Frustrated

I am SOOOO frustrated!!!

OK so I am a very large person (300 pounds to lose to goal) so in my head I figured I should be losing faster...I am not expecting a 100 pound loss overnight or anything like that.

I had my surgery Sept 19th ( a month ago) I dropped 35 pounds the first 2 weeks..which may seem like a lot and the scale has not moved in over 2 weeks. I have been told that everyone experiences that between weeks 2-6 and it will last anywhere from 3-4 weeks! I just get so discouraged when I am eating right, exercising and getting in as much liquids as possible and I do eat mostly protein things.

Would love to know everyone else's experience with stalls so early on as a post op!!! I am just soooo darn frustrated...everytime I get discouraged over the scale I look at my journals to make sure I am not messing up. I mean I am not perfect..I struggle with my routine with eating then waiting 1 hr to drink and then waiting to eat again and find I don't eat 6x a day as others do but I think as a newly post op I am eating enough..just soooo frustrating!!! ugh!

yep, you are experiencing the post-op stall.  your body is just trying to figure out what is going on with the rapid weight loss and hanging onto everything it can....it could be 2-4 weeks, but the body finally gives up and adjusts to the new reality!

if you took your measurements pre-op, take them duing this stall.  a lot of people find that while their body is going through the weight stall, the body is also making measurement adjustments -- you are probably losing inches.

stick to what you have been told will help you maximize the weight loss, and soon enough you will be seeing the results on the scale again!

I am in the same boat!! I agree it is so very frustrating.  I'm starting to feel like a failure -- like I couldn't even do this right.  I am eating so very little, compared to what I ate before especially.  I am getting my water in, haven't cheated..and yet...nothing.

Thanks Kimberely :) Helps knowing I am not the only one. I did take measurements and think I will take them again..I was ready to kill my scale, LOL

Jobsies..you are SO NOT A FAILURE!!! This is hard work!!! And I know pre-surgery..I would have cheated 10x by now *lol*..but I know now I can't..have not dumped or got sick once yet and will try and avoid it all cost, hehe..totally different mind set now..crazy huh, hehe!

We can do it!

:)

I had a big stall early out also. I have 300lbs to lose and am over a year out and not yet quite at 200lbs lost. It can be frustrating, and I've had to readjust my goals. Just keep doing what you are doing and let your body do its job. At first there is no way you can't lose. Stalls are a normal part of the process - tough to deal with but you really have no choice.

*hugs* Sorry you are experiencing a stall right now! I dont have any advice - just wanted to give you my support!! Think of it this way - you have lost on average 1 pound a day since surgery...if you keep going that way, you could lose that 300 lbs in 1 year!

I had my surgery 6/20/07 and experienced the very same thing. 

Nearly everyone experiences that initial stall.  Most of us probably wondered if we were the only one that the surgery would not work for -- and then the weight loss resumes.  If you are like most of us, this is just the first of many stalls to come. 

Like someone else said, I find that my most dramatic decreases in inches come during those stall weeks.  I am 62 years old and have been fat all my life.  I started this journey at 366 lbs and now weigh 213 lbs.  It is all so worth it.  My weight loss has slowed considerably, but 5 lbs now is a much higher percentage of my body weight than it was when I was 366 and it makes a difference.  Frankly, if I never lost another ounce it would still have been worth it - that is how much better I feel.

So, you will stall, you will start losing more slowly - but - you will lose.  When you get frustrated, post here and someone will "talk you down" -- that is what we are all about. 

Shirley

Yeah, it's that dreaded first stall.  Your body says, "whoa, I'm starving and I'm going to conserve energy."  It will pass and the weight will drop off and then around 3.5 - 4 months you'll probably hit another.  Then I hit another around 8.5-9 months.

Yep, I had a similar stall early out and I stopped weighing myself.  I would weigh in about once a month.  I figured there was just so much I could do - eat right, exercise, take my vitamins, drink my water  - and beyond that, it was out of my control.

Two things helped me so much at that time.  A person told me that she weighs herself every two weeks or so and she charts her weight loss.  Then she looks at the chart over a 6-week time period - if it's a downward trend, she knows everything is working.  That helped me look at the bigger picture and not just this blip on the radar screen.  The other thing was when someone explained that fat in our bodies is much like cheddar cheese - tight, fat cells close together.  When we lose weight, the fat becomes more like swiss cheese with holes.  Our bodies go about so far and says, "Hey, what are all these holes??" and our bodies readjust themselves by tightening everything up (except for skin in my case!!! LOL) to make it like cheddar cheese again.  Thus, we lose inches even though we are not losing pounds.

Now, I don't know if the cheddar/swiss cheese thing is actually true...HOWEVER it makes sense to me and it helps me remember that my body is doing what it needs to do and I have faith that my body knows what its doing.

HOpe this helps!

Jana <-- Surgery weight: 440 Current Weight: 270 "Goal Weight" somewhere around 220 to 200

Ahhhhhhhhh yes I remember it well. It is darn frustrating & discouraging, but tell yourself a big number will pop up eventually, just keep doing the right thing (sounds like you are) and you will see it before long.  Remember this isn't a race but a journey and slow & steady is good.  Seemed like for me, once I had lost 100 lbs it came off sooooooooooooo much slower.  Our eatting is a lifestyle change and something we have to adapt into our everyday life. The decreasing numbers on the scale are but a mere indication of our daily efforts and when it doesn't move fast enough, we think we are doing something wrong....you aren't. Just be patient. Easier said than done, I know.  Hang in there!  HUGS  Jeanine