Slowing down

hi guys!

I dont post on here much, and just posted over a year ago when I was on the pre-op diet. Crazy how much has changed since then! I had my VSG surgery last nov 11/20/18 and am down 120 pounds so far! I'm still about 60 pounds from my goal weight and the last few months the weight loss has significantly slowed down. I don't always eat the best, but for the most part I eat a low carb diet and I joined orange theory about 5 months ago. I've made a lot of lifestyle changes including eating out much less and cooking low carb meals, but sometimes I get so frustrated with how slow the weight loss is now. I can definitely eat a lot more than I could at the beginning, but still much less than before, but I try to stop before I'm full so I don't stretch out my pouch. Anyone else struggling to keep the weight loss going?!

HW: 338.5

SW: 323

CW: 118

GW: 160 to 170

yep - it does get a lot harder the further you get out!! I did manage to lose another 40 lbs during year 2. I was up around 1000 calories/day by then, but I pretty much stuck to that and the weight did continue to come off, albeit VERY SLOWLY....

Weight loss surgery patients often lose about 100 pounds fairly effortlessly. That is sometimes referred to as the honeymoon stage. After that initial boost from surgery, losing the rest of the weight becomes hard work.

The less you weigh, the less calories you need to maintain that weight and the less calories you need to lose more, If you are not tracking every sip and bite on My Fitness Pal, then start doing that today. It is free, easy, and convenient to use.

To lose one pound, you need to eliminate 3500 calories. To lose 60 pounds you have to do that 60 times.

To be maintaining at your current weight means you are taking in at least 2200 calories a day. If you can cut that down to 1200 a day, you will eliminate 7000 calories a week, or two pounds on the scale.

In 15 weeks, you can lose 60 pounds. When you get to 1600 pounds, you will need about 1600 calories a day to stay there. The secret of this is to honestly track and to have a date when you will reach your goal.

I echo this comment. Track your food because we ALL underestimate the contents of our food and overestimate portion sizes. If you have not already, weigh and prep your meals ahead of time to ensure accuracy. Consider switching to a macro-based approach as well, which helps prioritize the plate (Protein first, then veg, then carbs). Go natural; preservatives impact hormones and thyroid levels. If you're like me and love wine - skip it for a few months - it makes a big difference when you remove the alcohol.

best of luck!!

My weight loss slowed down at about 7 months, but I was able to get it back on track without feeling deprived. I've been losing at a nice clip ever since then... and I'm still going strong at 15 months out from surgery. I'll tell you what I did.

I took a good hard look at my diet (tracking everything I ate). I examined the foods I ate most often to see if there were small tweaks I could make that would reduce calories but wouldn't make me feel deprived. A slight reduction in calories to something you eat frequently can matter a lot more than a big reduction to something you don't eat very often. For example, as a vegan I have a lot of non-dairy milk. I switched from a brand that had 26 kcal/ml to one with just 13 kcal/ml. No difference in taste to me, but if I had 500 ml I saved 65 kcal.

I also focused on finding foods that were more filling. I had been eating a protein bar each day, but I found I was hungry again shortly after eating them, so I reduced them to once a week. Veggies, on the other hand, seem to stay in my stomach for a long time. There's a mediterranean-style cauliflower "rice" that I buy. One packet is only 100 kcal but leaves me feeling full for hours (and it's yummy too). Someone recommended I add protein powder to oatmeal -- very filling and very yummy with some berries.

I also discovered that protein powder with a little cocoa added to ho****er makes a delicious hot chocolate, and also helps me get my 2liters of fluid in per day. Also, protein powder is great in coffee.

With these few tweaks to my diet, I reduced my average daily calories from 950 to 800, and started losing weight again. The best part was that I was actually more satisfied on my new meal plan.

Finally, I made sure I was getting plenty of fluid. Fluid is necessary for weight loss. If my weight loss stalls, drinking extra water usually ends the stall. And I've learned that usually when I feel hungry, drinking fluid makes the "hunger" go away. (What I thought was hunger was really excess stomach acid.)

I usually skip breakfast, and don't eat anything until I've taken in a litre of fluid. My first meal of the day tends to "wake up" my stomach, and I get hungrier in the evenings, so I prefer to save most of my calories for then.

Measure everything you eat. Otherwise it's too easy to take one extra bite, and those extra bites add up over time.