I am only 6 days past surgery and I've only lost 5 lbs. Maybe this is normal, but I expected it to be more I guess. What has your weight loss journey been week? Especially the first month?

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some people don't lose ANY weight the first week. A lot of us come home from the hospital up to 10 lbs heavier due to the all the IV fluids they pump into you.

that said, 5 lbs is pretty normal. Most WLS patients (at least normal ones - not the kind who are on "My 600 lb Life) lose in the 15-25 lb range the first month. So 5 lbs in week one is pretty normal.

5 lbs in a week is pretty good - think of it this way, if you lost 5 lbs every week that's 250 lbs in a year!

Of course that can't really maintained, and some weeks will be more and some will be less. Everyone's numbers are different, as long as the weight keeps going down that's all that matters.

It really is different for everyone. I lost a ton of weight really fast. Like 30 pounds in 2 weeks kind of fast. Then I had a stall for 2 weeks, and now I'm losing sloooooooow. Like really slow. I'm still losing, but now it's like 3-4 pounds a week.

3 hours ago, SleeveDiva2022 said:

It really is different for everyone. I lost a ton of weight really fast. Like 30 pounds in 2 weeks kind of fast. Then I had a stall for 2 weeks, and now I'm losing sloooooooow. Like really slow. I'm still losing, but now it's like 3-4 pounds a week.

As another example of how individual it is, I'd be thrilled with losing 3-4 pounds per week. That wouldn't be at all slow for me, much less "sloooooooow."

thats fine... soon you will hit your 3rd week stall where you wont loose anything at all for a while. May even gain a pound or so. We all loose differently... Me personally right now i am averaging around 8lb a month and i am 6 weeks post op.

I have no idea what your stats are (start weight, etc) and that is pretty important to this discussion. To answer your question, I lost 11 lbs in the two week pre op diet, and then 15 lbs in the first month post surgery. I lost most of that the first week after surgery, but I did not have the water retention issue most people have in the first few weeks post surgery. My meds helped prevent that. Your loss sounds good and in fact probably on the higher end but hard to say without more information.

We all know that human bodies don't work linearly, but even so mathematically it is unlikely people will lose 3+ lbs a week every week. I gave a rough example below of why that is.

The estimated baseline daily calories needed for a 380 lb woman, roughly where I started, is 2400 calories if I don't do any movement. Let's say early post surgery I am eating 700 calories/day. That gives me a daily deficit of 1700, which amounts to 11,900 calories a week. A pound of weight loss needs around 3500 calories of deficit (through food and exercise) so even in the best case scenario, an 11,900 deficit results in a 3.4 lb loss. As you get lighter, MBR reduces. So, now I am about 278 lbs. My estimated basal MBR is roughly 1900, but now I am eating around 1400-1500 calories a day, per my program. Let's assume it is 1400 to make my math easy, then my total calorie deficit all week is 3500, which should equal one pound. That's a huge difference from where I started.

Disclaimers: This example is just that - an example - and I would not take it for gospel or base any decisions on it. It's just meant to show that folks shouldn't think they are going to lose 5 lbs a week. Like I said, my estimates above use an estimated MBR that does not take into account exercise so it may be off, but it's just meant as an example. I also don't think weight loss is as easy as "calories in, calories out" as we all know metabolism is affected by many other factors, some of which we probably do not understand yet. I don't want the example above to in any way encourage people to start cutting back even more calories - that's not healthy long term and it can have devastating effects on your metabolism and health long term; that's why so many programs now push getting your calories up quickly. I'll also add that once you start adding in serious exercise, you do need to increase your calories or it can have the opposite effect of what you are aiming for - you can't expend 5000 cals a day and only eat 500 calories and expect healthy outcomes.

Edited June 6, 20224 yr by Queen ApisM

My starting weight was 227. I did 7 days of lover shrinking diet and one day clear liquids and was down to 221.8. Today,(6days post op) I am 216.8. I havent lost any weight since yesterday. The last 2 days I'm taking in around 600 calories per day but 320 of that is protein shakes.

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2 hours ago, audreywilson92 said:

My starting weight was 227. I did 7 days of lover shrinking diet and one day Clear Liquids and was down to 221.8. Today,(6days post op) I am 216.8. I havent lost any weight since yesterday. The last 2 days I'm taking in around 600 calories per day but 320 of that is Protein Shakes.

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my best advice is - STOP OBSESSING. You are doing fine! If it helps, stay off the scale..

8 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

my best advice is - STOP OBSESSING. You are doing fine! If it helps, stay off the scale..

I have to agree with @catwoman7. You should not obsess over every daily weight. This is a long process, and if you stress every day, you will do more harm than good. You are doing great.

Feeling really discouraged. I had the vertical sleeve on 11-23 and I have only lost 6# in the first two weeks. I am only allowed to have protein drinks, cream of wheat and thin soup for another week. I have been getting my liquids in and about 45-60 grams of protein a day. I was 219 the day of the surgery. Has anyone lost so little the first two weeks and then had the weight start to come off? I am nervous I will be one of the few people that this doesn’t work for!

@kelly jojo

First few weeks, we are usually bloated. After surgery I gained over 10 lbs due to the IV. Your body is healing and adjusting. I was told not to take my weight too seriously until I was fully healed (6 to 8 weeks). Try to be patient and stick to your program. 3 lbs a week is actually good at your weight (10.5k calories less), that's 12 lbs in a month if continues at that rate. If losing 3 lbs a week is upsetting then beware of the infamous 3-week stall where you may not lose anything for a few weeks.

Thank you for your words of encouragement! I appreciate it. I am going to stop weighing myself for a bit and strictly go off of how my clothes feel and I can definitely feel the loss by how big they feel.