Help! Hit a plateau!

It seems like for the last 3 weeks I have stayed the same weight! My surgery date was December 29th, 2004 and I have lost 73 lbs. I started at 264 lbs. This is starting to bother me! I am pretty much able to eat anything I want without much side affects, but I try to stick to more protein. I get constipated too though. Here is what I ate so far today: Pineapple cottage cheese2-3 oz, with about 8 reduced fat cheezit crakers (had this twice today) Cottage cheese mixed with salsa 2-3 oz, and about 7 reduced fat tortilla chips One 3 oz piece of beef About 4 oz of honey bunches of oats with 1% milk 3 prunes and about 2 oz of fresh store made granola Fluids- 10 0z of coffee with sugar and cream, 8 oz water,12 oz light minute maid mango juice, 6 oz diet apple juice I am posting this at 6:30pm Pacific time ..so the night is not over! I try not to eat at night ..but i may have a popsicle, water and some more diet apple juice! It is hot out here in Cali! I exercise about 3 times a week usually for about 45 mins to an hour. I either walk or ride the stationary bike. Sometimes I lift wieghts as well Any suggestions to get me past this slump would be appreciated!

Hi Karen here is how I broke the plateau INCREASE WATER AND PROTIEN... from what you wrote you arent getting enough of either.. Good luck Dawn

Karen, although you aren't over stuffing your pouch, it does appear that you are not taking in enough water or protein. I don't drink juices, as even the reduced calorie ones have too much sugar. You should also be getting a minimum of 65 oz of water a day. I would also recommend pushing your walking speed up, to ensure you are in your target heart rate. Good luck!! Ileana

I agree with the others, it seems like you are not getting near enough protein and you're eating a lot of carby foods. Also, granola is very high in calories and fat. Why not try journaling your food, water and exercise on fitday.com? I do that and sometimes I'm surprised at the amount of calories, carbs and fat in foods that are supposed to be 'healthy'. I'm trying to lose 10-15 more lbs, so I'm trying to stay under 900 calories, under 30 carbs and over 70 g. protein every day. I also try and get in at least 80 oz. of water. Hopefully it will pay off soon!! Good luck!! Hugs, Nancy 277/160/150

I have hit a plateau, too. I am trying to get in more protein and water. I buy ready-to-drink shakes and mix protein powder with them to get about 41 grams of protein per shake. I hope to see some changes soon. Best wishes, Tammy

Hi Karen, I believe you'll find that your constipation will be eased if you increase your water intake. You are eating lots of carbs and my experience has taught me that if I eat over 30gr of carbs (even unrefined ones) I crave more. If you are not keeping very careful track of your intake it is easy to over do. I couldn't keep on track without using FitDay.com every day. It is best to enter your food and amounts following each meal so you have a good reading on what you have available to eat the rest of the day. I don't think you're eating enough protein. Fruit juice is for maintenance, too high sugar for weight loss phase. I suggest a three day plan of attack because that's usually how long it takes the body to adjust to any new program. Cut out the granola, crackers, chips and fruit juice. Milk also has lots of sugars and I'd cut that too. Be sure your popsicle is sugar free. Eat some cheese as a high protein low carb snac****ep portion control easy to manage by getting pre-sliced/1 oz portions of low fat cheese and/or 2 oz sticks of string cheese handy for the inevitable craving for food NOW! that can happen. We're in the 90's here in Chicagoland and I grew up on So. Cal. so I know what you're dealing with. Make yourself some crystal lite iced drinks and my favorite drink to share is decaff green tea made by the potful and chilled for the next day's consumption. I use stevia for sweetner....not the kind in little individual packets because that has cellulose fiber (aka, carbohydrate). I buy the concentrated stevia with no fillers, sold in little bottles or bulk in health food stores. I'm 1 week short of 1 year out from my Open RNY and still start the day with a high protein whey protein isolate shake or clear bottled variety. It gets me off to a high protein start to my day and really works well for me. In this extreme heat I've found a wonderful lunch. Again, it is Whey based. I use the Whey Fruity Protein Isolate Lemonade and put 1.5 servings of the powder in my blender with 8 ice cubes and about 1.5 C of water and blend it with the pulse to make an icy slushy drink that you can drink with a straw or eat the iced slush with a spoon. It is so refreshing and you can get a free sample from http:// 3 W's (dot) vitalady (dot) com (slash) products-protein-wheyfruity (dot) htm I have no $interest in this web site but she is the only one I know where you can get a free sample to test so I recommend it to you. You can do a Google Search for "Whey Fruity Lemonade" to get the best price. It seems to range between 2 lbs for $44.00 to 2 lbs for $17.00. Worth shopping around for in my book. It is sweetened with sucralose (Splenda® Brand). They have ingredient/nutrient information for 1 scoop at 104 calories, Fat 0g, Carb 0g, and Protein at 26g. I usually make 1.5 servings which is about 39g of protein and a tad more than we've been told we can assimilate in one sitting. I figure since it's iced I can nurse it along for 30 minutes and get most of the protein benefit. Remember that whey protein isolate when mixed has a relatively short shelf life but my nutritionist said if I keep it chilled it should be good for as much as a day. All the best, let me know if you have any followup questions. I'd be happy to help if I can. Cathy Open RNY 7/25/04 302/185/145 goal