Frustrated and a bit blue about it

I feel a little whiney, so please forgive me in advance for that.

I will be 4 weeks post-op on Wednesday. This last week was the worst pain I have had from the surgery, very burny between my belly button and larger incision on the left. I am told this is normal, but it is no fun. It got bad enough that I didn't exercise for a few days, and now I feel guilty about that.

To top things off, I was so excited to lose 25 pounds in 2 weeks and be down 100 total (how do you get that century card?!?), but in the last 10 days since I lost 3.8 and then GAINED back 2. I haven't been able to adjust my ticker in days, I couldn't make myself have it go up. At least I am still 100 pounds down, but I have about 150 to go and can't believe I have stalled already.

I also think I may have a stricture. I am getting things stuck and that hurts. On Thursday the pain afterward was with anything I swallowed. I didn't take my extra vitamins (I took the main ones, not my personal extras) because I just didn't want to break down in tears.

Isn't this too soon to be stalled like this? I am just so sad about it. I could understand if I was one of the lighter ladies starting out, but I was all excited to get "small" enough to use the Wii fit and now it seems like it may be a full decade before I lose the 8 pounds needed in order to make that wish come true.

I am soo excited for you!!! look at the great accopmlisments u have made!!!! I UNDERSTAND.... about frustaation....ive been waiting for 8 years for my sleeve and still dont have a date...canada..eh...lol
you will be fine.....im sure everyone has a stall....smile....you are beautifuland doing great!there are many more days.......... dont sweat the small stuff

It is normal to stall now.. most common to stall around 3 weeks , but like you, mine was at 4 weeks...your scale will go up and down every day... Do not weigh everyday or you will worry yourself to death.. the scale is not your friend.. only weigh once a week at the most.. I was so upset but when I started weighing only once a week it was better.. yes my stall lasted for more than a week but at least I didn't see the number going up and down so much..

You are 100lbs down.. that is so great.. what a wonderful accomplishment and a fantastic effort on your part..  I have about 8 lbs to go to be a 100lbs down..  You have lost all the easy weight so now you are working on the hard weight to loose.. just keep at what you are suppose to do and it will come off.. do not compare your self to any one else... we all loose at different rates ... you are unique to you and you can just do your best.. nothing else is asked of you from anyone but to do the best you can..

Don't get upset when you cant exercise.. that happens to all of us at one time or another.. I have bad knees and a bad back and I have been there.. I have to just do what my body will let me do.. think of how much more active you are now then what you used to be..

You are doing great.. you  lost 25lbs in two weeks..and are still that at 4 weeks but that's ok..  I am 3 months out next Monday and I have just now lost 25lbs since surgery.. I am doing all the right things. so I just have to let my body do its thing in its own time.. please just relax and let it happen.. do your best and don't let things upset you.. you have a year after surgery to loose the weight you need.. and then maybe loose more after that.. many people do.. Some loose for 2 years.. It has been a year this month since I started loosing.. and I am not to the 100lbs lost yet but I am still so happy to have lost this much and be able to walk and get in the floor and DRIVE again and be able to do my own house work and fit in the tub.. and get my wedding rings back on  this weekend.. first time in 10 years.. so many wow moment to celebrate.. I am sure you have many to celebrate too..   focus on the positive things and hang in there.. this is not a quick fix.. it will take time.. and your body will set that time.. not your mind.. as to how fast you think you should loose..


It does not sound like a stricture .. sound like you are just getting things stuck... chew chew chew.. if you are taking pills then cut them in half and take smaller ones.. I am still chewing my vitamins and only take very small pills.. if you had a stricture I think you would be throwing up when you tried to eat.. nothing would be going through.. a stricture is when the scar tissue closes up the opening from the stomach to the intestines and nothing will pass... If you feel you have something stuck  try walking sometimes that helps.. also you can try taking chewable papaya enzymes.. you can get them at most pharmacies.. .. they aid in digestion and might break up things that get stuck..  If you are eating meats like chicken or such you can use meat tenderizer in water mixture to try to get it to break up.. but at 4 weeks you should not be eating meats yet.. 

Maybe one of the more experienced women can help with the stricture question.. 

I will keep you in my prayers for patience.. and for speedy recovery from that pain.. and the problems with taking your medications.. I know it seems bad but this too shall pass..

Huggs.

One month out I stalled for 36 horrible days.

Some suggestions:

slow down your food progression a little, although by this time you probably want to chew stuff soooo badly;

up the protein;

like said above -- don't weigh everyday!

People have problems with different foods. I couldn't handle chicken until I was at least 6 months out. Sliced turkey was fine -- go figure. Beef wa**** or miss.

Papaya enzyme is your friend. I bought mine at Trader Joe's, but I've seen it other places. 

When I get that stuck feeling I chew one or two tablets with just a sip of water.  Usually, I'm back to normal shortly after that.

Regarding the stricture, if you don't get an answer here, that one may be better posted in the RNY forum.

Best of luck!!

My advice is to write down everything you eat and drink in a diet journal. I find it is one the of best tools out there for weight loss, and it keeps me honest and my eyes on the prize. I even document my vitamins, and of course take credit for any and all physical activity (including parking far away from the store entrance and walking across the parking lot)! Makes me feel good.

That being said, EVERYONE stalls. It is a normal part of the weight loss process. It is a result of the fact that we are organic creatures and not mechanized machines. Our bodies are composed of feedback loops and complex metabolic processes. Evolution has made it easy for humans to store fat so that our ancestors could eat up when food was plentiful (summer and fall) and live off their fat stores in lean times (winter and early spring).

Before food preservation was invented, this was a totally necessary biological tendency. Now that we live in a time and place where food is plentiful and hidden calories abound, this necessary evolutionary process is a *****! It totally SUCKS!

Don't be too discouraged by the stalls. They will pass. Embrace the Non-Scale Victories (NSVs)--they really help keep us motivated! Buy a pair of Goal Jeans and try them on every month or so to gauge your progress. And NEVER weigh more than once a week. Just my two cents! 

Thank you for the replies -- I will get some of the papaya and see if it helps when I get things stuck, but mostly I have backed off to protein drinks and soup for now in hopes of avoiding that awful feeling.

So stalling even this early isn't unusual? I guess it would have been easier for me if I lost the weight a bit more evenly over the past 4 weeks, not so much in the first two, then going up and down for the last two.

I was actually told by my GP to weigh myself daily for awhile because he wanted to run blood work if I was losing too fast. I take diuretics and he has concerns about my staying hydrated, but I need to stay on them so that I can breathe.

I think you're all right . . . I need to focus more on the positive, like my oxygen saturation being up about 5% and NOT falling when I walk (my heartrate goes up, but I am not desaturating the way I was before). I guess I just feel like I would like to eat SOMETHING, even just once a day, but I can't really do it. It's a weird feeling to be constantly putting something in your mouth, but only getting maybe 500 calories in a day.

Focus . . .

I did but two tops yesterday in smaller sizes. They are to shrink into for spring. I have pants in smaller sizes for a little bit, but not the tops.

Thank you :)

 Not only is it not unusual to stall this early, but its perfectly normal, maybe even standard. Everyone stalls and most of us had our first one fairly early out. Keep doing the right things and you WILL lose weight.

Whine away Sister!  we are all entitled once in awhile.  This is a tough road and you are doing great!  There will be stalls along the way... we all have them to some degree...but i always TRY to remember this quote I heard... I know im not getting it exactly right.. vut it applies here.. Its not the event that we regret  that matters, what really matters is how gracefully we pick ourselves up and put it all back together and move forward. 

Our bodies are all different and we lose and adjust to WLS in different ways at different speeds and at whatever speed our bodies dictate. 

Something else I try to remember is that I have done a lot to my bod in the last year.. dieted, surgically rearranged things, starved it, fed it, drowned it in more liquid per day than ever before, given it more vitamins and supplements than its ever had, made it move in ways it has not in years and really is not accustomed to, stopped medications that I have been on for I don't even remember how long and for various things that im sure all interact on some level... and its going to take time for the BOD to come to terms with all of that. 

You will get there.. don't be so hard on yourself or set yourself crazy timelines to do things... in YOUR time it WILL UNDOUBTEDLY happen. 

Oh GOD this is so much easier to say than do - I hope I'm not jinxing myself...

And lastly, my doctor said a little meat tenderizer in warm water will clear out a stricture like human drano.. and it works.  But for me... throwing up is the only other thing that does the trick.  I dump often and over the strangest and most familiar things for sometimes what seems like no reason... when I go through a spell like that.. I just ease way back and stick to what I know my Bod will calmly accept. 

Love & Hugs!!!!!

It is typical for our weight to flucuate. Since you have to weigh daily you are going to see it.  It is water retention weight!  You are on water pills so that must be a problem.  You know you didn't eat over 6000 extra calories it would have taken to gain 2 pounds of fat.  Whew, now that is settled.  Never raise your ticker for water weight, right?  Just wait a few days and see your real weight.  Hugs, Loris