I need guidance

Hi y'all, so, I am 3 months out today, yay! I am loving my pouch, which I call Groot cause in the beginning it wouldn't stop growling lol. Anyway, I stalled already for a whole month. The scale finally moved this last week, but that month was very difficult. I had surgery at 461 lbs, and feel like I shouldn't be having to worry about a stall for a few months. Now, to give all the information, I was sick with pneumonia for three of those four weeks would that have an impact? I wanted to give you guys a couple sample days of what I eat, and please I welcome ALL advice. I am down to 404.6, which is awesome, I'm really excited about that so please don't get me wrong, but I was wondering if because of how high I started if I should have lost more by this point. I'm just SO terrified of failing that I want to stay on top of things. So, here are two sample days of what I've eaten:

Day one: 3/4 cup Post Great Grains Raisin, pecan, and date cereal with 1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup black beans (no salt added) with 1/2 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, a little salsa, and 1/2 cup unsweetened Motts applesauce

An omelet-3 tbsp. southwest egg beaters, 1 chopped green onion, salsa, and 1/4 cup shredded cheese

Snacks: 1 string cheese and later a syntrax chocolate truffle protein shake w/ skim milk.

Totals: Protein-75; Fat 26.5; Carbs 113.75; Sodium 1,418 mg; Calories 1,031

Day two: An omelet same as above

2 oz canned tiny shrimp with 1 chopped green onion and 1 tbsp. mayo-I use real cause I can't stand the lite I just use less, I have done half and half with greek yogurt I just don't have any right now. Oh and an unsweetened applesauce-the little Mott's 1/2 cup

Then I did the same black bean mixture for dinner

Snack: 4 little sargento Colby jack cubes

Totals: Protein 49.1 (not great I know); Fat 41.75; Carbs 52.25; Sodium 1,562; Calories 792

As far as water, I drink plain ice water in a 33 oz cup, and I try to drink at least 3 a day sometimes more. So, Please don't misunderstand I'm not saying that my weight loss so far isn't amazing I'm SO excited about that. I just want to check to make sure I'm using my tool to its fullest potential. Again, any and all advice so very welcome. Thank you all for taking the time to read my post. Blessings! ;)

Hey there.  Glad you are feeling better.  With pneumonia, or any infection, you can really retain fluids, so it's possible that contributed to your stall.  Maybe it coincided with your natural stall and made it worse.  Anyway, glad you're past that.  I would just say that when I was losing I kept my carbs under 50, my protein over 65, and calories under 800.  That was my plan, and I know others have different.  I also don't eat cereal and I think the milk with the cereal might wash the cereal right through your pouch, which is akin to drinking with meals.  You aren't otherwise drinking with meals, right?  Anyway, hope that helps, and best of luck!

I think considering you had pneumonia for several weeks, you have done well.  People lose at various rates so don't focus on whether or not you are losing fast enough. 

I would suggest skipping the cereal due to high sugar content and carbs.  I don't the stats on that cereal but most cereal is high in sugar and carbs.  It works best to keep your carbs to around 50 or less when you are losing. 

Looks like you are doing well with water.  Are you taking your vitamins and do you drink protein shakes?

Being sick will definitely impact your weight loss, so look at this time as a fresh start.  (Love the groot name)  The only think I would say is that you seem very carb heavy compared to your protein, and could maybe do better with some more dense proteins as opposed to all the soft carb rich foods.  

Every doc wants their patients on different diets, but I know my doc would kill me for eating the cereal, and the black beans.  He preaches constantly, almost sings it: "Eggs, meat, cheese, greens!"  We aren't allowed any carbs but leafy green ones, with a minimal allowance of onions, green peppers, and avocado in replacement of mayo.  Obviously rules are different in the soft food phase, but he says the proteins are essential, and the only carbs should be fiber rich, not dense, vitamin packed, low sugar which is NOT fruit, grains, starches.  

Your weight loss is awesome!  You are doing a great job, even with the pneumonia!  I hope you are feeling a lot better now.  Being able to move easier will help you not get sick as easily, I am sure.  And you are SO CLOSE to the 300s!!!!  So exciting!!

Hi! I think you weight loss has been great considering you had a long stall. I had a stall after one week, and it lasted 3 1/2 weeks... I thought I'd lose my mind. I started at the high end of 300, and thought as I was super morbidly obese I should be losing faster. Stalls can happen to anyone. My suggestion is always to just change up what I am eating (Because sometimes we get into a rut) and don't be afraid of fat... I am not talking about frying food :) just adding some good fat.  

My surgeon does not have us count calories, but I can tell you at 3 months out (Because I was using my fitness pal at that point) I was eating 550-750 calories in general. My surgeon has us count protein and fluids. I do have a protein shake everyday to help me get in higher protein. They say 60-80 but I shoot for a minimum of 80. My doctor's mantra is "Protein first then veggies and if you have enough room fruit then starches (carbs)" He never says no carbs but they are at the end of the list. With limited pouch space, esp in the beginning I rarely got past protein and veggies.

I would skip the cereal for now, and while beans aren't horrible they aren't that high in protein, and have carbs. So you have watch the total carbs for the day... even if you aren't counting them, I wouldn't have more than one carby-type thing in one day... esp. when I was 3 months. I find at different stages I've had to refigure my eating... but at 3 months that is what I was doing. Good Luck, you will be fine... just keep doing what you are supposed to do and keep moving forward. Also check out the M-F post "What are you eating today RNYers?" great ideas....

Something that helped me learn to eat differently was to chose food where the protein count is higher than the carb count. So cereal wouldn't work because the carb is higher than the protein count. So maybe a tsp. of that cereal in a thick greek yogurt. It would be higher in protein and also it would stay longer in your pouch since there wouldn't be milk to wa**** through quickly.

Being that sick does change weight loss. Hope you get to feeling better.

Deb T.

I could have wrote this!  I'm not 3 months out but I know I'm able to east much more than I should..I'm not having a good couple weeks.  Nice job writing down everything.  That is my new goal, starting tomorrow.  I'm sorry I don't have good advise.   But wow you are doing great.. your weight and mine are almost the same.  Do you have trouble getting exercise in?  I do.  Hang in ther.   Thank you for pushing me to write it all dow.   Good luck.  

Oh my goodness thank you all so very much for your responses!! I got up this morning, and was so excited to look. ;) I was worried about the cereal with the liquid part. That serving does have 8 grams of protein, but I agree I will cut that out. Part of the problem is that I have found there are very few meats that Groot likes. Also, because of other reasons I would like to transition to being a vegetarian so that makes it difficult. I woke up this morning and I was 402.6 so thankfully it's still moving. Thank you all so much for your guidance and compliments. I am SO excited to be so close to the 3's Hee hee ;);) I will definitely figure out how to lower my carbs and calories. When I stalled I tried to up my calories thinking that was why, but I think I only got above 800 like 3 times haha. I just couldn't get it in. I'm never hungry still so I have to watch the clock, I try to eat every three hours. I'm thankful to know about how many calories because my nutritionist doesn't give a calorie count. I think he wants us to solely focus on getting the nutrition in.

Brandy, it's so wonderful to know that I am not alone in my journey. We all have such different journeys it's amazing. I do have trouble exercising. I was doing aquasize, but it's so hard for me to get up and get going that I've missed the last couple weeks. I do try to do yoga three to four times a week, but it's very mild. I can't do any of the standing positions yet only the ones where I get on the floor. Then getting up off the floor is so hard I seem to always put it off, and then it doesn't get done. Yes, journaling the food is such a big help. I use the livestrong.com phone app I love it. It helped me see that I was getting in WAY too much sodium. I was getting like 4000 a day, and that wasn't even counting putting salt on everything. I try to get between 1000 and 1500 mg a day now, and actually think that's what made the scale move. Who knows though ha, it seems to be such a trial and error thing at this point. Good luck on starting to journal. ;) Again, thank you all so much for your guidance, I truly appreciate you. Blessings! ;)

A crock pot can be your friend when you have a grumpy pouch. 

I was a heavy weight, too -- I cannot eat that many carbs and lower than 80 grams of protein and lose consistently.  Even now, at 16 months out, you are currently eating far carbs and calories than I do.  I am on the Cleveland Clinic's metabolic WLS diet -- and I lost 170 lbs in the first 12 months and currently have lost over 190.  I have tested it, at 950 calories, I am in maintenance (which sucks!) and less than 900 I am still losing.  So it doesn't take many calories to lose vs maintain.

Overall, you are doing great -- but I do think you can get more bang out of your honeymoon period by cutting the number of carbs and calories you are eating.  For the first six months I was eating 500 to 650 calories per day with less than 40 grams of carbs and at least 70 grams of protein.  Now I eat less than 900 calories per day, less than 50 grams of carbs, and at least 80 grams of protein a day.  I weigh and measure everything.  If you are on myfitnesspal -- feel free to friend me.  I have over 500 days logged -- I am very meticulous about it and I'd be happy to be on your cheering team!