Hit a plateau

Hi Everyone,

 

This is my first post on the NJ Forum and i was hopeing someone might have some sugestions,


I'm stuck, no matter what i seem to eat or do i can't seem to lose anymore. I had lapband surgery on 12/6/07 tipping the scales at 472, as of today i'm 50 pounds down, For the last 2 weeks i've been bouncing between 422-427 and i can't get past that point. My meals are

Breakfest
Protien Shake (8oz fat free milk, about 43 grams of whey protien, 2 scoops of GNC mega man multi vitamin power, 2 table spoons of all natural peanut butter (no fat,2grams of suger,8 grams of protien, about 200 caleries), 7 ice cubes)

Lunch if im hungry, half the time i skip this and just eat dinner
grilled chicken sandwich (chicken,tomato,some light honey mustard, in a pita) Takes me about an hour to hour and a half to eat the whole thing, rarely i'll eat the pita

Dinner
some sort of a chicken or an omlette with egg beaters and ff cheese 

Snack (if i feel hunger coming on)
a snack cup of ff and suger free pudding or
a sting cheese


oh and i'm constantly drinking water at work and when i get home i'll have crystal light

As you can tell i eat mostly chicken due to thats really the only meat i can handle at this point (tried some chop meat and steak and neither seem to go down to well)

Exercise
treadmill for 6 min a night and thats about .20 of a mile, i can't seem to do more than that due to hip and knee problems, (can't really walk around out side since its about 10 degrees out in NJ and im constanly cold since surgery)i still have problems lifting things so weight lifting is pretty much out.



Any suggestions on what to do or change?


Sorry for the long winded post


Thanks
Mark S

Mark,are your clothes getting looser?You can still be losing inches.Also skipping lunch is not a good idea.We need to keep our metabolisim running.I would try eating every meal & snack & see if that breaks the stall.Also have you tried any fish that too should help.Good luck

Mark, First of all - you are about 8 weeks out, right?  Well, it could just be a stall.  MOST people stall around this time - and it can last a few weeks.  Frustrating at best. Secondly - I don't know what your surgeon's instructions are - but mine were to eat SIX small meals a day.  That's about every 2-4 hours.  Annoying at best, especially in the beginning when I wasn't hungry.  HOWEVER, it really helps the metabolism to start working better.  It's also better for blood sugar management whether or not you are a diabetic. I know meat doesn't go down well - but you may want to change your menu around.  Your body gets used to the amount of calories you take in and the amount of calories you burn - and adjusts so it holds onto weight.  It doesn't want to lose what it's grown so accustomed to.  Things to add:  SF/FF puddings/sf/ff yogurts (dannon Lite and Fit is a great one), weight control oatmeal w/ skim milk if you're allowed.   Seafood, specifically shrimp, goes down REAL well for me.  You might want to try that.  Reduced fat cheese sticks (2 of the polly-o 2% string cheese has 16gm protein total) The taking over an hour to eat lunch - that's where eating 6 small meals comes in handy.  You don't have to eat that much (maybe 3 ounces at a time).  My surgeon doesn't really want me taking an hour and half to eat.  Probably at LEAST half an hour, but 45 mins is good.  Taking this long to eat larger portions may lead your body to believe it is "grazing" all day - because it is constantly getting food.  Again, not good for the metabolism. It doesn't appear you are eating to many carbs - but track them as well. And like said before, pay attention to other things.  If you didn't take measurements BEFORE surgery - take them now.  I'm in a stall, too, and even though my weight hasn't gone down, my inches have.  Muscle takes up less space than fat, but weighs "more" in the amount of space it is in. Best of luck, hang in there, you will get through this too.  And if you have to - HAVE SOMEONE hide the scale.  I had my hubby take mine away - it was becoming a source of stress during a time in my life when I need to focus on doing the right things for my health and worry about weight later. Pam

not to worry Mark, it is just your body adjusting to the change you've made. one suggestion that i would make is to up your protein intake just a bit...it just may be the jump start your body needs to start losing again. once you start losing again, you'll foget all about this, but also keep track of exactly what foods you're eating and the combinations...each persons body reacts differently to certain foods combined with others...when it happens again(and it will)..look for similarities.... Good luck in your Journey!!!                                                                                                          -Bob

hi mark i won't repeat what the others have said -- keep track of your foods -- buy a little notebook and write things down -- it helps -- change up your walking time -- maybe walk in the morning every other day -- have to keep the body guessing -- eat lunch -- even something small -- keep the metabolism going -- SF fudgcicles are good when you need something -- tuna fish is high in protein --  hide the scale -- nothing is more depressing than the scale not going down -- and depression leads to foolish  eating habits  good luck  roberta

Thanks everyone for your advice The strange thing is i'm losing inches but not the weight, I'm now down 6 pant sizes, I started at a 52 at time of the surgery and i tried a 46 on last night and it fit, and even had even had extra room to spare. Thanks Mark S

Not strange at all mark!  That is fat vs muscle!!  If you fill a container with fat it might way let's say 1 pound.  Fill that same size container with muscle it might weigh 2 pounds.  It's because muscle takes up less space (IE more muscle would be needed to fill the container than it would take using fat) Keep up the great work!!!!!