Oldbies....pouch size & rate of loss question...

I posted this on the main board but wanted to see if I could get some of our Oregon friends out of the woodwork. I need to know if anyone had a large pouch to start out with? I have had a 4 oz pouch from the get-go and wonder if anyone else has. I can eat about 5 oz now - and no, it's not from over-eating. The only time I ever ate too much and got nauseous was in the beginning when I didn't get the fullness sensation. I find though that I can eat a lot more, so I started logging on fitday.com to make sure I wasn't overeating. I generally get between 600-700 calories a day. You'd think that would keep me at a steady rate of loss. Anyway, I am going to be 8 weeks out on Wednesday and have lost only 33 lbs of the 175 I needed to lose. Not exactly dropping it quickly here. Have any of you logged how many calories you ate during the day and how large your pouch was early on, and figured it against what you were losing? I just can't figure out a logical reason why I could stall this much based on such low caloric intake....even through starvation mode. I mean, come on - your body can only keep up with that for so long and then it has to give up the ghost, right? Thanks for any help you can give.... Dina 325/292/150

Sorry sweetie I canna answer that question but I wish you would bring some of them out of the woodwork.. it is always so quiet here..

Hi Dina... I responded on your main message board posting.. but another thought occured to me. My PCP is always telling me to drink more water and the exercise more to increase my metabolism and that is what helps to break down the fat. My surgery date was 4-12-04 so I'm just about 3 weeks out and only dropped 12 pounds so far. BUT I know I haven't been able to get down all the water I should.. it just doesn't taste right.. and Crystal Lite now tastes way too sweet. And outside of protein shakes, I'm finding it difficult to get down 60 grams of protein a day. With the gorgeous sunshine we're finally getting here in P-town.. I'm getting out walking more and that is helping. I grew up in Grants Pass and miss the scenery and countryside of the Rogue Valley and Applegate Valley...! Feel free to email me if you want.. AND I think it's great that you've lost 33 pounds.. and my 12 pounds.. it's a whole lot better than gaining that main pounds in the same amount of time,right?~! OK I'll stop being Pollyanna now I do understand your concern and frustration. Keep posting.. and we'll all get thru this beginning at a slow start together~! Penny

Penny - thanks for your response. I have had the problem getting water in too, but I have found that Propel fitness water has helped tremendously, as well as watering down that Crystal Light. I don't like anything but the lemonade and then the mix of the orange sunrise though. I have found SF Koolaide to be handy though. As for the protein, I've found that if you open a small can of chicken breast (4.5 oz, more like 4 after you drain it) is about 25 grams of protein. Tuna I think is like 30 or so (or close to it). So there are some options. I initially when on the soft food diet had some chicken curry DH made. It was heavenly, so I took my hand blender and pureed it. It was actually quite yummy and wasn't as gross as I thought it would be. Went down really easy. You might try doing something like that and see how it goes! Dina

Hi Dina, Well I decided to crawl out of my hole to share some great advise a wonderful woman gave me. I seemed to be the biggest plateau looser I have ever read about. A wonderful woman posted to me, she told me she was a slow looser and had a problem with plateaus also. She suggested mixing things up a bit, I was trying to be a good girl and eat all the right things all the time. But she suggested going outside the relm of food I was eating every couple of days. I don't mean eat a bag of chips, but have a bit or two here and there, or eat something that is outside the box. I'm not talking sugar....Carbs! You have to be careful though, they will take hold of you...but do it within reason. Since she told me that and I have done it everyonce in awhile, my plateaus only stick around a couple of days. And I can see the inches rolling off me. I have lost 20 lbs. since she told me that, I love that woman! I do still eat reasonably, after all I didn't have this surgery to sabbatoge myself, but for some reason, mixing my calories and carbs is working. And I have seen the results, I wasn't eating enough, and my body was in starvation mode all the time! I don't drink much water, love grape propel though. But I do drink a couple of cups of 2%, and I drink V-8 at least once a day. My surgery was 1-22-04 and I have lost 55 lbs. and feel great. I hope this helps you as it has helped me. Just choose wisely....Good Luck!

Catherine - Thanks for the advice. I will maybe give that a try. I have such fear of doing so though - that it will cause a worse stall instead of shaking things up. I know when I have done that in the past on Atkins sometimes it has worked for me, while other times it has backfired, so I have to admit I'm gunshy. But I guess trying it once or twice won't be that big of a deal. After all, if it does nothing for me, I'll never know if it impeded me, right? Thanks again - and you are doing great on your weight loss! Dina