Liz, are you here?

Liz,

I saw in another post that you said you were very metabolically challenged.  How did you lose the weight after the initial "newbie post op dump" that occurred? 

I would like to get another 25 lbs off and my weight loss has stopped.  I have not lost any weight since July 10th.  I have tried upping my calories (I gain weight), I have tried exercising (my weight isn't affected), I have tried upping my fats, etc.  Funny thing is my weight seems stuck at 160 lbs whether I eat carbs or not.

Right now I eat around 1200 calories, low carb.  And I am working on my house, and building muscles (not eating bon-bons on the couch).

How did you low carb the rest of your weight off?

Any time I was in a stall I would up my Protein for 3 or 4 days and then drop back down to what I taking in previously.  Usually during a stall we lose inches.  Have you measured yourself?

Hey Roz,

This is beyond the usual stalls.  I have been fighting the weight loss since the 5th month out.  So a struggle/stall for 4 months is way past measuring inches.

My DS quit working pretty early on.  I lost 50 lbs in a initial dump.  Then the weight loss slowed to 5 lbs a month.  Then it dropped to nothing. 

The last 10 lbs have come off by cutting calories, so I am down to 600 calories absorbed per day and still 25-30 lbs from goal.

I had the RNY and I don't know much about the DS but I didn't take in more than 400-600 calories for months after surgery.  I think I increased my Protein which upped my calories to about 600-800 at 5 months and then 800-1000 at 7 months (which I regret).  At 5 years out I still only take in around 1300 calories and I think you wrote you are at 1200 and wondering why you aren't losing.

If Liz doesn't respond you might want to write to Gina "Major Mom"  she is our DS guru on here.

Okay, I stalled at 8 months out (I was below goal at 140) and stalled for 5 months, then all of a sudden 10 more peeled off. That was just before my jaw surgery and that pulled off another 10 but those came back really quick.

From what I understand, sometimes cutting for so long defeats what you want to do. http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html

Eating Enough?
If you are under-eating or go more than 4-5 hours without eating, your body will shift into fasting mode, slow your metabolism and conserve your stored energy (fat). This can contribute to a weight loss stall or plateau. Make sure you are eating small meals or small snacks throughout the day and also ensure you meet your daily protein requirements. Try eating some protein with every meal or snack. For more information on protein requirements see our section on Protein.

Drinking Enough?
An adequate level of water in your body aids in the effective breakdown of fat. The daily minimum recommendation is 64 fluid oz of water a day. If you are in ketosis you will need to drink even more water to ensure the ketones are flushed out of your system. You may also need more than the minimum amount of water if you are exercising or live in a warmer or dry environment.

Exercising?
Exercise can increase your metabolism and burn fat. Strength training will build muscles and will boost fat burning. In a stall you can try increasing your volume of exercise or changing up your routine to overcome a weight loss stall or plateau. If you have been doing mainly aerobic activity, try doing a bit of strength training, and if you have been doing mainly strength training, try an aerobic work-out.

The High Fat - High Calorie Stall Buster

Many DSers swear by the fat/calorie shock as an effective weight loss stall or plateau buster. Having a day of higher fat and calorie eating followed by a returning to consistent low carb eating can sometimes "shock" your body back into weight loss mode.

I DO know that calories do not mean as much to a DS'er as it does to others.

Some things to check tho, of that 1200 calories, how many grams of protein? fat? carbs?

Remember, fat is calorie heavy but DS'er's only absorb about 20% of what we eat. When I apply DS Math to what I was eating, I found out that the 1500/1600 calories I was ingesting, I was actually only GETTING about 600 and of course my body got use to me "starving" it. So my losing stopped. When I upped protein and fat, my body stopped the regain I was dealing with...now it's stable.

MY version of low carb is not the same as others since I count EVERY carb. They all affected my blood sugars so I never used the "net" carb. Fiber and sugar alcohols would spike my blood glucose as much as sugar. I typically stay around 90-120 carbs a day.

Liz

Was it you who did the low carb, below 10 per day, then every 28 days you did a carb fest and loaded it up, then went back to low carb (10 or less per day)?

I remember seeing someone saying something like that but can't remember who it was or if it was just theory. When do you go back to see Dr K? Have you emailed him to see what he might think is going on?

--g

Hey Gina,

I have spoken to Dr. K only a couple of times.  I find his office staff a righteous pain, and fairly worthless group of people to get anything out of. 

As for Dr. K, his only idea seems to be "eat more fat.  You should be having many bowel movements a day."  While I have been eating fat bombs, and bacon, cooking in bacon fat/butter/lard, and every cheap cut of meat I can find with fat on it - I do not want to have multiple bowel movements all day long.  It would seriously infringe on my standard of living.

And of course, that saying "everyone is unique, and this may be your results" which has never sat well for me.  I have a hard time accepting comments like this  even though it seems like I am pounding my head against the wall.  I believe the answer is out there.  I don't feel science/medicine really understands obesity and metabolisms all that well - they are just starting to wade into the water on these topics.

I'm sorry your surgeon and his office are offering nothing. And no, you don't have to be going to the bathroom all day, that's ridiculous and you'd think he would know better. Good grief!  Obesity is a very very complex issue, there are no easy answers.