1-800-ASK-A-VET (Ask anything thread...)

i know the vets hate these questions. but i am almost four weeks out from surgery. And i havent loss any weight in over two weeks since i left the hospital i have loss about 20lbs. everyone says it will pass but it is Very discouring. I know im doing what im am suppose too. but everyday somebody calls me and asks so how much weight did you lose. I am so worried about being a failure at this weight loss jouney i think about my weight all day. Do know of anybody the surgery didnt wrk for  meaning they didnt lose any weight? i had very little promblems after surgery and i feeling great just wondering why my body wont catch up. Also can u send me link to ur recipie site. i need some protein shakes ideas thanks

Tell your friends that call you up that the first six months are a roller coaster and that your weight losses won't really be impressive unti lyou are six months out. Tell them to ask you in three months.

There are a teeeny tiny minority for whom the surgery doesn't work (and they figure out why, and treat that and then the person loses weight)

I did NOT lose much from week 3 through week 8

I am one of the vets who normall has very little patience for this question, so I won't address what you already know because you obviously arlready KNOW it is 100% normal and you just have to be patient....

I would suggest, however, that you find a polite (bujt firm) way fo telling the poeple who keep asking you how much weigth you ahve lost that 1) even for someone who has had weight loss surgery, the question is somewhat rude, and 2) that -- although you appreciate their interest and support -- because this process is sucah a variable one, with stops and starts and periods of rapid weight loss and slow weight loss, it is stressful to you to have people constantly asking you how much you have lost (and that it would be easier on you -- and more supportive -- if they did not focus on the number on the scale).

It is physically impossible for someone to not inbitally lose weight after a RNY because of the combination of being able to eat so little and the malabsorption fo the calories you do eat.  There are, however, a very few people who do not lose much weight (almost always because they are not compliant with their eating), a few more people who don;t lose as much as they would have LIKED to (often through no fault of their own... their body just had different ideas of what size trhey should be than they did in their mind), and even more people who lose much/all/most of their weight, but gain some of it back... and, yes, a few people do gain it all back (but I have never heard of anyone who gained it all back who did NOT go back to eating the same crap they were eating BEFORE surgery).

Lora

So..... you're gonna kick me in the butt for this one.... but here's my question

You know, i've been coping with a "regain"

But I look at that stupid idiotic scale and think "fat" and regain...... why can't I look at the scale and realize tha even if the number is higher than it was averaging before my recent surgery (five pounds more) it's STILL TWO POUNDS below my goal weight? 

Why do I feel like "red alert I'm gaining" when I'm still below goal? 

Yes, I am going to kick your butt but not for asking the question or feeling the way you feel but because YOU already know part of the problem and solution.

You KNOW that we can form unhealthy relationships with the scale (much in the same way some of us formed unhealthy relationships with food).

You KNOW scales are only a tool so long as they don't eff with our heads and make us crazy.

You KNOW that you've done well.

You KNOW that you eat reasonably (and most of the time not nearly enough) and

You KNOW that because you eat reasonably and most of the time not nearly enough you can't possibly be having hyper-regain so...

You also KNOW that the scale is, in fact, effing with you and has become a less effective tool.

Back away from the scale woman before I come over there.

Kisses. That is all.

Thanks

Yeah... EVERYTHING Nik said... including the kisses!

Lora

I recently gained 2-3 pounds and I feel the same way - and I am a whole 15 pounds below goal.  So I don't know the answer.  But you are not alone.

Because in your head (and mine and many others I'm sure) you're going to wake up tomorrow and be back to 300+ lbs b/c you're seeing the scale go up.

While I preach everything in moderation, eating crap will sometimes make the scale go up temporarily and it drives me insane I tell you even though I know it will come back down.

Acutally gaining a few pounds wouldn't kill me but it's the behavior to get me to gain a few pounds that scares me.

**sigh**

Well I was hovering at 153 for a while, then on Wednesday I had an off-plan day where I ate TWO cookies and a DONUT (and didn't dump)

After that my scale seems to have stabilized at a pound lower

my body knows how to taunt me.