What happened?

I have been exercising (gym & walking) since I was 2 weeks post-op (RNY on 11/26/07). I really really really thought that this would speed up my weight loss, however, I’ve  noticed that there are a lot of post-ops with way more significant weight loss and the majority indicate that they now need to START with an exercise program. Does anyone know what I may be doing wrong?

Also, I go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday (I let my body rest on Tuesdays and Fridays). I do cardio 1st and then the weight machines.

This is why I got confused: A couple of weeks ago I only went to the gym ONE time, but I lost 6 lbs that week. That is the most that I have lost in one week at this far out. The weeks when I exercise I fluctuate between 1,2, and sometimes 0 pound weight loss. Does anyone have any insight as to why this happens? Why would weight loss speed up when I did not exercise?

Since you are working out regularly, you could be losing fat, and building muscle.  Muscle weights more than fat so the scale may not change.  However have your measurements or size changed; this would be a better comparison. Good luck, and keep going on the exercise, I bet your heart loves you for it!!! Caroline

You aren't doing anything wrong, and you are probably replacing muscle with fat.  Another possibility is that you may need to eat a little more (but I'd talk to your surgeon or nutritionist about it).  If you work out a lot and eat very low calorie, your body is sometimes very stubborn about losing weight.  A lot of people will report that an increase of a hundred calories makes a big difference, giving a little more fuel to the furnace, so to speak.  And as hard as it is, try not to compare your loss to other peoples.  Everyone is different.  (Not that I should talk, I do the same thing).  Good luck and way to go with the workouts!

I am a pre-op person, but I am just betting that you are losing a lot of inches.  Have you been checking your inches lost?  It is really important to workout because you lose a lot of muscle mass when you lose weight, so I would continue your workouts and concentrate on all of the inches lost and not the numbers lost.  THe numbers will eventually catch up with the inches. Keep up all of the hard work...you are definetly doing the right thing for your body and overall health. Jennifer

I was told  the heavier you are the faster it comes off..

I've found that when there are periods when I do not exercise - I'm pretty avaid about it too - that I will all of a sudden lose a large amount at once.  My theory on this is that I cannot eat enough to compensate for the amount that I exercise and sometimes I put my body into a starvation mode.  When I've taken a week off for one reason or another, but continue to eat the same amount - or even increase my calories slightly, I will lose weight.  I think this is a way of resetting that metobolism out of feeling starved.  Make sure that you are eating enough for your exercise and your weight loss might be more consistant. HTH,

You started out a few pounds heavier than I did at surgery and are a few weeks behind me and yet you've lost almost 20 pounds more than I have.   I'm the worst about having a pity party when I see others that have lost more weight than I and are at half the number of weeks or months.  The bad thing about a pity party is there's only one person on the invitation list and a one-person party is no fun at all! I would definitely call your NUT. I was reading posts similar to yours and upped my calories by 100 and it seemed to have slowed my weight loss.  When I called my NUT, she put me on the right track of no more than 1000 calories a day. I will say that my body is totally reshaping and I like what I see so that really helps with the scale not moving as fast as I had expected.  Just keep following the rules and you'll see results.