Stuck at the 230 mark

so I'm going to whine here a bit because you guys get it. I had my surgery last September and have lost 108 pounds but now I'm stuck at this one number 230 my stalls seem to keep getting longer and longer with me only dropping a few pounds between. With me I have a goal of saying goodbye to the 200s by this September is this too lofty of an idea am I expecting too much? My goal weight is 175 or under which is only 56 more pounds to go but it seems so far away right now. Has anyone else gone through this at the 8 month mark??

what is your menu like? Maybe we can help tweak it...

My menu is pretty consistent

breakfast during weekdays- yogurt cup or Yop bottle the tiny ones

breakfast for weekends - one egg on 1/2 a whole wheat toast or a smoothie

lunch - either cheese/chicken/crackers , tuna wrap with romaine or green lettuce, or leftovers from my supper

supper - a protein like 5 shrimp, 1/2 a chicken breast, fish, scallops and a cup of salad I typically have left overs with this sometimes I'll try and add some steamed veggies in but I can never really eat them as I'm full too quickly

snacks I might have 1 or 2 a week and it's a yogurt or a piece of fruit

Drinks- I have about 2-3 coffees a day with a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of 10% cream, I could increase my water intake, and on occasion I'll have a diet pop

i get on average between 10000 to 15000 steps a day with 7-8 flights of stairs climbed

I burn roughly 3000-4000 calories a day according to my Fitbit but I'm not seeing it

Stalls do happen

i had my wls in 2012

for you hurt I eat plain fat free Greek yogurt which is very tart but it helps cut down on cravings

I no longer do yogurt with fruit I keep the sugar content very low

i also watched my carbs post op I kept it around 20 and I drank a lot of water

i haven't drank coffee in over 20 yrs

i do drink decafe hot tea and I never use regular sugar I use stevia

there is a sugar substitute called monk fruit which I hear is pretty good

I order cappuccino from a bariatric website and I think it has 2 grams of carbs

you might want to see if that can be an option for u, but if you decided on doing a bariatric hot drink you may want to do it once a day

water intake does help too

I am sure Kim is going to respond when she see you post.

As a long term WLS person, I can tell you that the diet you are on is a typical maintenance diet. And it shows - you are maintaining.

That may work well for you when you were over 300 and in 200's but it is too much for you to lose. As we lose weight not only we need less calories to eat to maintain, but we burn less just moving around. Some of us has damaged metabolism and our body can be great maintaining on less calories that we think we need.

As for Fitbit - if I paid attention to the colors expenditure, I should be dead. I get app 10,000 steps a day and often more than 10 levels of stairs. I don't consider that exercise. Just a normal day.

You diet has some significant amount of carbohydrates, that may trigger your body insuIin right from the morning. Insulin is s hormones to store calories, not to burn them. Toast, smoothies, even yogurt often have more carbs than proteins. Fruits are fine, but a lot if times for someone with a health metabolism. And not all fruits are the same. Some have much more sugar than others. I can have fruits while I am trying to lose, but only berries. Almost any other fruits I need to reserve for when I try to gain weight or I try to stop losing. And even then I may divide the portion to 2 servings, and use that instead of a dessert after one of my main meals. Just fruit as a snack may cause my BS to raise triggering too much Insulin response. Combination of fruits + fat source (nuts or avocado) had the best proportions for my snack. And even then, there are fruits I would avoid, like very high sugar fruits : grapes, pears, oranges, etc.

If I were you, I would rethink the sugar in coffee. I know that I can have good with sugar (hello 70+% dark chocolate) but any sugar in liquid form may affect me worse than same amount as fruit or in nuts.

It may be time to add an additional brisk 30 min walk every day. 30 min non stop, fast paste. Or weight lifting, or biking, or running...

But as almost anyone would tell you, our weight loss is affected by what we eat -95%, exercise 5%. Unless you are a professional athlete, or someone who spends hours in a gym. Or have a very physically demanding job.

I agree with HALA but if I wanted to lose I would cut out all fruit, all crackers,smoothies,toast and all other carbs except low carb veggies.

I would eat more protein than anything else. I would aim for 100 gems of protein and 20 or less carbs. You want to be at 600-800 calories a day and all the water you can drink.

Forget what Fitbit says about burning cas

ls cause you obviously aren't. It is all about what we put in our mouths.

I lost 122# eating this way with no exercise at all.

good luck it is possible but you are eating at a maintenance level and you won't

lose as long as you are eating this much. Weigh and measure to make sure and track it on my fitness pal or somewhere else.

"I burn roughly 3000-4000 calories a day according to my Fitbit but I'm not seeing it"

I am not familiar with fitbit 100% but I am finding it hard to believe that 10-15k steps is equal to 3-4k calories burned...

Even when I was pre-op and 360lbs On my best days of walking my Pedometer said I was burning roughly 500 calories for 6k steps...( i am not being exact here but it's definitely in that range) And My pedometer has me input my height and weight and adjusts the calories burned according to the weight I input. The More weight I lose the harder it is to burn calories from walking alone.

OMG, I could have written this post a few months ago!

I had surgery five years ago. Did great at the beginning, losing 160 pounds, then I let life events get the better of me. I had gone from 380, and lost 160 pounds, bringing me down to 220. I stayed at that weight for about two years, while I was dealing with major events.

Then I decided I wanted to get back on track. Tried and tried, without success. Finally decided I needed help and returned to surgeon's office and got on their non-surgical program. They did blood work, I got back on vitamins, met with surgeon and Nutritionist. With their support, I've managed to stay on track (mostly) and last week I reached Onederland...what a fantastic feeling! My goal is 175, and I'm hoping to reach it by my birthday in late September.

Are you logging your meals in my fitness pal or the Baritastic app? Are you staying with the goals of: Calories 800 or less; Carbs up to 40; and Protein at least 65 grams? I note you're having crackers and bread, and fruit. I would avoid them for now. And I would not allow extra calories because of your steps.

I hope you find your groove again and start to loose regularly. Maybe consider seeing your surgeon for follow-up. It helped me tremendously.

Just a thought, because you're right. We do get it.

I attempted to lose about 20ish pounds last year. It was the third and smallest of my three regains. All I did (again) was go back to bariatic friendly foods and cut out the majority of carbs.

At almost 10 years out I lost 55+ pounds. I'm now at my lowest postop weight ever - 142 pounds. My previous low weight was 177.

Don't ever think your surgery doesn't work, unless you've got tangible proof of mechanical failure. I'm glad you recognize the stall. One of the best ways to break it is to increase your protein and your fluids. You might also watch your calories if you don't track them every day. Keep those things up and you will start losing again.

There are others here, farther out than I am, who've lost more weight recently. Hopefully they'll post but if they don't, just know they're out there. Do what you need to do, and then wait it out. You'll be fine.

You need 2300 calories a day to stay at 230 pounds. It takes about 10 calories a day to maintain a pound. It take a 3,500 calorie deficient to lose one pound. If you give up 1000 calories a day and stay at 1300 a day, you will see a two pound loss every week.

I have spent my life looking for loopholes and faster, easier ways, but it is the only thing that works. Find what works for you and get back on track with losing again.