9 months post op and feeling frustrated and depressed. Help?

This past Wednesday marked 9 months post op for me.  For the most part, I made it through surgery and recovery without any real complications, and have felt pretty good from the beginning.  Early on, I wasn't experiencing any real stalls, never going more than a few days without weight loss.  I have lost a total of 110 lbs (on a good day, as I seem to go up and down the same three pounds).  And still have 80 pounds to lose. 

But the past three months between 6 months and 9 months, have KILLED me.  I have only lost 7-10 lbs (again, that +/- 3 lbs) during the whole three months.  I was dealing with a female issue that has developed as a result of surgery, and was unable to workout for a bit.  But as a whole, I workout intensely 3-4 days a week.  This includes cardio on the elliptical, strength training twice a week, and I just added yoga...sometimes hot yoga.  My dietitian was pushing only 900 calories still, maybe 1000, but I tried increasing that to 1200 or so to see if that helped restart weight loss.  I do eat some carbs, but complex carbs, and keep them low.  I had blacked out at the gym once, and it was determined that I needed to increase my carbs prior to a workout because they were much too low. 

Anyway, given what I am doing, I SHOULD still be losing weight.  I know there is no such thing as "normal" when it comes to weight loss surgery, but is this typical for others? I know some people on here hate people comparing themselves, and I try not to, but I am losing my mind.  I feel like I am done losing weight, which I know I can't be.  I know stalls can last a while, but I have been in one for 6 weeks now.  Any suggestions from the veterans out there to help start my weight loss again?  Is there hope for resuming weight loss after a 6 week stall, or is this still within a typical stall?

Basically, I just need some advice and some encouragement.  I am feeling really down about this.  Add the body issues I am experiencing with all the excess skin, and I am just a mess.  Of course, feeling this way, I just want to eat.  I have refrained from doing so, or try to eat some carrots or fruit when I feel this way, but unfortunately, I know I do not have many food aversions post op, and I feel like I am constantly fighting the urge to just give up.  Don't get me wrong, I don't plan on giving up, but it's a constant battle I feel.  It's like the little devil sitting on my shoulder telling me I'm going to fail at this too, just like every other weight loss attempt, so that I should just throw in the towel now.  And I feel like no one really knows what I'm going through.  My mom, who weighs 180 lbs at 5'9" is constantly complaining about trying to lose weight and comparing her weight loss situation to mine.  And her frustration with excess skin to mine.  It just makes me more depressed because I would love to be 180 lbs!  I dunno...I just need some support right now I guess.

I hit a huge stall (9 weeks) at right around 9 months out) and even once it broke, by the time I hit the one year mark, my weightloss had slowed to a crawl even though I was not eating any differently and was doing all thge "right" things, eating enough but not too much, etc.  It was very frustrating because, like you, I still had a long way to go (and deep down I was really afraid that I was not ever going to even close to my goal weight (which was a bit conservative in the first place)!  I continued to lose.... just very slowly... and it was sometimes really hard to come here and read posts from people who were AT GOAL in only 9-12 months. or wantign to know how to STOP the weight loss.  I got pretty depressed for a while.

The good news, though -- and I hope you will find this encouraging -- was that, even though changing what I ate, trying calorie cycling, trying to change up my exercsie (I"m somewhat limited in that area because of one really bad knee and one with moderate arthritis) didn't bump my rate of loss up at all, I did continue to lose slowly until I hit my goal weight at 20 months out.  So even though my last 70 pounds came off VERY slowly, they DID come off.  Just be patient and continue to focus on protein and limit your carbs.  (I proceeded to lose another 3 pounds beyond my goal weight during the 3 months after I hit my goal (yes, that's only a pound a month!), but after that, I did not lose a single additional pound.)

My surgeon agrees with me that I was likely one of the people whose intestines overcame the caloric malabsorption from the bypass more quickly than others (18 months to 24 months is the timeframe they usually cite, but some studoies have shown as early as 12 months... and I think that was me!)

Hang in there.  I know it's discouraging, but I would bet that in another year you will be telling someone else prettey much what I just shared with you!  If you want to chat, feel free to PM me.

Lora

Thank you so much Lora!  That's exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear.  This site is so helpful for me because it is the one place I can go to and communicate with people *****ally do understand what I'm going through.  But at the same time, I found myself coming her less often because, like you mentioned, the people hitting goal at 9 months or 12 months were becoming depressing to me, making me feel worse.  Originally, I was on track for that.  I always knew the weight loss would slow down, but I wasn't expecting the stall I am going through.  It is so reassuring to know that, although my weight loss is slowing down, I can still reach my goal.  Just maybe slower than others.  I think part of what is frustrating is that prior to surgery, doing what I'm doing now would result in more weight loss!  But I think my body is just readjusting to what has been done to it, finding ways to adjust for the malabsorption, as you mentioned, and hopefully things will pick up again for me...even if it is slowly!  Thanks again.

 Hi!!!  It's been forever since I have been to the site!  I will be 4 years post op on Aug 15.  Don't get discouraged!  I went through the same thing.  This is not a big deal.  Go to this site and follow the instructions to the letter!!  If this doesn't get you jump started then I would check in with the doc!  Good luck to you!  Let me add, 4 years later and I just gained 10 lbs because I quit smoking.  I have already lost 2 of the 10 this week and weigh in at a whopping 120 lbs.  So the surgery works.  It just takes some time, patience, and some support.  You will stop losing for months sometimes!  I have had a baby since the surgery and weigh less now than when I got pregnant. I was 1 yr post op when I got pregnant. Don't stress 
Come Monday, gain your composure and give The Pouch Test a try!!  

http://www.5daypouchtest.com/

At 9 months I had lost around 111 pounds. You and I were at the same weight on surgery day. Anyways I am 16 months out and still losing. You will get there but it is going to take some time.