Plateau

I had RNY on August 2008. I was 288 going in and now weigh 195. I have lost 55% of my excess weight according to my surgeon and that is a "success" in their book. Problem is that since I hit 205, I've only been losing about a half a pound a week, if that - exactly as I did before surgery, which is very frustrating!  According to fitday, my weight loss since August averages out to 2.08 pounds a week and I'd have to love 3.74 pounds per week to reach my goal by my "surgiversary". Everyone says I should be content with what I've done. I am very happy - I feel great and I'm off all my pre-surgery co-morbidity meds.  But I still 63 pounds to lose to reach the goal and I am starting to get those old "diet" feelings where the scale doesn't move and I feel like throwing in the towel. So far I have been able to control that, but I really don't want to be stuck at 195 - it's great for me, but for "real" people, it's still considered "severely overweight"! Any advice nutritionally at this point. I haven't changed much of what I'm eating. It averages about 1100 calories a day.

2 lbs weight loss is not a plateau, and it is a healthy way to lose weight. At 1100 calories per day you probably don't want to reduce your intake, so if you're unhappy with 2 lbs per week, then increase the exercise.

Oh, I'd be happy with a 2 lb a week weight loss. What I'm saying is that since August, my total weight loss was 3 lbs a wee****il it all came to a halt about 5 weeks ago. Since then, I've lost the same 2 lbs, regain 1.5, lose a .5, regain 2, etc and thus haven't gone below 195 in 5 weeks. .

I'm sorry, I misread your post.

Before surgery I was using FitDay and it said I should have been losing 4 pounds a week based on my diet and exercise.  I lost nothing.  Not even an ounce.  So take that Fitday calculator thingie with a grain of salt.  It doesn't apply to people who suffer from the disease of morbid obesity -- our bodies don't work like a normal-weighted person anymore (even when we hit normal weight). Also --- who ever said that you had to hit your goal weight within 1 year?  Usually it takes anywhere from 18 months to 2 years to hit your final goal weight and stabalize it and figured out a maintenance plan.  Do not count on losing 2 or 3 pounds per week at this stage of the game... you're not longer in the "rapid weight loss" phase.  It gets harder and harder each month you're away from your surgery date and you have to really stay on track and work your butt off to make that tool work for you.  Don't focus so much on that 1-year mark, it'll just drive you nuts. I started at 299  and had surgery 3 months after you.  We are considered "light weights" --- so it's obvious we'll lose slower than the "heavy weights".  And we can't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves because the scale doesn't move the same for us as it does for other people.   Last week I lost .7 pound.  The week before that I didn't lose anything.  But I also KNOW that I'm doing everything right --- eating right and exercising my butt off -- so the scale will move eventually.  I have had to work really  hard to squash my scale obsession and only weigh myself once a week.  And since I have, I feel better about myself and less emotional about that stupid number the scale spits out every week.   Are you measuring yourself?  Often when the scale doesn't move, we're still losing inches.  I know that I'm losing sizes right now even if the scale isn't moving.   Also remember that as we get further out from surgery the weight loss IS going to slow down.  Here's a post from my friend Jen.  Notice how much her weight loss slowed down each month as she got further out from surgery.  (She started out about 100 pounds heavier than you and I, so she loses faster than us too.)   Chin up!  You're doing great! Pam