Question:
3 Weeks Post op weight loss

Hello I lost total of 18 pounds in my first 2 weeks. Now, I have not lost anything. Please help!!. I am getting my water, protein and I am very active, (could be more active, I think). Please help. I am afraid I am screwing up. I want to cry. Please tell me how to keep losing.    — tayee24 (posted on June 20, 2008)

June 20, 2008
Same thing here. I had my surgery 3 weeks ago. Lost 16 lbs. and then nothing. I go to a support group and this has happened to alot of the members. Don't worry. It will start coming off again. That's what I have been told and that's what I keep telling myself.
   — dodgerfan

June 20, 2008
Get out a tape measure and keep a log of your inches....You'll see that the inches are coming off even though the scale has no movement. It catches up...Your body is trying to protect you and it doesn't know this is what you want...It's doing it's job to help you survive what it feels is starvation.... Keep doing the right things and follow your rules...Give yourself a year....You'll see...You are doing fine! You've lost over a pound a day! Great job! Hugs
   — .Anita R.

June 20, 2008
Week 3 seems to be notorious for a brief plateau. Keep doing what you know you need to do and it will start coming off again. Take pictures and notice your clothes getting larger.... relish in the non-scale victories in these times. Dawn Vickers, RN, BLC, CLC
   — DawnVic

June 20, 2008
Be patient. The first week after surgery is a huge loss - not to be seen again! If you work out and drink the water and other approved liquids, it will come off. Sometimes when you are working out you build muscle as well. We're all different - your body just needs time to adjust. Carol
   — [Deactivated Member]

June 21, 2008
Hang in there! Keep following ALL the rules. It will start falling off again. I suffered through a 30 day period with no loss at all very early after surgery. Then it resumed. I was very distraught. 2 years and 150+ lbs later I am ecstatic with the new life. You will see success!!
   — sunny99

June 21, 2008
I hit a wall at about 3 weeks too! Lost 15 pounds then nothing for nearly 2 weeks. I was on only liquids for the first 3 weeks so being on solids now is part of the problem. MOST importantly you (and me) haven't had our first "fill" yet. Hopefully then we'll feel more restriction. Good luck, Jen
   — wilkin

June 22, 2008
Congrats on your weight loss! Have you ever lost 18 lbs in 2 weeks before? Remember everyone loses weight differently. I am almost 6 months out and I have lost 117 lbs. The thing is I plateau every month. I will lose for 1-2 weeks and then I stop losing for 3 weeks. The thing that I noticed was during those periods of no weightloss, I was losing inches. My clothes size dropped. You did not put this weight on overnight and it sure wont come off over night. Keep doing what your Dr. told you and you will be fine. Welcome to the Loser's Bench!
   — mary_rn

June 22, 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. From the sounds of your post, you are. 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 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 are 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 nutritionist. A 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 their 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. They 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
   — hubarlow