Question:
How can I get past a plateau of one month? Is this common?

Up until 2 months post op I lost 40 lbs. The 3rd month I have not lost anything.    — Sara K. (posted on May 30, 2004)

May 30, 2004
What are you eating? How much water are you getting in? How much protein are you getting in? It might help if you do a fast for 2-3 days. It helped me when I hit plateaus *yep I've hit 3 or 4 since my surgery in December*. Maybe that will help you with your plateau. Whatever you do, I wish you much luck and success.
   — Niobe

May 30, 2004
Hi, Sara. Oh, those plateaus SUCK, huh? They are quite common, and you are due for one at about the point post-op that you are. Your body is saying, "What the heck? I'm loosing too much, too fast! There must be a famine going on...I'll hold on to every ounce I can till it passes." Your body is going to take a few weeks to 'adjust/catch up', if you will, to this sudden and drastic drop in calories. So rest assured, this is totally normal and you will face a few more of these as you become further post-op. Some things you can do to save your sanity in the meantime? Don't weigh yourself. You will drive yourself up the wall if you step on your scale everyday and see that same number staring back at you. Don't starve yourself. this sounds counterintuitive-you want to lose some, so eat even less, right? Actually, by making sure you get in all your water and some quality protein shakes (if you don't feel like eating much yet at this point), just for the calories, your body will "lighten up"-literally. It will sense that this "famine" is ending and will gradually let go of the weight once again. Plus, you'll be much less cranky than you would be if you were getting NO food whatsoever-and your energy will go up. Pay attention to how your clothing fits. I bet it gets a little looser everyday! We still lose inches, even when we're not losing pounds, and realizing your doing that while not weighing yourself-well, that's a winning combination. Losing inches without stressing over your weight...that's the life. :P
   — jenn_jenn

May 30, 2004
I know you have heard about the plateaus by now. As we know, it's not noting to be smooth losing all the time, we will have plenty of emotions, the ups and downs of weight loss and gain. it seems that by losing alot of weight at once. it's now time your body take a rest. you may noy be losing weight, but may be losing inches, which is just as important. hang in there and don't stress,as long as you are following the pouch rules you are doing great.
   — B4real

May 30, 2004
sounds strange, but eating more does sometimes help break a plateau. this always helps me. i have also noticed that making sure to take my multi-vit and b-12 are very important and drinking water. these are the tools that my body needs to do it's job properly.
   — franbvan

May 31, 2004
Seems like everyone has a different approach to "plateus," who is wrong and who is right. They happen and then suddenly, you start losing again. I would not recommend "fasting" as you can cause a lot of hormonal, electrolite damage and thyroid imbalances in the future (I know first hand about fasting). Continue to start your day wiht Portein, eat 3 or 6 meals (which can't be much at your Post-Op). Sometimes we just lose oz and cannot detect via a home scale - but those oz had up to pounds. GOOD LUCK
   — Anna M.