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Don't freak out. Seriously, it will be okay. If you look up "three week stall" on BariatricPal, you will find almost 20,000 posts about it. It happens a LOT. And it's nothing you're doing wrong—it is literally your body rebalancing itself (particularly fluids) after a traumatic surgery. It will break. Mine did—it came late and lasted about a week and a half and suddenly WHOOOOOSH went the scale. I had all the same worries and made a post here and everything. It WILL break. You will continue to lose weight! And once you're fully on solid foods you'll feel the restriction.

Hopefully things turn around for you soon. You should talk to your nutritionist about your gain and stall. I was told that little stalls here and there are normal but I wouldn't consider a three week plateau a stall. Talking to your nutritionist may help you discover the reason your not in a calorie deficit. Best wishes, Ken

I am almost to my three week post op. The weight does stall but it will start again. Having issues with left side pain for the past 4 days. But other than that everything is going good 25 pounds since two week pre op liquid diet.

You're experiencing the infamous Three Week Stall (do a search in this forum for more info). It usually starts the third or fourth week after surgery. It's normal, and nothing to be worried about, although it's hard not to think about it. Your body is trying to adjust and heal. It can last 2-3 weeks, or did for me, but you'll soon break out and be on your way again try not to stress. Your body will experience many of these little down periods where it needs to rest from loss and readjust. The scale may not show loss, but you will almost always see the inches fall away. I suggest taking measurements as a secondary way to track progress. Sent from my Nexus 6P using the BariatricPal App

It's very likely just a temporary weight gain due to the three or four week stall or just the change from liquids/pureed foods to soft. It happens. Keep on your post op guidelines and you will be fine.

My scale stalled out right about the time I started on full liquids, sadly. I'm going to put the blasted thing away until a week from today, and see what it says then. I need to incorporate exercise, but that's not as simple as it sounds when you chase two toddlers around all day. I've been taking them on a walk then playing at the park to get more movement in, but the scale isn't budging more than two tenths of a pound. However, my pants are all getting so big I can pull them down without unbuttoning them, so something is happening. I need to take measurements again to see just what's going on, but my waist and thighs are definitely smaller. I recommend everyone do this, because if I were relying solely on the scale I'd be pretty discouraged right now. La: I'm glad I'm not alone. My biggest issue is that no Protein supplement tastes good to me anymore. To make them taste better, I'd make them with milk which would push my carbs up too high. I did find two flavors of IsoFlex that work for me, so I'm sticking to them. They're low enough in carbs that I can make them with skim milk and it won't hurt my daily totals. And while I might gripe about eating all day long (which has gotten better now that I'm incorporating some soft foods that are higher in protein) I certainly don't want to drink all day long instead! I'm also putting the scale away - it's hardly moving and it's very frustrating. I need to start incorporating exercise, I guess. Donna: I can easily eat about 1/2 cup of something soft or mushy, but it takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to do so. I can only take three or four small bites, then I have to pause for a few minutes. Maybe the foods you're eating are so soft that they aren't giving you a full feeling? What's your typical meal plan for a day? I also have the same issues with the scale, so don't worry too much. Everyone is different. My hope was to lose 24 pounds the first month which would have been just over 20% of my excess weight. However, I've been stuck around 19 pounds lost for almost a week. I'm losing on average about a pound a week right now. I will most likely lose 20 pounds this month, and that's from my starting weight since I have no idea how much I lost on my preop diet. I hope everyone is doing well. My husband is gone on a trip all next week so I have the evenings to do my exercise videos without feeling silly. I hope that it'll kick start the scale again and help make exercise a part of my regular routine. I do so hate exercise. At least starting out...once I'm used to the habit I look forward to it and enjoy it, but I'm a long way from that place right now! ~Cheri

It is very common. It is called the three week stall. As long as you follow the plan (protein, liquids and exercise when u are able), the stall will break. It can be frustrating so if it really bothers you, stay off the scale for a week or two. There will be many more stalls along the way. Good luck!

I am almost eight months PO. I have tried pretty much everything I ate pre-WLS. I do not dump, but some things sit better than others, and something that sits well today, might not sit well tomorrow. More than a a small portion of bread or pasta tends to feel like a lump in my tummy. I do not like to forbid myself certain foods, but I do pick my battles. For instance, last Friday I went out to dinner. Instead of eating the bread put on the table, I had wine (I have a glass of wine or two once every other week or so). Since we can’t drink while we eat, I chose to drink first, rather than eat the warm bread. My fish entree came with three ravioli. I ate one and took the others home with 2/3 of my fish. I am not a big rice person, so I have only had a few bites since surgery, with no issue. I am trying to slow my weight loss down now, as I am happy with the way my body looks. I was happily stalled for about two weeks and thought I hit maintenance, but I have dropped 4 pounds this week. I exercise a lot, so I am not super restrictive with what I eat. My goal is to lose a bit more fat, not weight. Like Summerset, I do not chose to be insanely limiting with carbs, but most of my carbs come from fruit, rather than grains. I think it just depends on your current weight loss/maintenance goals, and trial and error. Good luck! ps. IMO = in my opinion

Honey, you can still lose weight after a bad, bad year! Your sleeve is still there and still works just fine. I had more than one stumble on my way to goal - I had two nine week stalls that lasted partly because I fell off the wagon. Once I get frustrated with a lack of results, it's easier for me to fall off track. All you do is pick it up, go back to basics to kill those cravings and go back to plodding your way to goal. It's both challenging and simple, and it's one reason I still love my sleeve. I'm three years out and trying to shed my last seven pregnancy pounds. While it's frustrating to be trying to lose at all, it's so reassuring that all it takes to see loss again is eating plenty of Protein and staying away from the junk I shouldn't be eating. The mental work is the harder part - making the choice not to sabotage your own success. Get it together and keep shooting for goal! ~Cheri

ah - the "three-week stall", right on schedule! Search for it. Happens to almost everyone.

I was stalling out quite a bit and really kicked up the work outs. So instead of working out three times a week I work out 6 days a week and doing some weight training 4 of those days. I lost 10 lbs this month which was my goal. Plus I realized that some days I had to eat more and some days I did not. I think it kept my body from getting use to the food amounts and workouts! Good luck...yes stalls are annoying but we need our bodies to adjust time to time and we will make it through them.

I totally understand what you are going through, and I'm with you in the frustration. I'm 8 months from surgery and I've stalled for the last three months. I've only lost around 20 kilos (44 pounds) and I'm still 15 kilos or 33 pounds from healthy weight. I can't believe this is all the result I will get from a very costly and difficult surgery. I'm halfway there, and I don't know how to jumpstart my weight loss. It seems to make little difference what I eat. I don't eat a lot. A typical day for me is 8-900 calories. I went on a week long trip this Easter and decided to eat whatever. I still didn't eat a lot at every meal, because I get full really easily, but I ate regular food and didn't write down calories. I normally use myfitnesspal, but skipped it this week. The result? I still weigh the same as I did three months ago. Now I've gone back to low carb and I've gained 100 grams. During my vacation, I walked a lot. Didn't make any difference. I haven't exercised as much as I wanted to, because I've had repeated injury, but I still try to move as much as possible. And I cannot fast during the week, because it makes me so tired and cranky, and I need energy for working with difficult teenagers. I'm at a loss what to do.

What Exactly Is A Stall? The last time I was on Weight Watchers (June 2011 through February 2012), I lost an average of .9lbs every week and I followed the program religiously. Forum members report first month losses of 20, 30, and even 40 pounds and then refer to a two- to three-day hiatus as a stall?! I don't get that. The body morphology has to catch up with the tremendous weight loss. That necessary phenomenon isn't a stall. A "stall" is what I experienced during my last month on Weight Watchers: no movement at all in close to 30 days. A massive weight loss of 20, 30, and 40lbs in one month cannot reasonably be referred to as a stall. I am only 29-days post-op but what I see is a two- to three-day "body adjustment (or catch-up) period" followed by another one- to two-pound drop on the scale. This is normal. You can't expect to see the scale drop every single day for an extended period of time. No one loses weight like that, not even malnourished cancer patients in the end stages of their disease. What I've noticed is that during this "body adjustment period," I will not lose pounds but mass. My stomach will tighten a bit more and areas that used to have fat will have less (or no) fat. On many other forums, they have a list of definitions of commonly used terms that members can refer to. Maybe we can agree that a "stall" means no movement on the scale for a minimum of seven days when weight loss was reasonably expected. Obviously, if I am consuming 3,000 calories a day, I can't reasonably refer to my failure to lose weight as a stall because I shouldn't expect to lose any weight. The point of this post is not to be picayune (nor is this directed at anyone in particular) but to alert forum members to the fact that, when it comes to weight loss, mindset is everything. If you expect to see the scale drop every single day for weeks and weeks on end, you are unnecessarily setting yourself up for frustration, disappointment, and resentment. I have lost 23lbs in 29 days: that's just over 1/3 of my excess weight in less than one month. The scale doesn't move every day nor do I expect it do. If I had experienced even 25 percent of this kind of weight loss on Weight Watchers, I NEVER would have signed up for the surgery. Do you know how long it took me to lose 23 pounds on Weight Watchers? It took 26 very difficult weeks or half-a-year! This surgery has expedited my weight loss by a factor of 83 percent! Should I be bummed-out, depressed, and resentful because my scale remains still for as many as three continuous days at a time? Should I refer to that three-day hiatus as a stall? Of course not. Knowing what to expect and having reasonable goals are critically important to maintaining a healthy and positive mindset.

Your body stalls because it's traumatized by the sudden change in your eating habits. It thinks you are not going to find your next meal and holds onto every ounce of weight it can until it realizes you haven't stopped eating. It's preserving your core, your internal organs...it's also why our hands and feet are so cold all the time. It focuses on saving the life-sustaining organs. I stalled for 12 days and hovered between 216-217, 3 weeks after getting sleeved. Yes, it is horribly frustrating but 27 lbs is an ENORMOUS loss in only 3 weeks. You probably, like me, also left the hospital with 8-10 additional pounds of Water weight, courtesy of the IVs they pump into us. Please be proud of yourself and patient with your body. It's really traumatized after all our years of abusing it with bad food choices. And the FASTER you lose it, the more likely you will fall prey to "deflated gummy bear syndrome"! So hang in there...your body will catch up with your new eating patterns. All of us go through it and the three-week mark is typical for the FIRST stall (yes, it will happen again!) and can last up to two weeks. Big hugs!

I use the reminders, the calorie/macro tracker for protein goals, and the weight/measurement features mainly. I'm not really exercising yet or I'd hook Apple Watch up to it too. Sounds like you're doing great! I think my stall is very very slowly breaking still. I'm down to 250.2! I can't wait to see 249 on the scale. My body loves hanging on to weight at around the 250 mark. I am still happy with my overall loss though. My highest weight was 275, then I was 265 day of surgery (I did not have a pre-op diet, but still lost 10lbs in the three months leading up to surgery). So still down 15lbs in 3ish weeks, and 25 overall. Not a bad little start Also, welcome to all the new people. I hope your surgeries and recoveries go well! I didn't want to post a response to everyone individually and end up spamming the thread with replies.

I prefer more restriction too as long as I can get food down. I have to eat slowly and work at it but I am able to get three solid meals down per day I don't measure but I eat about 1 cup per meal...solid meat and veggies-no slider foods/mushies--they will not keep you satiated long enough. It takes about 30 minutes to eat the meals then I am good for 4-5+ hours before my next meal. Breakfast is harder to get down, I have to take tiny bites. lunch is hard but a little easier. For all meals I have to chew well and eat slowly but the food does go down and I get in sufficient amounts. I lose about 2 pounds per week. If you are unable to get mushies and drinks down then you are probably too tight. If you are too tight then you won't be able to get enough calories in and in my experience that will stall your weight loss just as easily as getting too many calories. Maybe a slight unfill will do the trick?

I am 4 months out and have only lost 52 pounds, so I'm behind you!! I have been on a three week stall and feel huge today!! I laughed when a coworker told me I looked really skinny. I'm like - um, 210 pounds on a 5' 3" gal is skinny? Compared to 262 pounds I guess it is. We all have our good days and our bad ones. Try not to think about what others say or what you THINK they are thinking - you are most likely way off base. I hope you can get your mindset it a better place. We're here for you!!

You all will enjoy your experience, I'm sure. I brought my wife with me but didn't have a surgery pal in terms of someone else going through it with me. I had no friends or aquaintances that had done this. But it was a blessing to bring my wife. Your spouses will have a wonderful time. The food in the hotel is delicious from what I understand and really inexpensive. I was not interested in eating, obviously, so I couldn't tell you first hand out it tastes. They brought us over in a group for the surgery the day that I had it. I made quick friends with the other folks going through it and have kept in touch since. We text each other to see if anyone else is having issues and it has been very nice and comforting when I have bad weeks (which I'm going on 3 weeks of stalling...bleh) to hear that others are doing the same thing. For those of you worrying about pain, I had virtually none. My wounds dehis'd as well - but the other people I had surgery with did not experience that. They closed up nicely on their own, but did have a little bacterial infection. I blame myself and not the surgeon for them opening because I was so nervous to change them that I left them alone for too long at times. I work in healthcare, so I know better which is why I'm a terrible patient. Feel free to inbox me if you have any questions. I try to get on here every few days and see what everyone is up to. I currently have another post going in a different forum looking for help with my three week stall. Good luck all, you won't regret doing the surgery. You'll just miss eating and that's something we can learn to live with.

Amboyd, I too was a band to sleeve revision on 10/5. I stalled for nearly three weeks even though I was walking nearly every day for about 30 min and calorie intake no more than 800 a day. I was very frustrated to say the least! (I even noticed a two pound gain during that stall) I have my next four week check up is tomorrow and I'm not getting on my scale until I have been weighed by the surgeons office scale. My husband had not seen me since surgery until this past friday and he could tell I had lost weight, and I for the first time could see it too. So hang in there, I think because we are revisions our starting weight loss is slower.

Tomorrow marks 4 weeks since I had my bypass surgery. Over this period of time I've lost about 15 lbs, including a 10-day stall in the middle where I lost nothing a week after surgery. This corresponds to the 3-week stall, as I started shedding pounds at the beginning of my pre-op diet which was two weeks long. Glad that it's over- I've been steadily losing since then. Here's some stats: I've found that I still struggle to tolerate eating more than 2 oz of food at a time, so introducing vegetables back into my diet has been limited as I'm full up on my proteins. I average anywhere from 550-650 calories/day, which has usually included three 100-150 cal meals and a protein shake. Protein is about 55-70 grams/day. Go-tos have been ricotta or cottage cheese with salt & pepper, sliced ham/sliced prosciutto, smoked salmon with a little bit of lite cream cheese and everything bagel seasoning. Getting used to tossing those 1 or 2 bites of food left on my plate was hard at first, but became much easier after I stopped throwing it in the trash and switched to scraping it into my dogs bowl. Feels like I'm not letting good food go to waste! Mentally, I've had some tough days, but now I don't even think about eating to distract myself. Recently I've been unable to prepare a meal for myself without trepidation and discomfort. My stomach physically gurgles and turns as if I'm already going to experience rejection... has anyone else felt this? Its the worst when I'm heating up something hot... smelling food that used to appetize me causes this reaction. Usually as I begin to eat this feeling passes, but there is always some anxiety at the beginning. The most crazy thing about this is my mind still loves good food and cooking and I think about meals often, only to find that I'm repulsed by the idea of eating them. I've spoken to my therapist and hopefully we can find strategies to help, but so far this has been my primary source of concern post-op. I've been reading all of your posts and the comfort that they bring me as we go through this journey together is invaluable. Hoping for the best for everyone

Google "three week stall." That's all this is. Stay off of the scale, stick to your plan, and the weight will come off in its own time. Good luck!

My first stall happened week three as well. It lasted for three whole weeks. I was so frustrated. But then like magic I dropped another 10lbs. Now I’m in another stall. As far as weight gain it might just be water retention. Especially if you sticking to the program. We don’t eat enough for real weight gain.

I've seen you post a link for this thread many times, and I've just gone searching for it now that I've officially hit my "three week stall". I was hoping that I would be special but alas, here I am. I'm not worried about it, really. I know that what I've been (or haven't been) doing is a big factor. I guess this stall was the kick in the pants that I needed to really get serious about exercise/water/protein.

This is my first blog, but you probably new that. Let's start off with a little about me. My name is Kelli, I'm 27 (as of tomorrow) and am from Indianapolis. I had my VSG on 10/11/2011, just over a month ago. So far, things have been good, at least the past few weeks. In my personal experience, the first few days after surgery were hell. The pain was a bit more than I had expected. Not from the incisions, just from the gas pressure from the laproscopy. I have had two previous abdominal surgeries, but they were "open" and extremely painful but this type of surgery was just as painful but in a different way. I expected this surgery to be breezy, and when you assume things it usually bites you in the ass lol. I also had a few complications post-op. I had trouble coming out of anesthesia, but that doesn't happen to everyone. The gas pressure is awful! I can't even describe how bad it was, I couldn't take deep breaths or move around very easily, and after a few days the gas settled in my shoulders and was unbearable. Nothing helped. Walking around and taking gas-x only helped with the intestinal gas, the CO2 they use to pump you up with surgery evaporates through your pores, and it just has to work its way out by itself. I went home the day after surgery, which was probably another mistake of mine. I was so anxious to go home, I was feeling better and keeping down fluids so I was discharged. The next day, I started having very sharp, cramping pain in my stomach, especially after drinking. I eventually had to go back to the ER because the pain was so bad and I was dehydrated. Apparently I was having muscle spasms in my stomach, which happens sometimes because of the trauma of surgery. I also experienced severe nausea. Once they got the spasms under control and filled me up with fluids (5lbs of water weight) for two days I got to go home. Since then, things have been significantly better. The second week after surgery, I was feeling much better. My only issue was having absolutely no energy. I would get so tired just from walking around for 20 minutes. I also started the pureed phase of my post-op diet that week. I haven't had any food intolerance so far, but when I drink home made protein shakes I have a slight lactose intolerance reaction. I haven't had issues with cheese or yogurt though. By the end of the second week, I had lost 20lbs! I was so happy. I haven't seen the scale move like that in..forever. I know that was mostly water weight, but a pound is a pound and that is 20 pounds gone forever!!! My pain was minimal that week. Weeks three and four were good. Energy slowly but surely starts to come back. I noticed my energy level was starting to get back to normal last week. My boyfriend and I went to Tennessee and did a lot of walking around and hiking. Surprisingly after we had been walking for 2 hours I still had plenty of energy to do other things. I also started soft solid foods this week. I also am pain free. I have been for over a week now. No more muscle soreness from surgery made it much easier to move around. I had an almost 2 week stall of weight loss, which apparently is normal during weeks 3 or 4. I got on the scale yesterday and I've gone down another 4lbs. This was my first stall, and it definitely sucked. I felt like I was doing everything right and not losing one pound. I felt discouraged and thought I went through all of this pain and suffering after surgery for nothing. I know its not for nothing and I know there are several others that have had VSG and have experienced the same stalls and the sucky emotions that come along with them. :smile1: So its been a month and I am mostly back to normal...or at least creating a "new" normal. I go back to work on Tuesday after being off for 5 weeks. I am thankful to have had all of that time off to heal, I needed it! Losing 24lbs in one month isn't too shabby either.

Hey Bee....yes I LOVE a drink For my fist time that I had a drink after the op, I just took it slow over the night to make sure that I didn't have a bad reaction....something I was paranoid about after not being able to take lactose for a while so it just worried me that I would have pains in my stomach all night, but it went down so well....ahhh my old friend haha I love the sound of rasp cordial to make a sunrise...haha can't say that without doing the Katut n Rhonda voice in my head hehe. Glad Tiny (haha love it) is coping well with the foods As for hair loss I was unaware, but I have always lost heaps of hair and have so much of it, but I must admit I lose less when I get my Vitamin B shots regularly...maybe that helps. I opted for the three monthly injections as I have been having them since I got the lapband anyway and its just one less tablet to take Toilet.... haha....Ok spoke to my nurse about this and everyone is different but, I used to go every day before the band, then every second day with the band, and now I go every second or third day with the sleeve and she said thats fine Mind you on the Iron tablets that I have just started back on they make you go every day (some people they do the opposite but mostly they make you go) and they said for me to have 2 per day but i tried that and I am sticking to 1 thank you very much So I guess if I every have trouble I will just take 2 iron tabs haha As far as stalling yes I have quite a few times, at 3 weeks then at 6 and now so every few weeks but I think its your way of your body catching up?? I have been on a big stall and got on the scales this morning and I was 119.7 so just under 120....WOOOHOOOO Wish it was more but hey I will take it!! I figure I can't not lose weight with the sleeve and it will happen eventually.....just have to make sure I keep active and eat right. I went to visit a friend at the hospital yesterday and took the stairs and didn't get puffed out once....something i only noticed when I was walking along looking for her room and I wasn't puffing. I know its small but its the little things that make me excited!! Sleeve.....I am so in love with you