Question:
How can I NOT be losing weight? I barely eat anything!
I am 11 days post-op, and haven't been eating a whole lot (or drinking for that matter). I'm not very hungry, but I've been trying to eat a little here and there (sometimes not making the best choices, but doing better now). I was really ecstatic to already have lost 13 lbs. by 6 days post-op, then gained back .4 lbs., and since haven't lost anymore! The scale hasn't moved in five days!!! I barely eat anything: as a sample, yesterday, my diet consisted of 6 bites of multi-grain Chex cereal, four bites of baby bananas, 1/4 c. refried beans, 6 bites of pot roast, 4 bites of mashed potatoes, 4 bites of applesauce and one Dole strawberry fruit and juice bar. Other days (except one) are very similar...I just don't understand how I could NOT be losing weight?! Is my metabolism THAT bad? I haven't started walking yet because i'm still dealing with a bit of incisional pain (pulling and burning), but i really thought that during the first five months the weight just kind of comes off whether you exercise or not. i'm feeling really disappointed and discouraged. Please help...it's affecting me to the point where i'm wondering why i had the surgery? — sweetmana (posted on July 18, 2003)
July 17, 2003
Relax! Give yourself some time. You may still be filled with IV fluids. You
just had major surgery and your body needs time to adjust. I didn't lose in
the beginning & then 3 weeks out I lost 10lbs in 3 days. If you eat
right it will come off. As for what you are eating, did your Dr. approve
what you are eating? 11 days out you are eating far more than I could, but
every Dr and patient is different. If you look in the Q&A archives you
will find that many others have been in similar situations, and eventually
the weight comes off. Don't let the scale control you. As for wondering
why? Again, nearly all of us go through this, just take a look at the
archives.
— M B.
July 18, 2003
Yes, I'm approved to be on a soft or pureed diet, and to that i can eat
things as i can tolerate them (i didn't tolerate the pot roast well, and
ended up throwing it up). However, i don't see how what i ate could be
considered a lot...the cereal was about 2 oz, bananas 1 oz, beans 2 oz, pot
roast 2 oz, mashed pot 2 oz, applesauce 1 oz. Not all eaten at once, of
course! this was over a day. i seem to do better eating three meals than
five over a day. i've left a message for my nutritionist to call me...it
seems i'm either eating not enough or too much! the pre-op nutrition class
didn't go over AMOUNTS to eat post-op, just WHAT to eat and not to eat. i
guess i'm confused...feel alone and isolated with no where to turn, and
everything i'm doing is wrong...
— sweetmana
July 18, 2003
If you want a fire to burn, you have to give it fuel! At least that is what
a trainer told me once when I was starving myself (fasting for a week) and
could'nt lose weight! He was eating 5-6 small meals a day and losing. Not
me, I was fasting for a week. Go figure. You're body will go in stavation
mode and not let you lose. You must give it some fuel to burn. FEED IT!
— Danmark
July 18, 2003
OMG, is there anything worse than the tyranny of the scale??? Do yourself a
favor and get rid of the damn thing, or at least bury it under the woodpile
or something! Weigh at your doctor's office; I used to drop by my PCP's
office and weigh myself about once a month, but I don't even do that
anymore. Your clothes will get baggy so you'll know you're losing, but
those daily scale fluctuations drive everyone insane!! Chris, DS 6/02,
378/230, 57/35, 38/18
— Chris T.
July 18, 2003
— Linda A.
July 18, 2003
Firstly, GET OFF THE SCALE!! Secondly, re-read your last posting on your
profile and take your own advice. Thirdly, pot roast?! lol
c'meon...you're kidding right? lol I was released from the hospital on
food (SOFT FOOD!!) lol and still haven't gone anywhere near pot roast and
I'm 4 months post op. Stick with cottage cheese, soup, eggs, humus,
cheese, scramble an egg and add some cottage cheese on top (only the 4% is
good...everything else sucks!-that's still one of my favorite things to
eat) etc. Make foods at home that taste good TO YOU--but always go for
soft!! You're craving mexican, have black bean soup with cheese and a
dollop of sour cream. Think SOFT!! Wait another 2 months before you have
those reds you're craving...it'll be well worth it, trust me!! Most of
this is your head hunger. See my profile I craved the same way. Maybe you
and Brian need to find something else you have in common, too. And maybe
for a little while you shouldn't share meal time together. Just for a
little while. Till your head adjusts. Most importantly, get OFF THAT
SCALE!! I can easily fluctuate anywhere between 5-8 pounds a DAY! It's
too dibilitating. Good luck, you're doing fine!!
— msmaryk
July 18, 2003
Sweet One, I have only one comment, YOU JUST HAD SURGERY ON 7-7-03...You
need to be PATIENT. Also, I agree with some other people, I don't think
any dtr allows there patients on Pot Roast this early. Please check with
your nutrionist & also your Surgeon. Good Luck. Heather Open RNY
8-15-03 305/187/150.
— heathercross
July 18, 2003
I don't know about your surgeon, but at 11 days, mine still wants me on
liquids. (pre-op now and forever it would seem). Bananas have a lot of
sugar, and meat??/ Why are you eating meat at 11 days out? That sounds
bad to me. Go back to liquids for a few days, drink at least 3 liters of
water a day and lay off sugar,(including those found in fruit) and carbs
(which is sugar too).
— Renee B.
July 18, 2003
My surgeon recommends a liquid diet for 3 weeks post op, then 3 weeks of
soft foods then try out regular foods. From what you say your eating, your
trying anything and everything. You may want to stick with protein shakes
and liquids. I lost 42 lbs my first month by sticking to it and now at 11
weeks post op have lost 71. Good luck to you!
— SMG I.
July 18, 2003
One thing I noticed you said was that you aren't drinking enough of your
water. That is very important. You have to drink so you won't become
dehydrated hon. I know it is hard but maybe if you increase your water
intake the weight will start coming off again. Water does so many things
for our bodies. You may be going into dehydration and don't even realize
it. This could cause some major complications. Try to DRINK DRINK DRINK and
when you think you have drank enough DRINK some more. This is what my
surgeon and diatician have told me to do after I have my surgery if I run
into the same troubles.~~~ Amy Lap RNY 8-5-03
— AmyLynn B.
July 18, 2003
Hi, I just read your profile and see you are a "light weight"
like me. In fact our numbers are pretty close together. I am 5'0"
and started at 227. My weight loss has been very slow also. It just goes
hand in hand with being a light weight and being short. I am two months
out, and only down 25Lb. My doctor says this is good for me. You can't
compare your weight loss to someone who started at 350lbs. I have just
excepted it is going to be slower for me. Hang in there, and stay off the
scale. Also, make sure your are getting in your water. It does really
help.
— Robin T.
July 18, 2003
Sloppy water bhabits cost me 5 lbs the 2nd week. Amazing. Drank some, made
a hard effort and lost 8 immediately. We had four weeks CLEAR liquids, so
you can imagine my suprise gaining on that! Personally, I would not ever
touich baby food. Anything designed to fatten up a baby is not going into
THIS face. SO, I do not do milk, graham crackers, and only rarely
applesauce (the NSA still contains double the sugar I allow myself). BUT I
do protein shakes, many per day. That satisfies hunger/ cravings, reduces
my appetite (it's ok, I'm 9 yrs out--it's back), and helps me with volume
issues. I cannot start my day without protein supplement FIRST, then food.
Then protein supp, then food, etc. I do 4 feedings NOW, but we were
encouraged to do the 5-6 ONE oz meals until goal wt. I think it all boils
down to water & protein.
— vitalady
July 18, 2003
I wanted to respond to everyone who is questioning what plan my doctor
wants me to follow RIGHT from the sheet he gave to us in our pre-op
nutrition class(this starts from first day after hospital release): DAY
1-3, clear liquids; DAY 4-6, full (creamy liquids) DAY 7-9, pureed; DAY
10-12, mechanical soft. He also gave us examples of what to eat on these
sheets, such as cream of wheat or rice cereal, mashed potatoes, blenderized
veggies and meat (at PUREED stage), pureed fruits. The pot roast was VERY
tender, and i put it in the SAME category as blenderized because it was
falling apart and i chewed it to water consistency before i ate it. My
doctor also said drinks like slim-fast, ensure, and boost were good to
have, and that we should try to choose nutrition as much as possible.
Please note i am not be defensive in this post, merely pointing out that
for the most part, I AM sticking to my doctor's orders. *I* thought it was
odd that he didn't stress the protein and used items on for his examples
that were high on the glycemic index, but he's the doctor, right? I plan on
asking the nutritionist all about this, when she calls me back. Thanks for
all the responses, i agree that i need to focus on water and protein, and i
went out and bought a new protein shake which had only 2 grams
carbohydrates, so maybe that will help.
— sweetmana
July 18, 2003
that's "choose *protein*" - not *nutrition*.
— sweetmana
July 18, 2003
I hate to harp on the pot roast ;), but for what it's worth, bear in mind
that red meats are among the hardest foods for your system to digest, no
matter how tender the meat may have been going down the gullet. After
that, it goes to the pouch, which will be more discerning about what's hard
to digest and what's not. For that reason, many surgeons advise their
patients not to eat any red meat for at least six months to a year after
surgery. (Mine said a year.) Nevertheless, being a know-it-all WLS
patient with a 'tude, at seven months out, I finally had some "beef
with broccolli." Fortunately, it only made me very slightly queasy,
but I have a cast-iron pouch to begin with (at 13+ months out, I have never
hurled once since my WLS). A few months later, I had no problem at all
with "beef with broccolli." I think I finally had half a
hamburger at 11 months out (no problem then, either). Some folks eat red
meats much earlier than that with no problem, but my point is that it won't
be a surprise if red meats (especially a pot roast, or piece of steak, no
matter how tender) turn out to be too hard on the pouch.<P>The hard
truth is that, if you want to do all you can to heal up well, and to start
forcing yourself to re-learn eating habits at the best possible time (from
the beginning, while the pouch is still in Heavy Enforcer Mode), you should
seriously consider denying yourself the old standbys that played a role in
obesity (like pizza -- which doesn't puree well anyway ;P), in favor of
forcing yourself to try new, better, gentler things. The old standby stuff
will always be around, and you can always try it a few months down the road
and beyond. Otherwise, it's likely to be a tougher "row to hoe"
at four months, six months, eight months, a year, etc. down the line, as
pouch capacity and tolerance increase and head hunger remains a challenge
(as it always will be). Take good care of you!
— Suzy C.
July 18, 2003
I am not going to disagree with what the dr said but it is possible that
you have gone in starvation mode from not eating enough. I would try
walking and see if that jumpstarts. up the water intake, it has a lot of
benefits. Check the Dole bars for sugar content. You might want to
substitute some protein for all the carbs and sugars. Hope this helps. I
lived on those Dole bars the last time I had surgery. That is one reason
why I had to do it again. Good luck
— snicklefritz
July 18, 2003
Start Moving.... Walk, Walk, Walk. Some of us need to move to lose. Others
can just reduce the foods. Don't try to walk fast or too much. Just move.
Also remember this is just a tool and the pouch can be fooled into
allowing too much food into your system. Eat only 3 times a day, check the
Pouch Rules for Dummies on this site and MOVE. The weight will come off.
I am in the same boat as you are and I couldn't lose before the surgery
without exercise and I can't do it now. I am one month Post-Op and I only
lose when I MOVE my self around the block a couple of times.
MOVE IT TO LOSE IT.
— Ron T.
July 18, 2003
Eat ONLY THREE times a day? Heck that is'nt enough. Especially for the
first couple months when the pouch is really small. :)
— Danmark
July 18, 2003
Hi~I find that the pain gets a little bit better if I walk somewhere,
somehow, no matter how short a distance. Even when I was newly home from
the hospital I think I nearly wore holes in the carpet in my apartment from
pacing back and forth. It really helped with incisional pain and the
muscle pain. Also helped with those crazy gas pains and I had open rny.
As long as I moved, I was helping the pain move out. I also hurt more when
I came home after a couple weeks than when I first came home, so I walked
even more. I was too dizzy to walk outside, so I made my dog dizzy by
walking back and forth inside. Believe me, I got very tired of the same
scenery, but I knew I HAD to do it because I did not want the BLOOD CLOT
complication to show up!!
As for soft foods, I ate cheese, cottage cheese, turkey chili, unsweetened
applesauce(great to stop nausea), beans refried fat free or whatever, bean
with bacon soup with sour cream(low fat), asparagus, shredded deli turkey
slices or ham slices, and protein shakes, still did my favorite cream of
chicken soup(98% fat free), and you can still do the liquids and pureed
foods too. Stay away from carbs like cereals and bananas so sugary and
they say you can eat mashed potatoes but I found them too full of carbs.
You can also have saltines on soft food diet. But I only use saltines with
my pain med so I do not dump on it. I find saltines too full of carbs. I
need to find something else to use with pain med to counteract the dumping
with it(it is so sweet). Try to stick with protein or complex carbs, not
white carbs. You WILL lose if you do that. Veggies and fruits come after
you eat the protein. That is how my dietician explained it to me. I find
I am totally hooked on cheese sticks. They are great and portable. Go
anywhere and fit anywhere. I have found a great protein mix that my sister
introduced me to. It only has 20 gms of protein in 8 0z mixed up but it
has stevia and fructose as sweeteners, 6gms carbs(1gm sugar) and less than
.5gms fat, 25mg digestive enzyme blend, 104 calories before you mix it with
whatever you mix it with. It is called American Whey by American Sports
Nutrition. She sent me the Vanilla Cream and it is out of this world!!
Not one bit of aftertaste like you get with aspartame/nutrasweet(I am
allergic to this) or splenda! Now I have to order me a huge jug! Just try
to find you some kind of protein drink of some kind that you can sip
inbetween your 3 meals a day. And by all means get your water in somehow
so you don't dehydrate. That is painful and then if you do it is painful
when they try to find a vein to put an IV in you, because they are almost
all hidden because there is nothing running to keep your veins up where the
nurses can get to them. Surely you DON'T want that!! I have been
dehydrated before and it is not a good thing.
I know you don't want to do these things because you are tired and run down
and hurt like all get out. But the more you eat, the more you walk and the
more you drink, the better you will feel. I, for one, thought I would
never ever feel better, I was in tears for weeks, but I am here to tell you
it WILL get better. You just have to help yourself get better hun. I am
not fussing at you, just trying to help. If you want, email me at
[email protected] and we can get to talking and hold each other up. I am
only 7 weeks out and because I thought I was all good to go I moved my bed
a couple of times and set myself all up back in pain again!! Not a smart
thing to do!! So email me and we can get support going, ok?
Hang in there, you WILL get better!! Just takes food, water, and walking!!
And support from friends!~~Lise
— Lise W.
July 18, 2003
Don't worry. I did a similar thing. After 12 days out I lost 20 lbs. Then
didn't lose any for a about a week and a half. I started losing again
until last week. I gained a lb. I am 9 weeks out. I only weigh once a
week now, so that I don't get so discouraged. Your body plays tricks on
you. May try to eat a little more protein and watch the sugar content. My
doctor said to look at it a month a time. The weight will come off.
— Yvonne G.
July 19, 2003
That seems like an AWFUL LOT to be eating at 11 days post op! I can't say
I'm not surprised you aren't losing weight. I was on a totally liquid diet
for the first 3 weeks after surgery. It seems like so many people do not
have a very adequate post op program through their surgeons. I really think
you need to cut down on what you're eating. Maybe you'll find yourself
losing weight again.
— Ceil G.
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