Plateaued Already! 23 days out

Hello,

I am new to this as I've stated 23 days out- surgery date 9/3/14. I lost 20 lbs. I still have not gotten below 200 lbs. as I was 221 lbs. I was thinking I would have lost more than 20 lbs. by now. I am staying motivated but it is hard to believe that the rest of the 50 lbs is totally on my already. Food is hard to figure out what to eat. I probably don't eat as much protein as I should. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone been in my shoes?

Wow, that's almost a pound a day!  That's amazing.  

Pretty much everyone who has had surgery has been in your shoes - we all experience stalls.  Although, I would have been thrilled to lose 20 pounds in 23 days!  

What are you eating?  Maybe we can give you advice of other things to try.  

I lost 20 lbs in 10 days but then I stalled. I thought the weight loss would continue on that level but it didn't. I gained 2, lost 3 and back and forth. But y'all are helping me understand how it works regardless of how it starts. 

I would say you are right on schedule for the 3-week stall.  If you haven't read about this phenomenon then just do a "search" on here for 3-week staff and you'll get a jillion hits.  It's VERY common.  

You are doing GREAT so don't be so hard on yourself!  Take a look at my ticker and it will show you my month-by-month progress on losing.  

At 3 weeks out you should be getting at least 40-60 oz. of protein from all sources (you're probably not eating a lot of solid food yet I'm guessing so it's a couple shakes a day), keep it to under 40 carbs and make sure you get 60-80 oz. of water a day.  And walk at least 30 minutes every day.  You don't need to exercise like a fiend, you just need to get the body moving so it releases built up fluid and toxins.  

Hang in there - the scale will start moving again 

 Thank you so much for your encouraging words!!!! 

20 lbs in 23 days is almost a pound a day.  How much did you think you'd lose per day?  More than a pound?

No,  poet_kelly! I didn't expect to stop loosing so soon. I am proud of the 20 lbs.,  that's great. It's the unknown that gets me. I wasn't expecting to stop losing weight or plateaue so soon. 

Seriously, what did you expect?

According to your profile you had surgery with a BMI of 33. From this post, I gather your goal weight is 150, and you started out at 221. That's an excess weight of only 71 pounds. 20 pounds is 31% of your excess weight---IN ONLY 23 DAYS!

A lot of people lose 50% of their excess weight in the first SIX MONTHS, but some take as long as two years to reach their goal. Some NEVER reach their goal.

You need to throw your scales away.

Thank you for sharing. That's what I was looking to hear. This is new to me. 

wow, i would love to be able to lose that much weight in 20 days, i say when in your life have you lost that much in a short amount of time, you're doing great! im preop and i have been gaining and losing the same 5 lbs since march lol.