Struggling with the last 10 pounds

I am a bit more than 7 months post surgery and have lost my weight consistently with only several short stalls. For the last 2 weeks, I have been stalled out at less than 10 pounds from my goal. I would like to make it to 125, which is 3 pounds below Normal BMI. I don't think that is unreasonable for my height, but I can't seem to get the scale to move more than 2 pounds up and down.

I have tried to think about what might be keeping me from losing and I don't really know for sure. The only thing that has changed is that I have eaten a few apples. I measure what I eat, log my meals, exercise about 45-60 minutes a day and other than the few apples, I don't eat carbs other than non-starchy veggies.

I am feeling really frustrated and keep thinking that my honeymoon is over. I'd just like a few more pounds to make my goal. I have had so much success and my overall health is greatly improved but I feel stuck.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on what else I can do to get this thing moving again.

I would consider this just a stall, your body catching up to you. Stay the course. Try upping your protein and water and cut out the apples. See if it works

Hang in there, it will start moving again!

Remember to check your measurements, don't hang everything on the number on the scale.

Thanks for the reminders. I love the apples and they are so good and fresh. But I wondered when I ate them if I would have problems. Also the water, I have been drinking way too much coffee and need to refocus on water.

It might be a stall. 2 weeks isn't enough time to know for sure.

But it might be that as your body gets smaller, you need to restrict your calories even more.

The golden rule (although this doesn't line up exactly for WLS patients) is that you should multiply your body weight times 10. To maintain your body weight, eat that number of calories. To lose, eat less. To gain, eat more.

Again, we have really messed with our metabolisms over the years with big swings in weight. Plus the x10 rule doesn't factor in for those who are very carb sensitive. But you can see how either way, those last 10lbs may require a much bigger calorie restriction than the first 100lbs, just because smaller people require fewer calories.

It's the curse of maintenance for me. Somehow I thought that once I got to goal I would be able to eat more again. D'oh.

Thanks JB. I hope that this is just a longer stall. By the calories that I am logging, I should be losing, so I am trying to be hopeful that I will continue to lose eventually.

I'm just 12 months out but that certainly happened to me as I was nearing goal. It does slow way down. I agree with cutting out the apples, I've still not had one. Also, when that happened to me, I cut out veggies all day and just had one portion at dinner after my protein, kind of like a dessert. The other thing I've done is completely change the foods I was eating. So if I was in a chicken rut I'd switch to more fish or beef etc. and back off on dairy. I also really upped my fluid intake by a lot. I basically drank constantly when I wasn't eating or waiting my 30 min. after eating. Those things always seem to get the scale going. Hang in there it will move again. Even though I'm below goal by 7lbs I'm still losing... although painfully slowly.

Thanks! I know that I have gotten lax about drinking water. I've been drinking too much coffee and need to refocus. Also it is easy to eat the same things, and I need to mix it up a bit more. I also just need to accept that I am very close to goal and that the pounds won't just fall off now like they did.

hi i went through this also- i had to cut calories to get to 118. i wanted to be at 115 but didn't make it. Had to cut out all extra carbs and not have snacks, and increase exercise.my initial goal was 135, then lowered 125, then 118. I'm at 130 today but would l still like to lose to 120 but apparently am eating maintenance calories.

Thanks supershopper. I think that I may have gotten too lax in assuming that I could have some fruit. Fresh fall apples are one of my all time favorite foods and it was just too tempting to have a few. This is partly a lesson that I am carb sensitive and need to be even more vigilant about focusing on protein.

Two weeks is a nothing amount of time. It just has no meaning as far as weight is concerned.

Stick to dense protein. Weigh and log your food. If you are on track, wait. There is nothing else you can do.