5 Weeks Post Op Stall! Need some tips.

Hello fellow VSG'ers,

I'm exactly 5 weeks post op and I'm down a total of 57 plus pounds from my highest weight and approximately 35 pounds since surgery. I'm stuck at my current weight for about the last week after going through the honey moon first month. I'm getting over 120-150 grams of protein daily, taking my vitamins religiously and no sugar/carbs during my meals.

My doctor cleared me for the gym and advised me to take it easy with the weights until after the 8-10 week mark. Anyone else go through a similar stall after 5 weeks post op? I'm not getting discouraged just yet as I'm trusting the process of my new tool. I'm just very focused on getting under the 300 mark which would be my first scale milestone...

Thanks in advance.

What are your total calories?

I'm averaging anywhere between 800-1200 calories per day. I drink 3-4 premier protein shakes a day with 2 small meals which is almost always grilled or rotisserie chicken (5-8 oz).

5-8 ounces of chicken sounds like a lot of food 5 weeks out. Your stomach is still healing. Ditto for the days when you get 1200 calories. That seems pretty high.

However, stalls are also common and normal, so this might be just a standard part of the process.

I'll cut it back to 800 calories for the next few weeks to see if that gets me out of the stall. Thanks for your input.

If anyone can successfully handle a 1200 calorie diet, it would be a taller more muscular guy, but dropping it closer the 800 range would be better if you are uncertain about your metabolic level; I averaged 1100 trough it all and that worked fine, but that represents a 1000+calorie per day deficit for me; I lost 31lb in the first month (starting a bit under 300) so you are on a good starting pace.

Stalls happen, particularly early on when the body is figuring out how to handle the caloric deficit that you are imposing upon it and getting into drawing from your fat reserves. There is no end of sources of water weight fluctuations during this dynamic time - burning off your glycogen reserves, activity and hydration levels, hormone dumping as the fat burns off (yes, even for us guys...), starting/restarting exercise routines.

Definitely take it easy on the weights for a while still; my doc had us avoid ab work for at least 12 weeks, which is higher than a frequently quoted six weeks, but is arguably still not conservative enough - incisional hernias are not uncommon after abdominal surgery, and connective tissues like the fascia that helps hold your ab muscles together don't heal as quickly as the muscle tissue. I did do some weight work during those first few weeks, but it was more for stretching and range of motion maintenance than strengthening - 1/3 - 1/2 the levels I had been doing before surgery, and no loads going through the core (I mostly used machines rather than free weights to isolate the muscle groups.) Mostly I did fairly gentle work on the elliptical and working back into swimming as things sealed up.

I appreciate the feedback, Thank You!

That's a great loss! I have no advice -- I'm only 5'4", and at 6 months out next week, I'm at 950-1000 calories, which is a push. I'm pretty sure I couldn't eat 5 oz of anything yet, lol!

I think the advice from the other guy was probably great; my daily protein is between 80-100 grams, so your level seems high to me. But if you were lifting before, you're probably okay with that much. My son-in-law lifts regularly, and at 6'5", 320 lbs, he's not over his BMI even though he's not on a weight chart.

Best wishes to figure it out! Hopefully its just the predictable, hateful stall we all get