Question:
Is plateau normal at 3 months

Hi my name is Jennie, I had surgery on April 14, I have lost 52 pounds, and cant seen to lose any more weight, I am very depress and discourage. I am working out walking on by lunch break and 15 min.breaks. every time I get on the scale it says the same or that I have gain 1to 2 pounds . I have a bad habbit of getting on the scale every day cause I am so scared. I dont know what to do anymore. I am crying a lot about this and feel like I am going crazy. Please help or tell me what I can do. Thank you all for your support it means a lot to me. Jennie    — zydeko47 (posted on August 10, 2008)

August 10, 2008
Hi Jennie, we crossed paths a few days ago; thanks for your support for the question I posted here myself... As for your possible Plateau, it seems 3 months out is a very common time for most people to hit their 1st PLateau. I hit one right at 3 months post surgery, that lasted 3 weeks, then broke. I have seen a few other people that also experienced a Plateau at right about 3 months. Don't worry, they don't last, they eventually do break. PLease try to resist the urge to weigh yourself daily. The body naturally goes up and down a pound or two. Try to get in to a routine of weighing yourself on a certain day, like Monday morning, for example, and keep a written weight loss chart of your Monday weigh-ins. Something I learned is keep away from carbohydrates, like crackers, bread, potatoes, rice. Your first food of choice for life should always be protein; chicken, turkey, tuna, fish, beans, low-fat cheeses. Second choices are vegetables, then no-sugar added fruits. Drink a lot of water, which can be via Crystal Light sugar free drink mix. Take chewable mulit-vitamins, chewable calcuim, Liquid B-Complex. Have a protein shake, or protein bullet every day. Please don't feel depressed or discouraged, you have lost an amazing 52 pounds and yourweight loss can and will pick-up again!!!! Just think, before you had surgery, how difficult it would have been to lose 52 pounds. Hang in there, and keep coming here to this website; the good people here have helped me sooooooooo much, and will help you and support you and encourage you long term! Best wishes.
   — Gina S.

August 10, 2008
Hi Jennie, DITTO to everything Gina wrote! She hit the nail on the head. I agree with her on the no weigh ins everyday. I use Saturday as my weigh in day. The weight will continue to come off (I promise!) Just be patient and know that you are doing a great job. Keep up the good work!
   — Jean N.

August 10, 2008
Jennie, I agree with what has already been said. Please don't panic! Your body is taking time to adjust to everything that is going on. As I was told when it happened to me...." How do your clothes fit? How do you feel? These are also ways to let you know how you're doing." Watching the scale daily is more stressful then anything. Stop obscessing over it and you'll be amazed at how the weight falls off. You'll reach plateaus at different times during this journey but taking them in stride and not worrying will get you over those humps and continue you on the path to health.
   — Leprechaun

August 10, 2008
Girl, you are not alone and I will be reading your answers because I am on the scale every morning and it will stay the same or go up and I am like how? However, I am reassured that it will pass, but it still is not comforting. I decided to do no carb for a couple days with all my protein and water no matter what and excersise. I increased what I am doing to see if it will jump start the lose. I will let you know Monday. But I feel your pain.
   — tayee24

August 10, 2008
First off, weight loss is not always a straight line loss. Some times there are plateaus. Some times there are gains. There are a few possibilities that you need to consider. The first is: Are you retaining water? The second is: Are you getting enough protein and exercise? In the FIRST scenario the issue will probably resolve itself given time. In a few days or a week or so, you will lose the water and lose the weight. The SECOND scenario is actually a GOOD thing if it is occurring! If the SECOND scenario is the case, what is happening is that the protein that you consume is being turned into lean muscle mass on your body by the exercise. Lean muscle weighs more than FAT per cubic inch so you can't measure your progress by the SCALE at this stage of your weight loss, but you CAN with a MEASURING TAPE! If you are NOT dropping pounds but ARE dropping INCHES, you are GAINING muscle! MORE MUSCLE means LESS FAT! The lean muscle mass will help to ACCELERATE your weight loss! There is the possibility of a THIRD option that I did NOT mention before. If one of the FIRST two is not your problem, then the THIRD option is likely. The THIRD option is that your body's Metabolism SET Point could have readjusted itself to starvation mode. This IS possible. Give it some time. If things don't start working in a week or so you may want to contact your physician and get PROFESSIONAL advice or go to a CERTIFIED nutritionist. A CERTIFIED nutritionist will be able to set you up with a dietary lifestyle that will meet your nutritional needs and your dietary preferences so that you are likely to STICK with it. You will also be able to LOSE your weight because he or she will be able to CALCULATE the calories that you need to consume to lose the weight at the maximum rate that your body will allow without triggering your body's metabolism set point. This is probably the problem you are having now. You need to eat a certain number of calories a day, or your body starts holding on to all the FAT that it has stored and actually starts robbing your body of it's own PROTEIN instead. What your body takes instead of the fat is MUSCLE. You do NOT want it to do that. Muscle BURNS fat! Your body does not discriminate from WHAT muscle it robs the protein FROM either. It will take it from your HEART muscle as readily as it will from your LEG muscle. You need to eat a certain amount of both PROTEIN and CARBOHYDRATE a day, and for each person that amount will be different depending upon what that person's GOAL is. If your goal is to lose weight, and you are a SMALL WOMAN, the requirements will be different than if you were a large MAN who wants to MAINTAIN your weight. This is why you cannot use someone ELSE'S dietary program to optimize your weight loss. Your best bet is to talk to a nutritionist and have him or her outline a PERSONAL diet plan JUST FOR YOU. In order for you to MAXIMIZE your weight loss, you need to eat the proper amount of both protein AND carbohydrates. For ME, that ratio is about 20 grams of protein per meal to 20 to 40 grams of carbohydrates per meal. I eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. I am a 6 foot 3 inch tall MALE, so my needs are going to be different than YOURS. I also have a severely restrictive diet due to MANY severe allergies. Add to that the fact that there are some foods that I will not eat for religious reasons and OTHERS that I will not eat because I dislike them, and my nutritionist had her work cut out for her. Each person should have a diet plan worked up PERSONALLY by a nutritionist instead of using someone ELSE'S information because the other person's information may not hold true for YOU. YOU may be smaller or larger than the other person, and that difference will throw off the calculations needed for your optimal weight loss. You may also have different GOALS or be somewhere ELSE on the journey. If you are trying to LOSE weight, and they are trying to MAINTAIN it, you are going to be very FRUSTRATED if you try to use their diet to lose weight. The GOOD news is that you do NOT have to give up bread and pasta. Unless you find that it causes problems for you after your surgery. Of course, If you INSIST on eating bread or pasta, it would not HURT to make the change from WHITE bread to WHOLE WHEAT bread. The same goes for PASTA. As long as you are going to CONSUME these things, let's TRY to make them HEALTHY. We can only eat SO MUCH FOOD now. We need to make sure that it is QUALITY food and NOT JUNK. Whole Wheat products can count as a protein as WELL as a carbohydrate. The nutritionist will be able to assist you to figure out EXACTLY how much you can have of what item without causing yourself to derail from your weight loss goal. If your weight loss surgeon provides a nutritionist as part of his services, then you are set! If NOT, I would HIGHLY recommend that you look into getting one for yourself. The nutritionist will save you a great deal of headache and heartache in the future, and will serve to make your weight loss a much more productive experience. I hope this helps, Hugh Hugh
   — hubarlow

August 10, 2008
You have already gotten some great answers about plateau's.. you are doing great!! 52 lbs is awesome in just a few months!! I hit a plateau at about that same point.. I think mine was when I had lost 51 lbs. I also have a tendency to obsess over my weight loss and it's very hard for me to resist getting on the scale every day! I still do it from time to time and everyone tells me NOTto weigh every day.. but it's one of those things that's hard not to do. Here is one thing I did that worked for me.. I went shopping and bought a pair of really cute jeans in the next size down .. they were really cute with rhinestones on the back pockets and everything. Then I hung them up on the wall in my bedroom.. instead of weighing every day, I would look at the jeans and tell myself that one day I'd fit into them. It kept me from getting on the scale every day and gave me something different to focus on .. You are really doing great!! Don't get discouraged.. the weight will keep coming off!! Maggie
   — Maggie E.

August 11, 2008
Jennie - thanks for posting this question. First, 52 pounds is great in three months! I am 16 weeks out from lap band surgery and have lost 45 pounds so far. I have been experiencing the same thing you are. I try not to get on the scale every day, but it's hard not too. I have noticed a difference in my clothes - the ones that I recently bought are now loose on me so I know that working out three times a week, plus walking is working for me. But after so many years of trying to lose weight and only losing so much, hitting a plateau is scarey and upsetting. Everyone I've talked to about this have given me the same answers as those who have responded to the question. So we're ok and will see the scale change soon! Best of luck to you!
   — Monte57