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Ladies--I am so with you! Mab--you are not alone! I have surgery April 10th and have what appears the normal pre-jitters. I had a sleeve buddy that got the surgery about three weeks ago and I have not heard from her the last week and half so that makes me a bit nervous too...wondering how she is doing and WHAT is she NOT telling me...or is she just busy with life? I also have been having anxiety and what do I typically do when I have anxiety...eaT eAT EAT! Of course all the wrong things and then I get anxious about what I am doing wrong and question myself...am I really mentally prepared for what I am undertaking? Then my two selves have a talk with each other and the "practical one" calms the "anxious one" Yes, the first month is going to be rough and the following two months after that things might not be exactly what we knew as normal, but we will be learning and healing in so many ways if we really commit ourselves. I mean really who is not seriously committed about this if we have chosen to get the majority of our stomach removed?!! (Even when I doubt myself to be able to do the work needed-nutrition and exercise). I think that the initial weight loss will be motivating. And when the dreaded stall happens we will have all read about and know it is bound to happen, along with hair loss, maybe even potential gall-bladder problems....and with the support of fellow sleevers we will feel less alone with the great support of people that "have been there done that!" Then hopefully someday we can help a new sleever.

You're in the midst of the traditional if dreaded 'three week stall'. Most of us experience this. Keep to the plan and this shall pass. LIke it's been said above, measure yourself weekly. Even when we're not losing pounds we typically lose inches.

I stalled almost exactly at three weeks too. Many do. The scale will move again soon.

Phewie! I am SO afraid that this horrendous, horrible, never-ending stall is not really over and the scale is just teasing me.....I'm afraid to hope, since I lost so much hope over these last 8 weeks! On February 4, I hit the 50-lb lost mark, after only 3.5 months out of surgery. I hit 252 from my high of 302. I was so ecstatic, but I wanted to get to 249 so bad....that is SUCH a major mental marker, to be under 250 - the lower half of the 200's and on my way to onederland. Then, my body betrayed me I was literally STUCK at 252, 253, 252, 251, 252 for EIGHT FLIPPING WEEKS! The worst part was, I wasn't losing inches, either!!! I kept getting on here (but not contributing much, I was pretty down), and everyone's response to everyone else's stall was "but wait, measure yourself, I bet you're losing inches" and most were losing inches, even though the scale wasn't moving. But not my body, no way, no how. It was a nightmare. All the momentum and excitement and hope I had since way before the surgery depleted a little bit more week by week. I kept logically telling myself, 'you know this is temporary, you know this happens, you know you're not done losing weight, you know you will break this.' But no matter what, it still sucked me down into the vortex of self-doubt and blame. I kept telling myself 'you need more Protein, more Water, more exercise, less carbs, stand on your head, try the cabbage Soup diet, try this, don't do that, etc, etc,' back into the world of diet failures and worrying 'am i doing enough? am i eating too much, am I not trying hard enough?'. I kept checking on here and reading about stalls, thought I knew it all, used to tell people to 'relax, you know you'll lose, we all do - stalls don't last forever'. Kept reading about people's three day, four day, one week, two week, and even *gasp* FOUR week stalls. They just made me feel even worse since no seemed to ever hit a EIGHT week stall after THREE months of surgery. Criminey...what the hell was wrong with my body!!?? What have I done to ruin my surgery so soon! Yes, I don't always eat right, and yes, I don't always get my protein or water in, but dang.....EIGHT WEEKS! NO pounds and even more devastating, NO inches, either. All under 1000-1200 calories a day....is it even physically possible?? But fast forward to late last week. The scale went to 250.8. Had been at 250 before, no biggie. Then 250.4, then 250.6, then 250.2, then 251, then 250.0!! Are you kidding me!! Really!! Then 250.0 for THREE MORE DAYS....it hovered there, hovered, taunting me, laughing at me....not even an ounce to help me along.... I had even stopped weighing daily during this stall, only doing so once a week, which hurt even more, cause I was sure after trying with all my might to not weigh for a whole week I would lose....but no, waiting until Monday didn't work, only disappointed me worse. Then, miraculously, this morning.....got up, went pee, stood on the scale. 249.8. Off the scale, rub eyes, step back on. 249.8. Repeat 8 times. Same reading. Could it be?? Finally? Broke the stall? On my way to onederland? Finally below 250!! So scared to get excited and hopeful again. What if it's not over?? It did this once before. From 252, I got down to 250.8 once in late February, but then shot up to 253 the very next day....and never saw it again. Till last week. Now......249. So scared....but excited, but scared to be excited, too. Wish I could see just a week into the future to know if I really finally broke my stall or not....actually, scratch that....If I have a wish, I want to see a YEAR into the future to see if I ever even get to onederland!! Sorry for the negative post....those that know me know I'm not usually like this...which is why I've been so absent lately. Love you all.....and SO glad you are all here, and we are here for each other!! :wub:

I'll have three months soon and I'm down 50 since surgery (no pre-op diet for my surgeon). I just had my check-in with the surgeon yesterday and am very pleased with the way things are going. I finally asked about a goal weight for me and told them I've been thinking 160. They said that was reasonable and that an ideal goal would be down closer to 140. I'm going to see how it goes because I haven't weighed 140 since I was a Jr in high school and think I'd look like a bag of bones. I've stalled each month in the week before my period but a day or two into it I drop 2-4lbs. Bizarre- but I'll take it! I need to step up the exercise and I've been trying to incorporate some resistance training and abs into my routine. Great work all!

I think us slow losers are actually the norm rather than the exception. I was getting very discouraged at first also and especially during that three week stall. But what I have started realizing is the .2's have added up over these past several weeks and all of a sudden I am down 40.5 lbs. How funny that yall say people notice it in your face more so than saying they see it in other places because I have had the same thing. But considering I can't hide my chins with turtlenecks year round in Texas, I have decided I am very happy with that compliment. What I am amazed at is the amount of inches I have lost and fitting into clothes I hadn't fit into in years!

If you would've asked me the first three weeks I wouldn't have been able to say yes for sure because I was fighting head hunger, dehydration, and a stall. 50 pounds and 2 months later: in a heartbeat.

In advance I will ask your forgiveness as i rant about my life! I haven't blogged in a while but I have been busy and still consistent to my goal. I started working with a trainer 2 weeks ago to learn to properly exercise and EAT. Eat you say, I thought that was why you had lapband surgery so you wouldn't eat. Well the answer to that question is both a yes and a no. I had lapband surgery because I had always failed at every weight loss program for 20 years plus. I like many would always lose weight but could never make it for the long haul not did I ever really change my relationship with food and what I put into my body. I have always been in for the instant gratification, quick fix and results category. I think I have tried almost every fad diet on the market and have always made them work for me only to gain back what I lost plus MORE! Does this sound familiar to any of you, I am sure it does and I am sure that many of you have been as frustrated as I have been. So why is this Lapband Journey going to be any different? What will I do different and how will I transition this into a life style change and will I be successful? A Journey:The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip. A distance to be traveled or the time required for a trip: a 2,000-mile journey to the Pacific; the three-day journey home. A process or course likened to traveling; a passage: the journey of Life! Hmmmmm, after reading the above statement I think I need to rethink what I call this Lapband process. A journey may be OK to get from Fat to Thin but then what? I am thinking that, the closer you get to goal the more you need to have made some major changes a long this journey. So now I am refocusing my thoughts and think I will call this Lapband a "Life Style Change". If I really want to commit to this weight loss I have to change my way of thinking, my band has been my safety net under this high wire act, that I have been using to prevent my self from falling off. It has worked, I have been successful but I am getting close to my goal, a number I set that I wanted to achieve and would consider my success. Wow this is really scary, can I do this? Can I really be successful? Can I really maintain this new me and how do I do it? So, to remain focused I really have to get my mind heading down the right path, I need reprogramming. I need to really understand my body and how food is used as fuel. Some days it all seems so over whelming and you almost feel OCD. You critique every morsel you allow to go between your lips, you constantly tell yourself, no don't eat that, no you can't have that. Now how many calories are in that and how much protein have I eaten and oh my god have I eaten to many carbs or what the hell do I do if I really am hungry. Sound familiar. My brain is constantly in high gear, constantly planning, evaluating and second guessing if I am really eating the right things or if I am just going through the motions. Honestly I do not want to feel deprived for the rest of my life. Some day I want to be able to eat some type of dessert and not feel like I have failed or let my self down. Someday I want to have a healthy relationship with food not a fear that if I eat something it will tip me one way or the other. There has got to be a balance between healthy and happy. I have went through some months lately as I sat stalled at the same weight day after day and wondered, why? I have obsessed over my food dairy, I have obsessed over my carbs, my fats. I have tried to only eat 3 meals a day and never snack between meals. I have honestly tried to follow every rule that my doctor and the Lapband web site has suggested. But honestly, it's hard, it's not natural, it sometimes sets you up for failure. It makes you resent food, it makes you resent other people who are losing faster than you and it makes you feel like a failure. Honestly following the Lapband rules, is not really eating a well balanced diet.(I will add in my opinion) I have struggled since I had this procedure to incorporate fruits and vegetables in my diet. I rarely eat fiber and my focus has always been protein, protein and more protein. I know, I know, your all saying but you have lost weight, yes but have I always been satisfied with my diet and what I was eating the answer was NO, or hell NO! So world since this can no longer be just about the journey and more about living a healthy life. I am not committed to making a life style change. How scary is that, and how in the world do I do it. Big question with no simple answers. So I will enlighten you to my plan. As I stated in my first sentence, I started working out with a trainer two weeks ago. I was very upfront with him, "Justin". I told him about my WLS and how I was suppose to eat with lapband and what I could and could not eat. The first session we had he told me, "You are not eating healthy and you are not eating enough" Well that was a first for me, I have always been told I eat to much. He also told me I was not burning fat, I was burning muscle, due to my poor nutritional habits. Oh great! Now what, I have spent the past 15 months trying to eat healthy only to go to far in the other directions. Geezzz!! I am starving my body of necessary nutrients. Am I ever going to get the hang of this. So here we go again, planning meals, making sure I am taking time to get in my planned healthy snacks, increasing my protein, adding some carbohydrates, more veggies and let's don't forget the fruits. That day last week when I walked out of the gym, I thought to myself, how the hell am I going to do this. I can't eat rice, I can't eat sweet potato's and oatmeal with egg whites, protein drinks and on and on.... Well it is one week later and I am finding if you put your mind to it you can do just about anything. I have stuck to his plan, I have increased my calories back to 1200 plus, I have managed to get from 90-120 gms of protein in every day. I have managed to learn to like Oatmeal with egg whites, I have learned to eat rice again (only a quarter of a cup but it is rice. I have learned to like sweet potato's without butter and brown sugar and managing to get at least one serving of fruit in and some vegetables. Now granted some days I feel like all I get done is prep my meals and I feel like I am always eating but honestly I feel better, have more energy and actually have the strength to exercise and do the weight training he wants to do. I have been able to increase my cardio workouts to 30 minutes daily with a goal of 45. So bottom line, I am trying to change my lifestyle, I am learning to plan my meals better and make exercise a routine in my life not just something I do to reach a goal. Honestly for me the only difference in LapBand from the old diet is I am forcing myself to live healthy. The band is not causing me to live healthy because honestly the band will allow you to eat all the unhealthy food you want, it is you and only you that can control what and when you put food in your mouth, The band can restrict you, can make you throw up can lead you to an unhealthy life style if you allow it to. You still have to get control over your life, get rid of bad habits and develop new habits. You have to remember that it truly is and will always be only a tool, it will never control or help you decide what you should eat only you can make those decisions and only you will know what you put in your body. This is much more than a journey, it is my war on food and health, it is me becoming a "New Person". So if I become obsessive about what I eat and how much I exercise so be it because I am in this for the long haul and I will not fail and I will reach goal, maybe not today or tomorrow but it will happen if I continue to change my behaviors. So fellow bandster, don't give up, take each new challenge as it comes and most and foremost believe in yourself and believe that with hard work, focus, support and love you can make this......... Lifestyle Change: modifying or eliminating long-held habits of eating or physical activity and maintaining the new habits over months and years!! We can all do this, because I believe.........................................

I would give anything to make myself move away from the scale!! I'm soooo bad at this. I weigh every two or three days. But I was on a long stall this month and decided to weigh weekly. I'm afraid I cant keep away from the scale more than a week. And the worst part is, I'm not satisfied with the scales at home. My 'correct' weight - atleast in my mind - is the one shown on the scales at my doc's hospital. I go there weekly now just to weigh myself. It is on the way to office, so no biggie. *shrug*

Water is definitely very important! Your body needs it to function properly. I believe it is also important to us because your body needs water to flush the fat out of your body. As for stalls, water really helped me. I know it doesn't work for everyone but I was in a three-week stall and the only thing I changed was the amount of water I was drinking and I dropped four pounds. I had a hard time getting water down (well, its really liquids, so anything decaf and low cals/carbs should work). At first I had to literally carry around the bottle with me and sip all day. I just hit my six month mark and I can now drink a bit more at a time... but if I'm home I still keep my bottle close to me, just makes it easier. Good luck!

I consider myself to be a slow loser, but it is relatively steady outside of the usual stalls. I am keeping active with Water aerobics three times a week and also walking. I do consider this a marathon and not a sprint (are those the right terms?) and so I am being very patient. Perhaps get back to basics - I think there is a "bootcamp" posted by Lilmissdiva here. If you are eating chocolate, maybe other things are slipping as well. That is not judgmental, as we all do it! Maybe, Like Iowaandy says, go back to liquids for a week. Definitely up the Protein. I think that is our best weapon against hunger and potential bingeing. I don't see your stats, but did you start at a lower weight than most? I think some of the lower starting weights may not drop as quickly. Also, when I get a little discouraged, I look at my progress since surgery and I think to myself how there is no way in hell I could have lost that amount of weight and kept it off before surgery. Some of us are going to go a little slower but it is still better than where we were on our own. Good luck you you!

Yes, a cup of liquid (not necessarily puree or cream soups) anything goes down easily. I remember in the hospital when they brought my first meal: good size bowl of broth, small juice, popsicle, Jello cup and I was thinking what on earth am I supposed to do with all this? All I'd ever heard was sip, sip, sip and don't ever take in more than 1oz at a time. Boy was I in for a surprise when the nurses were really irritated with me for not eating it all and not drinking the huge pitcher of ice Water they kept refilling! At home on Clear Liquids I'd usually fix myself a 16oz bowl of broth and sip it down slowly but I didn't have any trouble taking it in. I had a stall in week three. It was also time for my period and every month, things seem to stop a week and a half before I get my period, then I start and drop 2-4 lbs over night and start inching down again from there.

No no no !! You did not mess up. Your body is going through alot of changes right now and has to have time to catch up with everything that is happening to it. Dont be discouraged!!! Stick with your program and you will be fine, the weight loss will come.Talk to your doctor about walking a little more everyday. I understand that you have heart problems but even if its just a stroll down the street its better than nothing.I am at five weeks post op and I have had my own struggles as well. I lost 30 pounds pre op and the first week after surgery 10 pounds fell right off. Then wham! Nothing for two weeks. I was so discouraged and upset. But I read alot of posts and here and found out it was normal to hit a stall. Discouraging as it may be , we all go through it. I am kinda afraid that I hit another stall this week. I lost five pounds last week and for the last three days the scales have not moved but I know as long as I keep at it the weight loss will come. Same for you!!! Just dont give up. This is a process. Good luck!!

This was me... literally until this morning! I went three weeks with NOTHING. I went back to basics. I hit my Protein goal and drank my Water and stayed away from treats (for the most part). This last week I also stayed off the scale to give my head a break. I'm not sure if it was the water or just time but today my stall broke. It will pass, just give it some time. I know how frustrating it can be! Oh, some people suggested to me to change up your routine, I kinda did that as well as this weekend I went away so everything was different. I got back Sunday but waited until this morning (my normal weigh in day/time) to weigh in. Good luck and chin up!

Hey Dorrie, I will look at your MFP and see if anything jumps out at me. I eat pretty normal and when I say normal, I mean I have some peanut m'ms and cheetos occasionally. LOL. I am by far not perfect at this. I try to drink a protein drink whether it be muscle milk ready made or unflavored in OJ in the morning. I didnt have any this morning but most mornings I do. I eat peanut butter with mini nilla wafers around 10 or cheese and ritz crackers... not many crackers or wafers.. like 5 mini wafers or 2 ritz. I have been trying to lower my carbs down some so I could get out of the constant stalling too. It has worked for me. I try to keep my carbs down under 40 but definately under 70. I dont worry about the calories and I have yet to go over 850-900. I mostly stay around 750-800 but Its not because I try to. I dont eat lot of snacky things if i want my carbs to be low. Seems like all the snacks I like are carby. I eat roast beef lunch meat or ham and cheese for lunch a lot or sometimes chicken. I eat fish or chicken for dinner a lot. I buy the fajita meat already done andn just add some mixed peppers with it and its really good. I bought the three pack of peppers and sliced them and froze them so I can just get out a few to go with my fajita chicken or beef. Its super good and very low in carbs.. like zero. I hope this helps. I also walk 2-3 miles about 5 days a week and do zumba twice a week. You can look at my MFP which I usually update during the week if you want to. My username is the same as here. HTH Tammi

St. Louis Sarah.... have your clothes gotten any looser the past 2 months during your stall? I'm a little similar as far as the weight loss being slow the past few months and I had my surgery around the same time as you. I've really hit the weights with some heavy lifting the past three months, my pounds are very slow to drop, yet my clothes keep getting looser. The reason I asked is that I see that you've been doing CrossFit which mostly uses your body weight for lifting, which will add a good deal of muscle. I do CrossFit type of training about 2 days a week in addition to my weightlifting. So if you are still losing inches, I wouldn't worry too much about it due to you adding muscle, at some point, muscle and strength will plateau a little, and you will probably lose some more weight. As for the carbs, just keep an eye on them and not go too crazy with them. Consuming them around your workout is fine and will actually help you pre and post workout. Other than that, you might want to keep them to a minimum. Also consider what the others on here mentioned like logging your food intake and not drinking with meals. If you are feeling better, that's great and try to focus on the good things while sticking with what you're supposed to do. Hang in there, it's more mental than anything.

Whenever you start any kind of a weight loss program, not just surgery, you tend to lose very quickly the first couple of weeks or so because initially you are burning mostly glycogen - your quick reserves of primarily carbs which burn at a rate of around 2000 calories per pound; after those reserves are exhausted, then you start burning primarily fat which burns at a slower rate of about 3500 calories per pound. People often stall during this transition period, which is what is usually referred to as the dreaded three week stall. So, if you are already in that longer term fat burning mode when you go into surgery, then you won't see as big of an initial drop immediately post-op that those who didn't lose anything pre-op did (though you may see an initial gain and quick loss from the fluids they pump into you during your hospital stay.) Either way - pre-op or post-op, weight loss is a good thing and what we are here for! Good luck.

that lovely three week stall that lasts sometimes 2-4 weeks. that scale will move....dont worry! you will get there! stay possitive

Hey guys - I was sleeved 1/30 and I think I have almost exactly same stats as you two. I just had a REALLY FRUSTRATING 2 week stall. I've been reading everything everyone says about stalls and it seems what we are experiencing is normal (and even to be expected). I tried upping my calories a little and water a lot and switching up my exercise routine. Phew...stall is officially broken. I've lost three pounds in three days. My doc says this is what I should expect, really. He referred to it as stepping down (level for a bit, down for a bit, level for a bit, down for a bit....). Hang in there. There's no way we can't lose weight when we're consuming under 1000 calories a day (and exercising)! Have faith and patience.

As some of you may know,Protein, staying below 40g carbs, and exercising every day -- then I had some crappy stuff happen and I got knocked off my horse for a few weeks. But for the last 4-5 days, I'm bouncing back and starting to lose again. Then today, I had my follow up with my surgeon and it was awful. I expected him to be upset and he was. Granted their scale showed me about 3lbs heavier than I was at home this morning (and that's with the 2lbs they take off for clothes). Last time it was 3lbs. smaller -- but who cares? I'm only paying attention to my scale anyhow. I've only lost 6.5lbs in the last 21days. But the last two have been in just the past few days. I told my doctor about everything that happened, and he once again accused me of cheating. He tells me that whether or not I exercise, I should still be losing 4-5lbs per week. I disagree. I showed him my food diary (MFP on phone) and how I'm averaging 550-600 calories per day, and was as low as 430 during the week I was too nauseous to eat. He told me I should aim for 600 calories per day, and I told him how his nurse and nutritionist both told me to go down to 400 when I wasn't exercising. I found it nearly impossible to hit my protein intake during that time, which he says is a lie. He told me that "with how I'm doing" I'm most likely going to max out at losing only a total of 50-60 pounds. I've already lost 42. WTH? I really do not get along with him and he tends to throw out numbers at me and tells me that he doesn't think I'm journaling everything I eat. He has NO IDEA how f****** diligent I am with my diary. I read on here how some doctors allow things like refried Beans, Peanut Butter, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, etc. but I keep to his diet strictly. It's a rotation of greek yogurt, cottage cheese, protein drinks/shakes, white meat chicken, shrimp, scallops, and tofu. I can't do much cheese because of one of my other ongoing problems, and if I squeeze in a floret or two of broccoli or a spear of asparagus I feel like I cheater. I will agree that I want to work more at hitting my protein goals. Now that I'm feeling better, I know that will happen. But what happened to compassion? What happened to, "Wow. That sounds like a rough month. Let's see what we can do to get you back on track." No, I get, "You need to come clean and look in the mirror and see what you're doing wrong, what you're allowing to go in your mouth that you shouldn't." When I mention that my gyno may be considering surgery for my ovarian cyst problem, he was against it. His words, "Not many doctors know how to deal with fat patients on their table." I'm sorry, I know I'm obese but I find the word "fat" to be a bit insulting with the tone he used. I just don't like the word, since it's usually said with hate and it's not as clinical as "obese." Thank goodness I have no more scheduled visits with him anytime soon. I'm forever grateful that he did a wonderful job with my surgery. He is obviously skilled in that area. But when it comes to making a person feel human, feel worthwhile, and not feel like a complete failure -- he needs a lot of work. I already knew the loss was bad, I knew I had a rough time with my stall. I've been beating myself up mentally for the past three weeks. I'm not looking for a friend or a hug, but f*** him if I'm going to let him call me a cheater ever again. God complex anyone?

OHHHH dear one- the conversations we've had today on this forum about stalls!!! I am in one as well. Mine started at...guess when....three weeks!!! Yes, it's referred to around here as the "three week stall." I found a great explanation for it today from one of our seasoned sleevers. Check it out: (This was a post on another thread by "Tiffykins.") This is why you are in a stall. It's normal and expected. Your body will never go into a stall as long as you have body fat to burn: Weight Loss Stall or Plateau A weight loss stall or plateau is an extended period of time during reducing efforts where is there is no weight loss according to the scale and no loss of inches according to the tape measure. This is why it is so important to take your body measurements before surgery, so you'll have a reference as your weight loss progresses post-op. We suggest you take measurements of your chest, waist and hip, neck, upper arm, thigh and calf. Be aware it is very common for your weight loss to "stall" shortly after surgery. Diana explains the reason for this below. The Inevitable Stall By Diana C. A "stall" a few weeks out is inevitable, and here's why. Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of Water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet. As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a saber tooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored. Breathe, and fuggedaboudit for a few days. What You Can Do About a Stall or Plateau If you are experiencing a post-op weight loss stall or plateau further out there are a few possible causes. First, check that are you really in a stall. If the scale has stopped moving you may be losing inches, so check your measurements. Too Many Carbs? Carbohydrates can start sneaking into your foods without you being aware of how quickly they are adding up. For more information on carbs, see our section onCarbohydrates. If you are struggling with your weight loss you may want to examine your daily carb count. You can try to keep your carbs under 50g a day and see if that makes a difference in your weight loss. Do not eat carbs before bedtime as it triggers insulin and initiates fat storage. There are some great web site resources you can use to keep track of what you are eating.

Hey all- Ok...I have an issue that I need to figure out. Right at three weeks I hit a stall just like I expected. I knew it was coming and I was gonna kick its butt!! Well, two weeks and one day later, there's no kicking. Only stalling. Well, I can deal with that I suppose, because I know this HAS to work. I'm eating between 600- 800 calories a day, and it's all light, low fat, sugar free and I have my Proteins first. I'm pretty confident that I'm eating right. I also go to the gym three times a week. I need to work on walking on the off days, and drinking more. That aside...I think logging my food every day on My Fitness Pal is putting me in a downward spiral of despair. I can SEE that I'm doing everything right and still the scale's not moving. I think i need to take a step back from the scale and from the food logging for a while. I know it's a valuable tool, but I think it's doing more harm than good right now. To be clear...I know I'm doing all the right things. I know the stall will break. I just need advice on whether to stop logging every microbe that enters my mouth right now. I feel the need to log the dust I inhale. I feel legally bound to log food. Can I stop for a while???

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html Here's a great article on starvation mode and why it's just not true for obese to super morbidly obese people.: MTYHBUSTERS: Starvation Mode There are a number of nutritional myths running around out there on the web. Mythbusters is one of my favorite shows and misinformation annoys me, so I decided to do a series of articles on each myth examining what is and isn't true about it. (Plus stealing the Mythbusters title makes me feel like Kari Byron, or at least like I could be her mother.) So let's start by examining the whole "starvation mode" idea that you see all the time in articles about dieting. I picked this one to start with because I'm now tracking my food on My Fitness Pal and the number of people there screaming "starvation mode" is about 10x higher than most of the other weight loss boards I go to. They annoy the heck out of me, so I want to "answer" them in a permanent way vs. just arguing with them over and over on the boards there. So what is the Starvation Mode Myth? It goes like this: "If you don't eat enough, you won't lose weight!" Okay, so all I have to do to lose weight is ... eat more food! Wow, isn't that awesome? If I stall out at 800 calories, I'll just go up to 1000. And if I stall at 1000, I'll go to 1200. If that doesn't work, how about 1500? 1800? 2200? Oh wait, when I ate 2200 calories, I weighed 223 pounds. Okay, that's not going to work. But what if I just don't go below the magic "1200" that "everyone" says "no one" should go below? That must be what they mean by "starvation mode," right? If I stay at 1200, I will lose weight but if I go below that, I won't. The problem with this idea is that, if it were true, no one would die from starvation and obviously people do. Clearly, even if you eat what is obviously too few calories to be healthy, such as an anorexic does, you will continue to lose weight. So where did this idea -- that not eating enough calories makes you not lose weight -- come from? It started with the famous Minnesota starvation study. Some normal-weighted men agreed to live on a compound where their exercise and diet was strictly controlled. For portions of the study, they were on a "starvation diet" which is defined as 50% of the calories your body needs to function. For me, these days, that's about 750-850 calories a day. So I was on a starvation diet up for the first four months after my surgery. Yet I lost weight just fine during that period -- better than fine, really. Most of the people on The Biggest Loser are also on starvation diets, from what I can tell. They may eat a lot more than I do but they also exercise strenuously 6-8 hours a day. So they are often below 50% of their calorie expenditure for the day. They seem to lose just fine too. How can this be?! The answer lies in what actually happened to the Minnesota guys when they were on their starvation diets. Like most of us on a diet, their metabolisms did slow down. In fact, after they'd been on this diet for a while -- we're talking months, not days here -- their body fat percentage got to a point below what is considered minimal to live on (about 5% for a guy, 6% for a gal). At this point, their metabolism had slowed down as much as 40%. But -- and this is the important point for those of us on a diet -- they continued to lose weight. Even with that big of a slow down in their BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), they were still operating at a great enough calorie deficit to lose. If this is true with a 40% slow down, it's even more true when the slow down is somewhere in the 14 - 22% range, which is more where if falls with normal dieting. WARNING MATH CONTENT AHEAD: Take an individual who needs 2,000 calories per day to maintain their current weight. Assuming calorie expenditure remains the same, they will lose (approximately) as follows: Calories Expected Loss Per Week Actual Loss 2,000 0 pound 0 pound 1,500 1 pound 1 pound 1,000 2 pounds 2 pound 500 3 pounds 2¼ to 2½ pounds As you can see from the table, once you go below a certain calorie level, you aren't getting the weight loss you'd expect. This is because your BMR will go down more if you eat only 500 calories compared to eating 1500. But, as you can see, you are still losing more than if you were eating 1000 calories. This is a lot different than the "no" weight loss that the "starvation mode" myth touts. The other important point to note about this study is that it was performed on normal-weighted men. When starvation studies have been done on the obese, they find that the impact of the starvation diet is much less. Our bodies have fat stores designed to get us through a famine (i.e., a diet) and when we have a famine (i.e., a diet), those fat stores get used. The drastic slowdown of the metabolism doesn't happen until those fat stores are largely gone -- which takes a lot longer for the obese than for those who only have to lose 10-25 pounds. So why are we told not to go under 1200 calories a day, unless under a doctor's supervision? Mostly because, the more you reduce your intake, the harder it is to get the nutritients you need from food. If you are on a very low calorie diet (as I am), you need to see your doctor(s) regularly, get labs done regularly, etc. Not to mention, Vitamin supplementation is a must. Doing what I'm doing on your own can be dangerous, as you may not know or noticed the signs of a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Don't forget: some vitamin deficiencies can kill you! Another reason not to go below a certain calorie expenditure is that human beings are not machines and, unlike the guys in the Minnesota study, we aren't living on a compound with our activity and food strictly controlled. As a result, when we reduce our calories substantially, there is a tendency to subconsciously (or even consciously) reduce our calorie expenditure. Combine this with our tendency to under-report what we eat and over-report our exercise, and you can see where we can get into trouble. As an example, one Saturday I did a killer two hour workout. After which, I came home and took a three hour nap! Obviously my calorie expenditure that day was lower than if I hadn't taken the nap. Now, I still lost weight that week. But if I was only eating 500 calories for months at time, I doubt I'd be able to have done that workout to begin with -- I'd still be doing the 30 min. low intensity workouts that I started with. Plus, I might also be taking naps a lot more than once in a while. Both of which would have impacted my weight loss because they would have decreased my calorie expenditure. Eating more over time has allowed me to exercise more so that, as a result, my rate of weight loss hasn't gone down as much as it could have as my calories have gone up. Plus I'm happy because I'm fitter and healthier. In the end, it's important to consume enough calories that you have the energy to perform the daily activities you want to and to keep your body healthy. Otherwise, it's self-defeating. After all, the point of losing weight is to be healthier and to get our lives back. It's not to starve ourselves to the point of malnutrition and have so little energy we can't go out and do fun things. If you want to learn more about starvation mode and read more details about the studies I alluded to, here are some good articles on it: Are You In Starvation Mode or Starving For Truth? (some typos but the best summary article I've seen) The Starvation Myth (where I got my table from) The Truth about "Starvation Mode" (lots of research is discussed) And here's an article from the other side... Tom Venuto is a big proponent of Starvation Mode and avoiding it. Yet even though the tone of his article makes it sounds like he disagrees 100% with the articles above, about 90% of what he says is exactly the same: Is starvation mode a myth?- No! It's very real and here is the proof