A stall might not really be a stall at all.

Not sure if you have it or not, but for those with PCOS I know it can take a little longer for the scale to show a drop.  A friend of mine took two weeks to start losing.  She was so scared that the surgery just didnt' work for her.  I will tell you like I told her.....you have had your gastrointestinal system reworked(in her case RNY, in yours VSG) in order to lose weight.  There is NO way you will not lose at all.  Just give your body time to catch up to your new system of processing food..once it starts, it will fall off.  Just my opinion....

Buy a tape measure today and start using it.  It saved me countless headaches.  OK, in all truth, I still suffered from the headaches.  I just hated the stair stepper approach, but it got me to goal in 6.5 months, so all my belly aching was for nothing.  I hope the same thing happens in your case.  You might still be dropping the weight from the fluids pumped into you during surgery.  Hang in there, the weight will start to come off soon.

 Thank you both! I do have PCOS, and I figured that would impact my weight loss in some way, but at my 1 week appt. they told me my pancreas was starting to function normally, which is great news. Anyway, I actually did lose week one. I lost 12 pounds, then I got the mirena, gained a pound the following day, and then stopped losing.  I know I need more protein. I just started purees so I hope to get more protein that way as I'm still having horrible aversions to some food and protein drinks. I have some unjury coming today so hopefully that will help a bit. Anyway, I know if I keep doing my thing, eventually my body will do it's thing, so I just have to keep at it. It's just hard not to step on the scale and think that I must've eaten HoHos in my sleep. 

 Hi,

I have PCOS too and I am pre-op. I HAD the Mirena. it was the worst thing ever. I put on so much weight, bloated and could not wear my rings or anything, I was so depressed and my face GOT HUGE.. At first I was told there are no side effects. Then about 2 months later, I went into hell. I had to have it removed and before the Mirena they tried Provera and Progestin and neither was a feasable option for me. Keep track of your weight on Mirena, many people have to have it removed and one WITHOUT any hormone replacement put it or find another source of BC. Sorry to go off topic, some people thrive on Mirena... and some do not. I hope it works for you. 

Just be aware if it does not. My swelling and bloating and every other nasty side effect went away within a month. It was the worst time of my life physically.

Danielle

Thank you for sharing that. I honestly feel nervous about it!! I mean I had this surgery to HAVE another baby, and now I have to be on birth control, which stinks. Seriously, I think I would rather not have sex until maintenance than have this thing interfere with my weight loss and I'm not even kidding. I don't know. I will just have to monitor it. I see my OB in 3 weeks and if I'm not losing again by then I will have to have a talk with her about whether or not to choose something else.  

Thanks!!  This was very interesting for me to read... especially today.

My weight loss has slowed down.  In fact, I've been in a stall for about three weeks now (I'm 9 months out) which is driving me crazy.  I alway**** my numbers - ALWAYS - and I exercise six days a week for an hour.   Two weeks ago, I decided to try to go to protein shakes to jump start my losing again.  Two weeks of (almost) nothing but protein shakes and I haven't lost a single pound.  It seems crazy that I could weigh 230 pounds while only consuming a very lean 600 calories a day.

This morning, I decided to ditch the shakes and go back to real food.  One benefit of the shakes experiment was that it really seemed to make my sleeve extra tight!  I had just one and a half weigh****chers string cheese (which are fairly small as far as string cheese goes) and I am stuffed.  So that is a pleasant surprise.

I will admit, that part of me (irrationally, I am sure) is concerned my body thinks this is the maintenance weight.  You see, 230 pounds was what I weighed for many years.  I put on 130 pounds very quickly as a result of cushing's disease - and that weight (thankfully) is now lost.  

Let me ask you this - do you buy into the idea of a set point?  That your body has a certain set point that it always struggles to achieve.


Anyway... I definitely am a stair step loser, so I am betting that next week I'll suddenly drop five pounds.  All I can do is stay on plan and keep exercising.  I know I'm getting stronger every day (I can feel it!) so even if I don't have the payoff on the scale, my body is getting healthier.  

Thanks again for this post.  Very timely for me, and certainly a hot topic around here.

The set point question is complicated and I would hate to steer you in the wrong direction.  I think this is a good question for my next support group meeting.  I will ask my guru and get back to you on this one.  I do think you should continue to eat very low calorie, as I don't buy into the starvation mode at all.  There is a great deal of current research that disproves it now.  I think that by staying very low cal (around 600 calories), you will start to lose weight and you might even lose a great deal of weight all at once.  That is what happened to me a few times.  I felt like "this is just not working" and "how can I not lose on 600 calories", and then, just as I was ready to pull out my hair, my weight would stop dropping and keep dropping at over one pound a day for a week or two.  Some days, I would drop 2 or more pounds.  It was freaky, in a very happy dance sort of way.  If I gave up to soon, I might not ever have seen these type of losses. Sometimes I read here about people increasing their calories to break a stall, well it does work and the stall does break, but there is research that shows that they will lose slower in the long run than if they just waited it out and let the stall break naturally,  In the end, it all comes down to calories in, physical expenditure out.  No magic to it at all and no way to really cheat the system.  The only thing that gives us a better fighting chance is increased protein.  My doctor always tells his patients to increase their protein in a stall while keeping their calories the same. 

Oh, thank you so much!  I'll be really interested to hear what he has to say! 

I have always thought the idea was a set point was bunk, but as I've been lingering at 230 it got me wondering (or worrying) if maybe there was something to it.  

I'll definitely stick with the low cal and try to up my protein a bit too.  I'm sure this stall will break.  It has to, and they always do.  Like you said, I just can't do what I would have done in my pre-sleeved life which would be to throw up my hands and go back to my old ways.  Hopefully I'll have a freaky happy dance moment soon! LOL!

Thanks for your great advice and info.   Reading your posts always helps keep me on track and my eyes on the prize.

Great explanation Elina!  I am definitely in the last stage. Not really stalled just losing so slowly that it is going to take a definite change in eating habits to shift the last 20lbs. I know that the last 20 is going to be a ***** to shift and maybe I am being to complacent in my routine. The other issue is that I really feel good where I am,  logically I know I need to lose another 20lbs but I worry about being too thin. I can't see the new me in the mirror and when I look at photos I see skinny legs, arms and face. I am getting the you don't need to lose anymore from family members and really am scared of turning off hubby.  He has been a doll thru all of this and is super happy with me getting healthy but he likes a little meat on the bone. He was definitely a chubby chaser. Don't get me wrong things are still good between us but I am scared of getting to thin for him. I will have the conversation with him and work that out, this is just a little bit of my insecurities sneaking thru. Wow that just came out of nowhere.  Anywho just wanted to say thanks for a great post.

I think I'm in the same boat as you, Kimberlyann.  I need to drop a few more pounds, but am feeling so great at my current weight and size, the motivation to make changes to stimulate more loss is waining.  I'm eating more within a maintenance range of calories than for losing, although I haven't increased carbs.  I seem to be within a 2 lb. range consistently,  I have been trying to increase physical activity, which is a breeze compared to a year ago.  I refuse to beat myself for this, as I am healthy and look/feel good, so when I am ready to push for losing the rest, I'll do so.