Question

I had surgery on 4/11 and i weighed myself every morning and it looks like I am at a stall.. Only have lost 15 lbs since surgery.. I haven't been as good about getting all my water in and my protien is at mimuim.. And I am working on getting the bari pack of vitiamins tomorrow from the Doctors office it is just easier for me to carry with me and remember to take them all... plus only have been eating about one meal a day sometimes I eat a little something at lunch.. I see that I live on those SF popcycles and jello... My mother is in the hospital and I am also back to work so not much time to even sleep.. so that means I have not been exercising cause I barely have 5 or 6 hours sleep.. Any advice?? Jennifer

Jennifer, Sorry I dont have any advice.  But I just wanted to say hi.  Where in KY are you?  I live in McCreary County and I'm having my surgery in Georgetown.  Sorry to hear your weight loss has stalled. Sarah

It might be my scales, cause my pants are falling off of me..So I might just weigh myself at the doctors office when I stop in there tomorrow on the way home from the other hospital lol I have a friend that sells protien shakes and bars and he is dropping off some samples today for me to try and he says they are awesome.. we shall see about that lol I am from Berea and work in Richmond..

Jennifer

Yeah it might be.  What did you weigh before surgery? I'm now 309.  I was 317 about 2 weeks ago, I stopped drink pop and I cut way back on sweets.  I'm trying to get prepared for everything the doc is going to tell me to do anyway so it won't be such a huge shock.  I'm also lifted small weights to try to help tone my arms.  The sad thing is that when I step on my scale now it says ERROR.  Kinda funny too actually.  I guess it only goes up to 300.  You might just be losing inches and no weight.  That's possible right?  Heck I don't know. 

Actually I have lost 16 lbs since surgery and the week before surgery I lost 5 lbs..

So I kinda feel that I might be on track but wanted to check and see what other people were saying..

 

Jennifer

You are so fresh out of surgery this stall will not last long. Your body just went through major shock and I am guessing it needs time to catch up with you. A lot of people say when you aren't losing pounds you're losing inches. I think the important thing (especially at this stage in your diet) is staying hydrated. Protein is important but being that you are so early out you should just be sipping as much and as often as possible.. If you can drink protein shakes that would help you stay hydrated and help you meet your protein requirements at the same time. As far as exercise I can attest to how hard it is to add it into our lives. From working, to taking care of my little boy, and trying to get in some sleep .. It's hard to find time...Once again, you are so early out exercise is important but it'll be more important the farther out you get.. I hope no one misunderstands what I'm saying about exercise. I'm not down playing its importance but at your stage in the "game" other things need to be taken care of first.. You could try doing little things like parking farther away so you can get in the extra walk, or taking stairs vs. elevator. I know you've heard those things before.. Anyway, Good Luck on your journey!  Katrina

i was at a stall a few weeks ago, and i was about to go crazy and then a lady wrote me and told me something about glycogen, i think thats what it is, something that is stored in the body, just give it time, for 2 weeks i never lost a pound, and then the last 2 weeks, i have lost about 12 pounds, so just dont give up, and try your best to get in the protein and water, i cant get in all my water, but i try, and i try my best to drink atleast one protein shake a day and sometimes 2, I also take opti-source vitamins, you can get them from www.walgreens.com. good luck and pleaseeeeeeeee dont give up, it will come off.

Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.

As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.

Breathe, and fuggedaboudit for a few days.

you are loseing inches, thats the same thing i did, i hadnt lost much weight but i did go from i size 40 in pants to a size 36, so that is good, the weight will start falling off soon.