5 Weeks Post Op - NO Weight Loss

Starting or stopping medication is something that should be done by a doctor, not a well-meaning family member with no medical training.

Stopping a med suddenly can be harmful or dangerous, and it is nothing to fool with.

I may have her stop her blood pressure meds for a couple of days to see what happens. She is not at risk.

WHAT???  For the love of God please don't start tinkering with anyone's meds.   If she is not at risk why is she on those meds in the first place?  Some doctor somewhere thought they were necessary and I'm guessing he didn't just pull that opinion out of his hat.

This whole thread is wrong on so many levels but messing with another persons meds isn't just wrong or disturbing.  It is down right dangerous.

I truly hope you've had a change of heart and that I just haven't seen it yet since I've not gotten to the end of the thread.

Respectfully, I have to take issue with your comment regarding mood-stabilizing meds.

"Alternatives to those meds," which usually involve NOT taking them at all, is most often not an alternative at all. I don't have citations at hand, but medication is often MUCH more effective than non-pharmaceutical "alternatives" (diet/exercise, "natural" treatment).

Switching meds can be an exhausting process of trial-and-error. Scaling down one med and ramping up another takes weeks, if not longer, and mental health can suffer in the interim. Plus there's no promise that a different med would be more effective (or have fewer side effects) after all of that shuffle.

Either way, doing something that could shake someone's mental health is NOT a wise course of action during the early post-op phase when emotions and mental health are already shaky.

So yes, it may be worth looking into the med situation. But writing the situation off as "just find an alternative" is disrespectful at best, dangerous at worst.

I understand your concern, and need to make clear that that is not at all what I was suggesting. I simply meant that there are multiple prescription meds available that can be tried, if one is causing weight gain, increased appetite, etc.... I have a very close friend who has been trying to find the right med for almost a year. She is med sensitive and I understand what an exhausting process it can be. 

In my post I suppose I could have made it more clear that I was referring to an alternative medication, not an holistic or behavioral alternative. 

I am 100% with Julie on this. There are weight-neutral mood meds, but this not a good time to start changing from a med that works. The consequences can be dire.

Kate, I posted this to Julie. It should address your position on my comment.

I understand your concern, and need to make clear that that is not at all what I was suggesting. I simply meant that there are multiple prescription meds available that can be tried, if one is causing weight gain, increased appetite, etc.... I have a very close friend who has been trying to find the right med for almost a year. She is med sensitive and I understand what an exhausting process it can be. 

In my post I suppose I could have made it more clear that I was referring to an alternative medication, not an holistic or behavioral alternative. 

I joined Weigh****chers in 1973.  That was 43 years ago and I still remember how amazed I was by the lengths that people will go to so that they can eat the food that they want.  One lady kept her doughnuts and cookies hidden in the clothes hamper, because no one in her family did laundry.  Her bathroom time was also her eating time.

Another would buy a cake everyday.  She would serve half of it to her family while proudly not touching a crumb of it.  The next day, she would go to the bakery and buy the exact same cake, eat the half from the night before and half of the new one and then serve the "leftover" cake that night while letting everyone watch her fantastic will power.

Food is an addiction and an addict will always find a way to get what they want.  Take your wife on a two-week vacation to a place where there are no stores and spend every second with her.  Insist on providing her with all of her food and drink and have nothing available for her to snack on, cook or bake with. 

I am thinking an isolated cabin in the woods, close to a town where you can drive together for meals of fresh fish and non-starchy vegetables. Make sure she has no means of sneaking away for food. 

You will see a large weight loss and see that weight come back when she is back home.  It is a hard thing to accept,  but it is impossible to control another person.   

Keith gave you the perfect answer. First, check for a medical reason.

A five week stall in the first five weeks is hard to fathom. If she doesn't have some serious medical ussue, she is eating a lot more than you think.

The only thing I can think of aside from inaccurate calorie tracking is perhaps severe constipation. That can account for 15 pounds. Edema or water retention can also add a crazy amount of pounds, so if she is feeling bloated, rings are tight, ankles are swollen kind of thing. Time to take some measurements, perhaps she might see a difference in that.