Steadily stalling
After 2/3 frustrating months I've noticed an annoying pattern. I lose about 7lbs in 4-5 days and then stall for 10-17 days. This has happened about 4 times already and it's quite discouraging. Also when I enter the 'stall period' i go up about 2.5lbs. I know I should be happy that I'm losing weight, but I'm not sure that this is normal at only 5 months out. I will confess my eating habits aren't the greatest. I go some days barely eating anything and feeling nauseous when I do. then some days I can literally eat anything (in smaller amounts than before surgery, but still not healthy foods.) any advice on how to control the nausea and weight stalling?
It is normal, especially if you menstruate. Here are my tips:
Try to focus on the thing you can directly control, i.e. what you eat. Congratulate yourself every day you follow a healthy diet. When you stall for two weeks and then lose two pounds "overnight", was it really overnight? No; you were making progress during those two weeks, even though the scale didn't move.
The other thing you can control, to some extent, is constipation. Drink more water, and that will help keep you regular and reduce the scale fluctuations.
Get a scale that shows body fat percentage in addition to your weight. I usually find that when my weight is stalled, the body fat percentage is going down, which reassures me. Early on, the body fat percentage won't change much, because each pound is a small percentage of your total weight. But as you get closer to your goal, the pounds come off more slowly, but each pound lost has more of an effect on body fat percentage.
on 12/19/19 8:29 pm
Try to remember you signed up for a long term change with fantastic benefits that require patience, perseverance and a little discipline. The weight loss will come over time and you'll have many small failures along the way. Just stick to the plan as much as possible and pick yourself back up after the inevitable failures.
I was really slow losing weight the first few months but after a year it was about 150lbs. More important are the many lifestyle changes I've adopted after the weight loss.
After 2/3 frustrating months I've noticed an annoying pattern. I lose about 7lbs in 4-5 days and then stall for 10-17 days. This has happened about 4 times already and it's quite discouraging. Also when I enter the 'stall period' i go up about 2.5lbs. I know I should be happy that I'm losing weight, but I'm not sure that this is normal at only 5 months out. I will confess my eating habits aren't the greatest. I go some days barely eating anything and feeling nauseous when I do. then some days I can literally eat anything (in smaller amounts than before surgery, but still not healthy foods.) any advice on how to control the nausea and weight stalling?
dehydration can cause nausea, so I would really work on that.
I didn't have any stalls because I ate an extremely low carb diet while in the losing phase. I mean low like 20 gms or less a day.
when carbs are eaten, the body must sthold several Gallo s of watervto process the carbs. ThAt process takes about a week. If you are eating carbs often you will keep that wTer weight I definitely.
After 2/3 frustrating months I've noticed an annoying pattern. I lose about 7lbs in 4-5 days and then stall for 10-17 days. This has happened about 4 times already and it's quite discouraging. Also when I enter the 'stall period' i go up about 2.5lbs. I know I should be happy that I'm losing weight, but I'm not sure that this is normal at only 5 months out. I will confess my eating habits aren't the greatest. I go some days barely eating anything and feeling nauseous when I do. then some days I can literally eat anything (in smaller amounts than before surgery, but still not healthy foods.) any advice on how to control the nausea and weight stalling?
You admit that your eating habits aren't the greatest and that when you do eat, you're still not eating healthy foods. That's what you need to get under control because this is for the rest of your life and you need to learn to eat for your new normal.
Someone already suggested nausea goes hand and hand with dehydration. How much water do you drink every day? You should be drinking a minimum of 64 ounces. I know it's hard to get in that much water and eat enough food, but it's finding the balance. Are you trying to eat three meals a day or do you graze throughout the day?
Eating with the DS takes commitment. Stalls can be normal but controllable. Do you track your food? That might help understand the stalls. You should be eating a high protein, low carb, high fat diet. I actually hate using the word "diet" because what you're doing is simply eating for your new normal. You're not on a diet anymore.
Janet in Leesburg
DS 2/25/03
Hazem Elariny
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