A stall might not really be a stall at all.

Sometimes writing things out gets our real fears and feelings to come out.  You are not going to lose the last 20 until you decide firmly for yourself if you want to lose them.  You might want to really do some soul searching here.  There is nothing wrong with stopping at a higher number.  Only you get to decide when you have reached goal.  If I was you, I would start journaling my feelings about this and living with them for a while.  The really good news, is that nothing is in stone.  You can choose to stop now, then change your mind and lose later.  Or you can go for it now, and if you don't like the way you look, you can choose to put some of the weight back on.  The miracle of this surgery, is that eventually, you start to feel in control of your weight instead of it controlling you.  Think this through, own your desires and then get what you really want.  I am here for you if you reach out.

You are so on the ball.  I had this number in my head and it just seemed like it should be that number. I will reaffirm and get to the number and if I feel it isn't right then I can just let my body decide where it wants to be. Thanks again.

Loved the whole post but my favorite part was the saber-tooth tiger attack!!!

Elina - thank you!! This is what I needed to read this morning. Definitely I'm relating to your #2 right now. Ah, thank you, PMS, for this morning's freak-out on the scale. Funny that when I'm super conscious of my sodium intake and drink at least 64 oz of water each day (on top of the liquid in protein shakes) it seems I retain more liquids/don't drop in weight.

Anyway, I love your writing and wisdom...have a great day!

Amen! Everything you said is soo true. Thanks for taking the time to share your wisdom

This is why the scale cannot rule your day. I know (and my surgeon told me) that between now and probably January there will be lots of stair steps before I get another slide. BUT there will be plenty of body changes, so I'm just focusing on that. I love my gym, I love where I swim and now that it's (sort of) getting cooler here in GA I'm going to plot out some weekend hikes. To be completely honest if I stayed at 210 feeling as good as I do right now I'd be fine.  What I wanted most out of this surgery was some hope and a physiological kickstart. Which is exactly what I've gotten.

The scale will take care of itself for a few months. 

Well, I hope I am not chased by a saber-tooth tiger anytime soon, but glad to know what my body will do if it happens. As always, thank you for your insight. Very informative and helpful to us all. Blessings on your day!

I think our bodies can also just be putting the effort elsewhere for a bit, which means it will show up on our body, but not the scale.  This is why it is important to look at the measurements, how you feel, how clothes fit, as well as the number of lbs on the scale.  Maybe your body is using all that food to build new heart muscle, or to heal your body from the losses.....as long as you eat right, and excercise, it will come off. 

 Very interesting Elina!  I am a classic stairstep loser. It can be very frustrating!  Thanks for the information!!

I am going to chime in about the 4th kind of stall.  I am sure it is a combination of what I am eating, what I am doing, and my psychological state which I call my readiness.  While I know that weight loss strictly speaking may not have a psychological component, my mindset has a lot to do with where I go weight-wise. 

I often hear people talking about losing weight as a universally positive thing.  I would say for me it is 80% positive.  I also have fear and anxiety that come up as I get smaller.  Being fat, and my identity as a fat person, are big aspects of my life that aren't shed easily.  If you told me I could take a pill and wake up tomorrow at 140 pounds, I wouldn't do it.  Tomorrow is too soon.

I can tell those times when I stop losing because I am freaked out.  They come at predictable points (usually every 30 pounds at first, then more frequently as I approach my own personal goal).  I remember clearly being at 177 and wondering if I was ready to get smaller.  I feel that way again. 

My point is, I also have to do the mental work to be okay with being smaller, because I will not be any smaller than I want to be, and that I have embraced for myself.  This makes me one of those No. 4 people, in the sense that I lose a lot, sit at a spot for a while and go down again.  I find that if I consistently eat 1000 cal a day, I lose weight.  I am not always willing to do that, and mostly I see my job now is to "refine" my willingness, whi*****ludes being willing to let go of whatever being 167 pounds is doing for me now.

The disadvantage to this approach is that it can be discouraging if you let yourself get wrapped up in the scale (which I've mostly avoid so far), and (for me) I still have to have a very disciplined approach to eating *even if* I'm not losing weight.  I think of this as practice for maintenance.

This is really why one of my mantras is "clean eating is its own reward."