I did it!!

Well, I was on a three week plateau. Many of you responded and offered great support, ideas, and tips to assist me through this crazy time, and for that I am truly thankful. I weighed the same weight for 3 three weeks and I was becoming depressed. One day, I woke up and decided to "shake it up a little." I increased my exercise, continued to eat healthy, and stayed the course. My favorite exercise tapes are "Leslie Sansone's Walk away the Pounds." I do the one, two, and three mile. I also began to lift weights as I exercised and that must have been the magic that I needed. I have lost about 4 pounds this week. I think my body needed to stabilize and then begin the weight loss again. Even though I hated the plateau, I am most proud of myself for not giving up or giving in. It would have been easy to say that I probably won't lose another pound, but I didn't. I stayed the course, re-examined my diet and moved forward. Yes, Yes, it was difficult, but I didn't go through weight loss surgery to give up so easily. Thanks for your support. I look great, I feel great, and did I say that I look great!!! Smile Lakisha Rice 294/205/165

Congratulations Lakisha! I'm so happy for you, not only for getting out of your funk, but for shaking things up and pressing on. I'm in the middle of a plateau, in about my 4th week and it's so frustrating. I'm about your weight and even though 4 weeks isn't that long, you're absolutely right...it can make you insane! I'm gonna follow your lead and fight it all the way! Dawn -82

Lakisha, I think if you read around the main boards for the longer term post-ops you'll find a bit of a theme - that at some point they start going for a few weeks with no weight loss then wham down several pounds all at once. This same thing happened to me this past month. Saw the same weight 3 weeks in a row and whamo - down 3-4 pounds. So what I thought was going to be a 2 lb loss for the month was a respectable 6 lb loss. Today on the scale, down 0 for the week. Certainly not for lack of trying. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing - perhaps work on that exercise thing a bit better and see what I get over the next couple of weeks. So we need to remember that perhaps the big fast loses are behind us but we can still get weight off by being persistent and patient. Best wishes, Kathy

Good for you. I'm 18 days into my plateau, can't seem to get past that 197 mark. I'm still sticking with the program too though. I have been shaking things up but still hasn't broken this stupid plateau. At least I can take heart that if it broke for all of you guys, it should break soon for me too. Although, I'm not going to give up, it's still pretty discouraging. It does help to know that I'm not alone. It's so weird how the body can function on approx. 800-1100 cal a day and exercise alone takes up anywhere from 200-600 of those calories. And the total weight of the food we take in for the whole day is only approx. 1 lb.

Congratulations Lakisha, This is a tough journey, really requiring tenacity and commitment. I would like to kick anyone who says WLS is the easy way out! Keep up the great work! Lori 384/272/170