Second Week Stall...

The following is a post I put on the light weight board. Was hoping that maybe some of you here on the Sept. surgery board might also have some words of wisdom. . . . . . . . . . . Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday. Wanted to know if any of you stalled losing weight your second week post op. I assumed this was awful early to have my first stall. I am concerned because I have not lost any weight since my first week post op. When I saw my surgeon a week ago he was pleased with how I was doing but I am starting to get a bit concerned. I have noticed that I do eat more carbs then some of you but this is because my blood sugar drops too low with out it. My surgeon is aware of this and wants my blood sugar to stay around 100 (prior to surgery I was lucky if I could keep it at 200-250). At this point, I am no longer on a liquid or pureed diet and mainly eat soft foods. Do all of you measure your portions? How many ounces do you eat in a meal? I have made an appointment to seel my nutritionist but will not be able to see her until next week. Maybe I just need to up my water. I am only getting about 42 to 62 ounces of liquids in a day. I am getting approximately 6o grams of protien in a day. Any suggestions? Have any of you actually had the surgery fail for you? How would you know if this was the case? I would love any input but be nice. I need support and suggestions, not a beating. Thanks guys.

I eat (4) serving a day 2-3 ounces Of Puree food. I keep all my calories at 600 a day. I get all my protien in and water in. I have had a 28 pound weight lose. you seem to be doing well with your meds. I dont think this surgery will fail you so early in the surgery. I heard from my doctor every 10-20 pounds lost. You stop losing a few weeks. I only measure my inches. I stopped weighing but once a week. Take Care Barb

Thanks for your response Barb. Sounds like you are doing wonderful. I started to keep track of my calories again today (was not told to at all by my nutritionist or by my surgeon) and am hoping that it sheds some more light on the situation. 600-800 Calories does sound about what I am eating a day. Thanks again. Melanie

I'm not sure I'm the best person to reply to this, but here it goes. I lost 30lbs in the first week after surgery. The second week I lost 2. The third week I lost 5. I'm pretty upset about that, frankly, and feel that I've lost not enough. I expressed that to my doctor in the post-op visit yesterday. He said I shouldn't worry, although he understood my concern. His words of wisdom, which sounds logical but didn't really make me happy, were as follows, paraphrased of course. There are three types of weight loss, generally speaking. The first is weight loss from dehydration. The second is true water weight. THe second is fat or muscle loss. In the week following surgery, patients are both dehydrated and loosing water weight very quickly, the fat loss is slower. So while in the first week you lost a great deal of water weight, which you gained back, so to speak, when you finally rehydrated yourself and can consistantly get in your daily water. So in the second and third weeks, it is possible for a patient to loose a great deal of fat, but not see it on the scale. I can't argue too much with him. I've lost a mighty number of inches. (My surgen didn't actually measure, so I have no pre-surgery measurements. But my size 62 pants are balloons on me, I've gone from a very tight 5x shirt size to a slightly loose 4x. (And this weekend, I'm going to try on a 3x). So I'm getting smaller, even if I don't see it on the scale. However, the scale is the ultimate authority, is it not? And our feelings toward the scale is powerful. I've heard other people that instead of weighing weekly, weigh bi-monthly or monthly. I can't do that... I've got charts I need to fill in, and that doesn't give me enough data points to stay obsessed with it. Although starting next monday, I'm adding in a great many more data collections, such as exercise minutes, caloric intake, and maybe some personal feelings. Just haven't worked out the excel spreadsheet yet.

Hi Michael, I found a website that will save you the trouble of doing an excel spreadsheet. You simply enter the data and it collects it for you. Go to www.caloriesperhour.com A little tricky to navigate at first but you'll soon get the hang of it and then the coolness begins. Let me know your thoughts. Carla

Hi Melanie, I too am at a stall. I had surgery on 9/12/05 - lost 24 pounds in the first 2weeks, but not a pound since then and yesterday was my 1 month anniversary. However, looking at some of your replys has made me realize I'm not alone. I feel my clothes getting lose and that makes me happy, but I still am addicted to numbers....have been for a long time. I also don't feel full after eating. I'm afraid to keep on eating until I feel full, but I am envious of the people who say they are so full on 2oz of food or liquid. I'm sure it will all get better and we will adjust to our new lifestyles. My blood sugar has dropped down to normal too. It is amazing that in one short month I no longer am a diabetic. Good luck to you.