight. This past week though I began losing again, although it's been extremely slow and nothing compared to the 1st two weeks. I've lost 3 lbs in a week and a half. Although I'm eating right, I'll admit I'm not exercising. I'm sure that's a big part of it. I used to do yoga before gaining this 100 lbs a few years ago and tried the other day but still haven't lost enough weight for my mobility to be where it needs to be to do yoga without it hurting. So I guess for now I should start walking. I just hate this heat! So to avoid it I'll start getting up early in the morning, while it's still cool and before work. I will be honest though....the platue I experienced, and now this very slow weight loss has me very discouraged. At this point I figured I'd have lost enough for it to be dramatically noticeable to others, but that's just not the case.

Sent from my LM-Q720 using BariatricPal mobile app

Stick with it. I agree it is hard to get out there in the heat but even if you do 10 minutes 3 times a day it will help

[Renee Z 4]

On 8/21/2021 at 5:03 AM, catwoman7 said:

almost everyone experiences the infamous "three week stall" (the first major stall you hit, was is usually sometime during the first month or so after surgery. It's USUALLY the third week, hence the name). If you do a search of this site of the "three week stall", you will find over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding)). You will likely hit several of these stalls along your journey. When you hit one, just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days - and know that the stall WILL break, and you'll be on your way again.

and yes - weight loss rate falls off a lot after the first few weeks because most of that initial drop is Water. So much depends on things like your starting BMI, gender, age, metabolic rate, etc - but most people seem to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month, and then about 10 lbs month after that. As you get closer to goal, the rate of weight loss decreases even more.

I think a lot of people's expectations are shaped by shows like "My 600 lb Life" and are therefore very disappointed when they lose 15 or 20 lbs the first month - and then 10 lbs a month after that - but you have to keep in mind that the people on those shows start at MUCH higher BMI's than the average WLS patient. You are doing absolutely fine - so stop worrying about it and just enjoy the ride! I lost 16 lbs the first month, and about 10 lbs a month after that (again, dropping off a few months later), and I lost 100% of my excess weight. And I started off at over 300 lbs.

Thank you so much for your reply @catwoman7 . You actually gave me more hope than my surgeon. He said I should only expect to lose about 50% of my excess weight. That was disappointing. A few years ago (3 to be exact), I maintained my weight between 200-215, and honestly, I looked pretty damn great! Then menopause came knockin and my metabolism took a noise dive! I put on about 85-90 lbs. In December 2020 I hit 298 and couldn't stand myself! Surgery day I weighed in @ 282 and that was on 7/17/21...& this morning I was @ 256. I'm hoping to get too about 175. That's a great weight for me, although from the weight chart inn the doc's offices it says for my build and being 5'7 I should be around 155 or 160 but my opinion is that is way too skinny for me. But I have some hopes now that I'll be able to hit my goal weight. I've just gotta keep doing what I'm doing and be patient.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Renee Z
Wrong person tagged

[Renee Z 4]

On 8/21/2021 at 7:27 AM, ms.sss said:

You may find others won’t notice for a while (no one outside my immediate family noticed until I lost 50-60 lbs! Lol)

yes, that seems to be my experience lately.

[Renee Z 4]

On 8/22/2021 at 12:39 PM, Tony B - NJ said:

Stick with it. I agree it is hard to get out there in the heat but even if you do 10 minutes 3 times a day it will help

3x a day?! Omg...and I thought I was doing great@ once a day. Haha! I guess I'll have to increase my times. I'm doing about 20 mins @ night after dark, around 9pm when it's much cooler. And I'll just add a 15 minute early morning walk (5 or 6am).

[Renee Z 4]

On 8/21/2021 at 8:10 PM, Arabesque said:

@catwoman7 is absolutely correct. Your rate of loss does slow as you progress so what you’re experiencing is usual. The only difference is some may lose at the higher rate for a little longer some fir a shorter time. Depends upon how much we have to lose & just our individual differences - gender, age, weight loss history, metabolic rate, activity, etc. I wasn’t a big exerciser - just walked on my treadmill. Started off slow & slowly increased to about 20 mins as I felt stronger. Then I struggled with low energy & low blood pressure so I stopped & used resistance bands for a while.

As @ms.sss said you may have to lose more before others notice the loss. It seems the more you have to lose, the more you’ll have to lose for others to notice. A good friend noticed after I lost about 15kg - so about halfway to my goal. I was also wearing a straight line dress that had been a little snug (& pulled across my ass) before surgery but was hanging loosely when she saw me.

I really appreciate the feedback. It's really helpful in letting me know what I'm experiencing is completely normal for us all. So far I've lost about 40 pounds and for my own personal goal, I still have another 70 pounds to go. Some say they can see it in my face cuz it looks thinner, but to be honest, nobody really sees my body because I've been working remotely from home since the surgery and they only see me cuz video, so that's usually just from the shoulders (or boobs) up. Lol. But my family sees me and hasn't noticed much weight loss. It's discouraging.

[Monique1123 28]

You're doing great!! I had surgery around the same time on 7/14 and I've only lost 20 pounds since surgery. The same exact situation, I lost a ton of weight the first week and 1/2, and then my stall hit the 2nd week up until week 4. I went to the gym and somehow I started losing again but veryyyy veryyyy slowly. I even got as low at 179 on Sunday, all for me to check again this morning and see that I gained 2 pounds. The process is so frustrating but like you said, knowing this is normal and seeing that a lot of successful people have gone through this stall/slow start really puts me at ease!

I completely feel you in the heat. I'm not the biggest fan of exercise and definitely not in the burning sun so the first couple of weeks I started walking in the evening around 7:30/8 PM. Now, I'm doing the treadmills at the gym which is even better since they have the fans and I find myself actually enjoy it! Good luck on your journey, we got this!!