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Sleeved 9/11. Starting weight 332 Today's weight 302. -30 so far. I hit that three week Stall hard. Just this morning after a week of not losing I was down 2. Thankgoodness.

We call them stalls here but three weeks is a plateau. In fact, three weeks is the START of plateau. And they're totally normal and break on their own, despite the fact that they drive us insane in the meantime. I stalled out for nine weeks twice. The only thing that made the scale move again was time. More time of doing the right things will keep the weight falling off. I did have periods where I totally fell off - once was early out and I got so sick of restricting my intake down to nothing and seeing slow progress that I totally went offline. I had to change my entire eating habits and realize that I was forcing myself onto a diet. I couldn't live that way so I had to make things more manageable. The good news is that with the sleeve, it's very easy to pick back up and get in the swing of things again. I always feel better, even if I only see tiny results on the scale, when I start my day with my Protein shake and log my food for the day. The easiest way to be sure you're on the right track and to correct any denial about what you're eating is to log everything you put into your mouth. So the first thing is to log religiously for three days. If you see a new trend that would prevent loss, fix it. Sometimes all we really need is to be held accountable for what our behavior. If you're already on the right track with your nutrition, well, the best thing to do is hunker down and wait it out. Sure, getting more active is always a good thing. But don't expect it to work an overnight miracle on the scale or you'll be disappointed. And my body was totally unpredictable about loss - I'd work at it and see nothing for weeks on end and then all of a sudden, with no real change in my life, I'd drop five pounds in three days. In fact, those stalls (plateaus) were a part of my regular loss pattern and it was totally normal for me to lose all of my weight for the month in two weeks but to actually gain three pounds during my cycle and stall out for a week afterward. So, log your food and keep on trying. Put the scale away if it seeing no results first thing in the morning ruins your day. Stay positive. The sleeve will work, it just takes a bit of time. And you'd have to go seriously offline to pack on real pounds post op so don't beat yourself up. ~Cheri

I was hungry for the first few weeks too!! I was so upset and discouraged about it. Then all of a sudden my hunger has disappeared!! I started taking Nexium for my heartburn, and that might of had something to do with it (not sure). I also take B12, and that helps with metabolism among other things. I know how frustrating it can be, I stalled for over three weeks, but have now upped my workouts and started losing again. I know it's hard, but try not to get too discouraged, try upping your water intake, and workout regimen...that should help speed things along? Are you on any type of acid reducer? What vitamins are you taking? I hope things speed up for you soon. We all are so different, so you'll have to try different things in order to find out what really works for you!! I hope things start looking up for you soon...Stay positive!!!

Hope If you are regularly PB'ing, you probably don't need a fill yet. Get that under control before doing anything more to yourself. I think you just need to pay attention to what your body is telling you. I am one of the older gals, too - 60. We just react to things differently than the 30 year olds. Metabolism is different now. Sad, but that is the way it is. I would forget WW and follow the bandster diet. Three oz of Protein, then veggies, then carbs. I just try to eat good food. I have yet to have my first fill. Banded about 2 months ago. However, I have been gaining and losing the same pound for about three weeks. I found I was able to eat anything I wanted to put in my mouth, *normal* sized bites, and but still chewed well. That isn't good. No wonder I have stalled. I finally made my first fill appointment for the end of July. We may just be slow losers.

I'm also 1 year out and my net calories are anywhere from 0-1200 a day, which is largely because on days where I work out a lot, I'm not really hungry so I eat about 800 calories and burn anywhere from 500-1000 over the course of a morning run, an afternoon run, and 2-3 hours of boxing and kickboxing at night. Then on days where I am lazy, I almost always average around 1000-1200 calories of intake and maybe 200 of exercise if I go for a walk. This last month I had a little meltdown because I had 1700 calories one day, which is the most I've had in a day since surgery. My big calorie days are maybe 1400 at most and happen maybe 2-3 times a month and are usually the result of Cookies. I chilled out a little though when I realized that there are far more days where I really don't eat much at all, so if occassionally I manage to have too much, it's not the end of the world. I hit 100 pounds lost 3 weeks ago and have since been completely stalled between 137-140. I float back and forth between those three numbers and haven't lost a single thing since. I suppose if this is the effort required to maintain, it's going to be miserable to lose my last 8 pounds to goal. Good luck to you!

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 am only 3mo post op and I saw the difference in my progress photos today and wanted to share - just my belly - I think it is 1 week post op vs 3 months. I am a slow loser, or more of a staller dropper (I have had a stall of at least 14 days all three months lol) so taking photos really helps me!

Stalls definitely happen and it is defeating and depressing when they happen to you! I was stalled for over three weeks and it finally broke. Keep doing the right things and you will push through it. Above poster may be correct if you are exercising heavily you may need more calories but it can be tough to get them in. I eat mostly full fat dairy and such now to increase calories as portion sizes are so small. You may find some ways like that to add 100-200 calories in a day. It is hard to stay positive through it, but it will pass.

I hit my first stall at the three month mark and stalled for 3 weeks. After that I was a chronic staller and had to fight for every pound. Stalls are fairly normal. They happen. Having as many stalls as I had is not normal so you'll likely be fine and not stall as much as I did. But yeah, it's just your body readjusting itself. It'll likely happen a few more times in your journey. I'd say to try not to stress about it, but from experience all I did was stress so...

Had surgery 3/12. Right under the radar of when cancellations started to happen. I had surgery at Blossom in Las Vegas and saw my local MD for follow up today. He removed my steri strips and pronounced me well healed. I ate my first real food in three weeks today and that was glorious. I’m looking forward to getting this show on the road weight loss wise. I’m down 17#’s since surgery. And starting into the 3 week stall that others have talked about. Hoping for a quick return to normal so everyone can move on with their surgery plans.

Hey all!! Surgery date 10/29 Hw 265 Sw 249.9 Cw 236.2 Loving my sleeve but dreading the three week stall!

Don't be depressed. What you are experiencing is very common. You are recovering from major surgery which included lots of IV fluids and swelling. Plus, almost everyone experiences a stall about week three as your body catches up to the trauma. As long as you focus on following your post-op instructions, reaching your Protein target, and staying hydrated, you will be fine. If the number on the scale is going to depress you, then stay off the scale.

Ummm... This needs to be pinned! Like a, "come here when you hit the three week stall" post! Great explanation Babbs!

the further out I got, the more frequent the stalls were, and the longer they'd last. Every time I'd be three or four weeks into one I'd think "well, this is it...", and then I'd suddenly start losing again. It finally quit at 20 months out. So in short, this may or may not be the end of it...

I am coming up on 3 years post surgery... I am now only ONE pound away from goal. Talk about stalls. If you lose 10 pounds a month, that is heaven. There will be stalls and maybe lots of them for some of us. I understand we all want the fat off NOW! But if you had 85% of your stomach cut out, and are eating 700 cals a day... it will come off. Maybe sooner, maybe later... this is a good time to work on your mindset... this process is not over after you get the weight off, its just starting! You need to keep vigilant during maintenance as well. The three week stall is a bi**h, why would the body do that to us? It is swollen, it is hurt, it is losing its income drastically, it does not want you to die! Give it a break, it wont last forever.... and by the way, 3.9 pounds a week would NEVER be counted as a slow loser. You peeps will get there, in fact the time will fly. Some will lose faster than others, but it feels just as good to reach goal, at 6 months or 3 years. Relax a little.

Sounds like you’ve hit the three-week stall! The only thing to worry about is if you get discouraged and stop eating like you’re supposed to. Otherwise, you’re doing fine! Keep eating right, and let your stomach keep healing, and you’ll start losing again.

First off, you look really great. You've both done good work and you shouldn't fail to be proud of your accomplishments just because you aren't to goal yet. Secondly, the only surgery I'd consider revising to if I were you, would be DS. So yes, if you're considering it, I think that BPD is the way to go. That said, it's a HUGE change and a lifetime of supplements and blood panels to stay healthy, so you have to be sure it's necessary. Which leads to my third: I don't think you've got anything to be ashamed or worried about. I think you're right on track for a slower loser. I lost quite slowly, too. It seemed that no matter what I did to mix up my diet it didn't have a big impact. I know there is one more "heavyweight" here who got to goal very slowly. But she got there! Your sleeve isn't stretched. I know a lot of people feel like there's a honeymoon phase but that is simply not the case. You're more than a year out - your sleeve is about as big as it's getting so unless you constantly cheat it or try to stretch it, you're fine. Your tool is in fine working order. And I'm not here to judge your diet or intake but here's my two cents, anyway. You're eating too much for your body, or you'd be losing more. Some folks are lucky and can eat more without gaining. Some folks are athletes and need 1,500+ calories a day. Some of us have to be very strict all the time to lose and stay firmly on track in maintenance to avoid regains. It's just a sad fact of life. My opinion is that you need to cut those calories. Start by cutting 500 out a day until you're consistently 1,500 per day or lower. And then when you hit a stall (same weight longer than three weeks straight) drop them again by 10% - with this tactic you will lose again. If you're having a problem with hunger check if you need to be on a PPI again. Just in the last month I had to restart my PPI. I was feeling like I was starving all day long and at night I'd have an acid problem. It took me two weeks to put two and two together and get back on my PPI. Now I feel fine again and the hunger is gone. And be sure it's not head hunger. Have you worked on your food issues? We all have them or none of us would have a weight problem. Are you compensating, overeating, hiding? Evaluate this honestly so that you can get to where you want to be. Last but not least, stop comparing yourself to other people. Especially men, because they always lose faster! You can always revise to DS and should look into those options if you're certain the issue isn't something you can fix without it. But not everyone reaches goal quickly. Nobody wants to be "that girl" that loses slowly and we all walk into this surgery with some measure of unrealistic expectations, I think. If we didn't I'd never read a single post about someone freaking out over "only" losing 30 pounds the first month or "stalling" for two days! You know what to do, right? We all do! Dieting has been drilled into us countless times, especially when we spend years overweight. Try using 1,500 calories (go 40% Protein, 30% fat and 30% carbs if you want to feel satisfied) as your ceiling for a while. See how you feel. Get back on a shake a day. I'm two years out and I drink a shake most days. I consume between 1,200 and 1,400 calories most days. I like to hit 90+ on my protein and the shake gets me there. I still have very little room for food. Two scrambled eggs, max. So you do have restriction and you do have the tool to do this. I just think you've gotten complacent. I'm sorry to say it that way - it happened to me for a spell, too! But there's a difference between eating "normally" (which anyone who knows my posts knows I advocate) and eating "normally for an overweight person." You don't need 2,000 calories a day, especially not in the losing phase. I don't care what the doctors say or the nutritionists say, either. If they were right, and dieting was one size fits all, I would have gotten thin the first time I tried Weight Watchers at sixteen! Chin up. Be nice to yourself. Pat yourself on your back for how far you've come. And get your buns back on track. Because if you hang in there, you can live at goal. ~Cheri

You are not doing anything wrong. None of us lose at a constant rate. All of us experience periodic stalls and the fist one usually occurs somewhere around three weeks after surgery. Just follow your program. Focus on getting in all your Protein, fluids, and Water. Take your Vitamins as directed. And, exercise. Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

When I was at my week 8, I hit a stall for three weeks.

Your calories sound about rightat 4 weeks post-op. Sounds like the infamous stall that we all hit at weeks three or four. It's our body's way of saying WTF? LOL! Just keep doing what you are doing and perhaps add some extra water with lemon. It'll help if you're retaining fluid to flush it out of your system. pre-surgery weight 325; surgery date 2/28/2013; surgery weight 307; 8 weeks past-op weight 281.4; 12 weeks post-op 274; 4 month post-op 266.2; 5 month post-op 262.6; 6 month post-op 253.2

I thk we all wish tht we would “wake up thin” lol but it just don’t happen tht aways ,I average losing 0.8 pound a day ,I had a stall at three weeks where I lost nothing but the belt showed I lost inches

very normal. It's the infamous three-week stall visiting you a little early. The vast majority of us experience that. It usually lasts 1-3 weeks. It's usually the third week (hence the name), but not always. Mine was weeks 2 and 3. Once it broke I dropped like six lbs practically overnight. the standard advice is follow your plan and stay off the scale. It WILL break and you'll be on your way again.

And now, I'd like to vent and complain! I know I tell other people to take it easy, stalls happen, loss is different for everyone, blah blah blah. But right now, I'm pretty frustrated, so I could use some support of my own. I am down forty pounds since surgery. That's great. I know it is. It's an average of 3.33 pounds a week, which is better than a typical diet. But I'm frustrated. VERY frustrated! I've been stalled for twelve days now. I keep gaining and losing the same two pounds over and over again. I put the scale away last week hoping to see the numbers change but nope - after a week I was up four tenths of a pound. I'm between monthly cycles - this is usually the only time of the month that I do lose, and instead I'm stalled. If my cycle affects me like usual, I can expect to be up 1-3 pounds next week and then stalled again. The first month out I lost 18 pounds. The second month I lost 8 pounds. Now I'm two days from twelve weeks out and I've lost 14 pounds this month. I suppose the good news is that I lost more in month three than month two. I'm still pretty aggravated with the slow loss. Slow loss would be A-OK (or at least less gripe-worthy) if it was accompanied by skin that wasn't sagging, but unfortunately, my skin is sagging horribly. I expected bad things from the stomach, since I've had twins. The stomach was bad to begin with. But my breasts? Already? And my thighs? And my butt even droops! I can lift up part of my butt and jiggle it like a saggy breast. Yes, that's probably TMI. I don't care, I'm complaining! Maybe I wouldn't be as frustrated if I wasn't so incredibly close to 199 pounds. For whatever reason, that's this huge success to me - to be out of the 200s again. Anyway, I just wanted to complain. I know nobody has advice because there's no good answer. Since I still hate eating (I never thought I'd be so unhappy to never be hungry, but eating is still a total chore for me) I'm backtracking to full liquids for three days. I hope that will kick start the weight loss again. Anything to change it up, right? So, thanks for giving me a place to gripe. Once I lose a few pounds I'll be cheery again, I promise. And yes, plastic surgery is in my future, but I'll battle that saggy skin with weight lifting and squats in the meantime to do my part to help it along. I expected some sag, but really - these 70 year old breasts are not improving my grumpy disposition. Hope everyone else is having a better time of it than me! ~Cheri

I love the joy when a three week stall ends... Weight just falls off.... 7 lbs in two days.... I kept losing and gaining the same 1 or 2 lbs for three weeks.... SUCKS !!

All the information you need is here on this forum. You may not know many people in real life who have been through this surgery, but everybody here is in some stage of the process of weight loss surgery. If you haven't already, I would strongly recommend that you spend some time looking through the archives of this forum -- it's a gold mine! YouTube is also a great resource -- there are quite a few YouTubers who make videos about their WLS experience. I was pretty well prepared for surgery because I spent months reading this forum and watching YouTube videos about WLS. It seems like the most common questions that come up include: Stalls - Almost everyone has a weight loss stall within the first two months after surgery (commonly called the "three week stall" but it can happen earlier or later). Do not be alarmed. You didn't do anything wrong. The surgery didn't fail. Stick to your plan and you will start losing again. Weight gain from surgery - Many people weigh more when they come home from the hospital after surgery than they did before surgery. That's temporary and it's because they pump you full of IV fluids in the hospital. You're better off not even weighing yourself for the first couple of weeks after surgery because it is honestly meaningless. Fluid & protein goals - It's almost impossible to meet your fluid and protein goals in the first couple of weeks. Most surgeons tell you to get at least 60 ounces of fluids and 60 grams of protein per day. It sounds easy but it's not at the beginning. Do your best and don't worry if you can't quite get there. Dehydration is a serious thing that can land you back in the hospital, so you do need to sip as much as you can, but it's not the end of the world if you can't get 60 ounces. Pro tip: try warm fluids (tea, broth, protein hot cocoa) if cold drinks are difficult. Hair loss - Most people start losing hair around 3 months after surgery (it's a phenomenon called telogen effluvium), and there's not a whole lot you can do to avoid it. Protein and iron deficiencies can contribute to hair loss, and some people say that biotin can help to prevent hair loss, but you will almost certainly have some hair loss no matter what you do. It will grow back. Vitamins - Your surgeon should have given you a list of vitamins that you will need to take. This varies a bit from one surgeon to the next, but most say to take a bariatric multivitamin (or a double dose of a drugstore vitamin), iron (which can be included in the multivitamin), calcium citrate (most drugstore calcium supplements are calcium carbonate, so make sure to check the ingredients and buy calcium citrate), and B-12 (sublingual, injection, or nasal spray). You'll have to take chewable vitamins for at least the first month or two. Vitamins come in different forms (chewable, melt-in-your-mouth, capsules, liquid, patches), so if you have issues with one form, try something else. The BariatricPal store has a great selection of vitamins and they frequently have sales. I purchase most of my vitamins from there (BariatricPal brand). Constipation - Nobody likes to talk about toilet stuff, but constipation is no joke. A lot of surgeons recommend taking Miralax daily (note: Amazon has a generic brand that is much cheaper). Don't wait until you get constipated to take something. Prevention is easier than treatment. Other than that, the one thing you should do today if you haven't already is take your "before" pictures and measurements! Most of us have very few "before" pictures because we didn't like the way we looked before weight loss and avoided being in photos. You will want to have some pictures for comparison when you reach your goal weight. You will want to have your starting measurements so you can see how far you've come. Good luck! Stick around and let us know how it goes!