Question:
12 Days PostOp I think I broke my scale HELP!!!!

I went to the doctors last Friday and I lost 8 pounds. When I step on my scale it says the same thing. I don't get it, maybe the scale is stuck because I weighed so much. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I am head hungry. PLEASE HELP ME!    — tishastrauss (posted on June 28, 2010)

June 28, 2010
Relax, it will come off. Did you do a pre-op diet as well? Also, are you walking at all. From the second day I came home from the hospital, I walked, starting around 20 minutes. I live in South Florida, and in August it is hot, so I would go to my neighborhood food market and walk there. As far as head hunger, I must tell you I never had that problem, especially at the beginning of this weight loss odyssey. Everyone is different, but just drink water or Crystal Light. Plus, I wasn't allowed to eat any carbs until I lost 75% of my weight, and then I didn't have any except very limited one, i.e., baked potato or beans.
   — FSUMom

June 28, 2010
May I please suggest that you try not to look at the scale for another week or so? It is just going to make you crazy. I was very puffy and gassy the first month as I recall. You will lose the weight. Be patient. I'm serious when I say that I only weighed myself once every three months or so for the past 15 months. As long as my clothes were getting too big, I was satisfied that I was successful. I was recently weighed after not being weighed for 4 months and have reached my goal of 150 pound weight loss. Actually I think I might be too thin for my age. That's a shocker! Good luck. Hang in there and don't fret. Listen to your doctors. Try to move around as much as possible. I know it's hard in the beginning and I didn't move around too much either. By the 2nd month I started walking in the neighborhood and by 3 months I was walking miles/day. Liz Smith
   — Elizabeth Smith

June 28, 2010
Stop looking at your scale. I know that you want to lose consistantly. It doesn't happen that way. I am about 6 months out. I havd a six week stall at one point. It is difficult emotionally to have stalls,but you just have to accept it. The surgery is not going to fail. You just have to keep to the water, vitamin, protein and escercise plan. You do your part and it will work. I stopped looking at the scale. The last time that I looked, I had lost about 70 pounds total. It will happen for you, if you do your part.
   — MargaretHM

June 29, 2010
Make sure to drink your water, being thirsty can cause head hunger. Make sure you're getting all your protein... you'll definitely need protein drinks this soon after surgery, make sure you get some early in the day so you feel more satiety. And the advice to walk is very good... same as for the advice to be patient. We need to take the long view... and focus on doing the right thing, because part of surgery is having the support to learn to make changes that we'll keep up with even after the "honeymoon" period of weight loss is over and we have to work even harder just to maintain & not regain. It is work, it can be frustrating when the scale is not moving (boy o boy do I know... I hit a plateau for a whole month at three months out and it made me cry more than once) but it will move again as your body adjusts to the new intake. Congrats on taking this huge positive step for your health and happiness! Make the most of your honeymoon period as a great time to get used to your new lifestyle of planned eating and more movement!
   — Greg K.

June 29, 2010
I have a beam scale and I check myself about once a week at the same time in the morning after showering. I find that I am about two pounds lighter in the morning than I am at night. Weigh without close as they can add about four to five pounds. If you are using a spring loaded scale, as most are, be careful to put your feet in the same position every time. I had my RNY on January 13th of this year and so far have lost 104 pounds. There will be many times you will not loose anything during a week. Just follow the plan, do not cheat, and you will have a wonderful journey.
   — Jim Christian

June 29, 2010
Tisha -- for what it's worth, I say toss the thing out. There's nothing like a scale to make you give new meaning to the term "obsessive compulsive". If you can't bring yourself to throw it out, ask someone you trust (and who can't be "broken" by nagging, tears, or anything else) to hide it for at least the next six months. You didn't gain all your weight in 12 days, and it won't come off that fast either. You're only 12 days out, and, as somebody else posted, still gassy and bloaty from the surgery and all the IV fluids they give you. I'm more than 10 years out from a VBG and have learned to live without a scale, because it makes me crazy. Leave me alone with a scale and I'll weigh myself twenty times a day. I get weighed every three months at the doctor's when I go for my diabetes checkup and I make him write the number down and not tell me. He's allowed to tell me once a year whether I'm up, down or the same, but not to give me an actual number. I go by how my clothes fit, and I have to say it still amazes me that I can go from season to season without having to buy an entirely new wardrobe, as the stuff from the previous year still fits! So just relax, honey. Walk. Drink your water. Get your protein. Your head hunger will take a while to go too -- if you're feeling hungry drink some water; nine times out of ten you won't be hungry any more. It will get better, and the weight will come off. Patience (something I've heard is quite useful -- I wouldn't really know 'cause I've never had any) comes in handy too -- but give yourself time. Cheers --
   — Cheryl Denomy

June 29, 2010
Hi-most scales go up to 300 lb. After I had my surgery, I didn't see 299 for over a month. Hang in there - your scale is not broken and you will soon see the numbers going down,
   — rach53

June 30, 2010
Sweetheart when people say the first 3 months of wls is hell, it is hell!! I know you don't want to hear this right now but it does get better. Just do what your docotor says and it will all pass. Your head hunger is completely natural and will not overtake you. Good luck and just count the days not the meals and take 1 day at a time.
   — ladyrdhk