Hey yall! Im 3 weeks out tomorrow and im on a stall today is day 4. Now im overthinking about is this it? is this all im going to lose? Im down 30lbs since my 1 week pre op diet and Im kinda doubting everything. I know everyone says "Trust the process" and im trying to!

Get rid of your scale. It doesn't help with weight loss. Worse, it messes with your mind and causes you not to trust your plan. You will hear an unbidden voice in your head suggesting you change things up just to get the scale to move.

I guess I was lucky because I was too large to fit on a home scale. I had no choice about weighing at home. Talk about trusting your plan, I had no choice. Then I discovered I never saw a stall. Not a single one, so I was never tempted to change things to please the scale. I didn't vex about a number on a scale. The scale had no power to make me happy or sad. The whole thing was an education and wonderfully freeing.

Trust your plan, not your scale.

Good luck,

Tek

Stalls suck. I totally get that. But it's a reality of our journey. I've stalled 3 times in 8 weeks and have still managed to lose 50lbs since the start of my pre-op diet. You got this. Trust the process.

No, this is not all you are going to lose. When you had surgery you automatically signed up for a marathon event. It will time for you body to do it's own thing. It is a week by week proposition. Focus on the horizon every day. When a year has gone by then reassess. Set other goals to attain. Exercise. Trips. Hobbies. Other rewards. Enjoying each day.

here are the 15K+ posts (and no, I am NOT kidding) from members who've experienced the infamous "three-week stall" (i.e, just about everyone...):

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

1 hour ago, Possum220 said:

When you had surgery you automatically signed up for a marathon event.

^^^Great quote^^^

I stayed off the scale till my 2 week and 5 weeks follow up. So if I had a stall I was oblivious. LOL

This too will pass. Stalls are a normal & important part of your weight loss. It’s when your body shuts down & takes time to reassess your new needs because of the weight you’ve lost. It resets your digestive hormones & enzymes, your metabolism, etc. You’ll start losing again when your body is ready. Just stick to your plan.

If the non moving scale makes you anxious, I agree, put it away while in a stall. Try taking some body measurements every couple of weeks instead as many see a reduction in body measurements during a stall.

I agree to stay off the scale, the first few months I did my best to only get on it once a week or every few days if I knew getting on it was going to cause some emotional turmoil.

Stalls are super frustrating! I am currently in that 3-4 week stall myself but I came across an interesting article regarding WHY it happens.

Basically, your body is trying to figure out its new normal. During the low calorie liquid and puréed stage during the first 4-5 weeks, your body has gone from burning things like carbs for energy to burning fat. But during this process you had to burn through your glycogen stores as well.

(Glycogen also holds a lot of water which is why we can get dehydrated even though we are drinking a lot of fluids).

Our bodies are trying to find our new normal in what to burn for energy and our fluid levels are equalizing which can keep the number on the scale the same or even climb.

I have a scale that gives me my water, fat and muscle composition and during this time, I am losing fat, gaining water and muscle and the scale hasn’t changed in 13 days and knowing that my body is adjusting really helped me relax. My blood pressure also dropped enough to stop my blood pressure meds!!!

Be kind to yourself, give yourself good foods, drink as much water as you are able and get your movement in. As others have said here, this is a marathon, not a quick fix. Hugs to all!