A realization hit me today

You know, I have been what I would call a text book patient since my RNY procedure. I eat my protein first, I am walking at least 3.2 miles everyday and up to 4.8 three or four times a week. I am exercising as well. Lifting weights, getting in my water, taking all my vitamins, I mean I am doing everything right. That said I am not one of those people that the weight is falling off of. Don't get me wrong, I am not upset with my progress but I realized in a big way today that if I did not have this tool, I would have given up on any diet I was on these last two weeks. You see, I have only lost 2 pounds in the last 14 days and that is with me busting my rear. If I had just been on a diet it would have been to much to take, I would have tossed in the towel and had a big meal or seven just to get it out of my system before I restarted, you know how it is. But with this tool, I just sort of shake my head and know that it will get better, I will continue to go down even if it is slowly and one day I will reach my goal. I did finally drop one more pound and now I am hopeful it will be the start of another ten pound drop or so before I stall again. I assume that will happen since I am only two months out, in what should be the easiest time to lose and it is going this slowly, I am probably in for a little longer ride than a lot of you lucky bastiges. Troy

Troy you gotta figure if you are lifting weights then you could possibly be trading muscle for fat which is a good thing.   You may not be losing weight but if you are putting on muscle that's exactly what you want to do.   Sleep well with the fact that plateaus are temporary.  It's just your body trying to adjust to the major changes you are throwing at it.  Everyone experiences them during the journey so hang in there and before you know it you will have dropped another pound or 10.  

Chad.

Life is different when looking at "The Long Term."

Keep it up. Slow-downs in loss come and go. Good habits can last a lifetime. Best Wishes- Dx

Troy -

I agree, muscle weighs more than fat. Maybe the weight lifting is adding weight as you are loosing fat.

Keep it up, you are going great!

Sean

hey troy,

the lifting and all is great but it's the cardio that will kick start you. now it's actually very very hard to gain muscle mass. yeah, you're replacing fat with muscle but lean muscle mass gain if very hard to do. there's some guys on here who work out like crazy, do all the right things and for them, yeah, they're gaining muscle but still not tons of muscle. it comes very slow. so that leads me back to what it is we really have to do. eat right and exercise. don't you hate the obvious? you know, Dx doesn't hit the weights like i do but he keeps his weight the same year in and out. how? good food choices for one. he has some posts on how to kickstart your loss again. maybe look for those.

now i'm not preaching because i'm actually gaining weight! and it's not muscle even though i'm lifting heavier. for me i stopped looking at the scale. it's all about inches. i can be in a ten pound range and still fit in my pants. so that's what i go by. i've gained muscle but it's taken the better part of year just to put on a few muscle pounds. so come on, you know what you really want to hear. get your ass and your head wired together and start over. it's what i'm going to do. like you in the old days i would have given up. but because of this board and the surgery my head is in a different place nowadays. hell, we paid a fortune for this pouch. it really does work if you do the program. so we have to get back to the program. the weight will come off, just slower. so back to basics.

so we can compare notes. we have a big dinner coming up and i'm like everyone else. i'm starting after the new year. i'm going back to protein shakes and cutting out the carbs i seem to crave again. my exercise program is ok. truth be told it's all about the crap i'm putting in my pie hole. i'm grazing at night and it's carbs. ok, i confessed. so i need a diet partner. know any? carbonblob

I agree with Dx, try to look at the big picture, which it sounds like you are already doing....and just a reminder, four to eight weeks out seems to be the most common time for people to hit their first and often longest plateau as your body takes a break to say "what the heck is going on here?"  The good news is if you keep doing what you are doing, or mix-in a plateau buster routine like the one that Dx has posted in the past, you will get off this plateau and start heading down again. You will, you will, you will! Hang in there in the meantime!

Thanks for all the responses guys. I really am doing well, if I didnt have some issues that have nothing to do with WLS, I dare say I would probably be happier than I have ever been right now. Kyp, Thanks for the encouragement. I have been working on my goal list.   Dx, I went and found your platue buster post and read over it again, as well as a few other post on stalls. Turns out it isnt uncommon to hit your first big slow down six weeks after surgery. Sean, not sure if that is it, I dont think I am pushing myself near hard enough to be putting on mass. However maybe it is a tad easier to do when you go from doing nothing to something at first. Carbonblob, I dont really think I am putting on much muscle weight, I am not a heavy lifter by any stretch. I am using the Mayo clinic work out and dont really even feel like I am pushing myself hard yet. What I can asure you is that I am all over the Cardio. I am doing the eliptical for right at one hour every other day and I am sweating like crazy the whole time with a heartbeat of 130 - 135 range. My walking total for the month of December was 105.1 miles. That is not counting anything outside my scheduled walking in the mornings. I am going to try and cut my carbs down even more, but honestly I am staying well under 60 a day now more like under 40 most days, and my diet has been very good, so I am not sure how much I could alter it at the moment. Micheal, thanks for the encouragement! Now I did have something kind of cool happen today. My wife and I are attending a party Saturday, I have one pair of dress pants that are getting a bit big. She reminded me that I also have a suit that I wore on our 10th wedding anniversary. That was over six years ago btw. Well I thought, maybe it would fit now, since it hasnt even come close for the last five years. So we go in to try it on and what do you know, it is now way to big for me.  I started trying on some shirts then and it turns out about three polos that I had all but given up on wearing fit me very well now.  Sometimes it is hard to see the changes when we see ourselves everyday, but clothes dont lie. And it really made me feel great that I am making progress. I can't wait to see what the next few months have in store for me. Thanks everyone, Troy