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it's probably the infamous "three week stall"; you're just getting it a little early. Most of us experience our first stall within the first 4-6 weeks after surgery - it's usually the third week, hence the name. Mine was weeks 2 and 3. It broke during week 4 and I dropped like 6-8 lbs within a couple of days. Just stick to your program and it'll break - they can last 1-3 weeks, but they WILL break as long as you stick to your plan. And as others have said, this will likely be the first among several - occasional stalls are very normal during weight loss. Stay off the scale for a few days if it's playing with your head too much - and keep in mind that it WILL break, and you'll be on your way again.

Stalls happen. They’re your body’s reaction to the stress of weight loss, reduced food intake, etc. plus as @Hop_Scotch mentioned your surgery. You’ll likely experience more stalls while you’re losing but this perfectly normal. Most last 1-3 weeks. Your weight loss will never be a continuous straight downward line. It will zig & zag, go up & down & not move at all. Stick to your plan & the scale will start to move again. Some people find that while the scale doesn’t move they notice a change in their clothing. Try taking body measurements & comparing changes that way too.

Almost every one stalls, some stall early on some a little later. There are thousands of posts on here regarding stalls and it looks like you are a little early to the infamous three week stall...for some reason a lot of people stall at three weeks post op. It's hard not to be disappointed when the scales do not reflect the effort put in but noww is the time to make sure you have some non scale goals. Take some of the focus away from scales. Keep to your post op plan and weight loss will catch up. Edited to add, your body is still very much in the healing stage and there is still likely a lot of inflammation which can cause fluid retention. Some surgeons suggest not weighing for at least a month, there is good reason for that and now you are all too aware of it.

I went in for surgery on Thursday the 29th to convert my sleeve to a gastric bypass due to weight loss failure. When I woke up from anesthesia I got the bad news that my surgeon was unable to do the surgery safely. When he got in my belly he found all of the mesh from my hernia surgeries as well as a new recurring hernia I didn't know I had. Apparently I have adhesions of the mesh to my bowel. He says he can repair it and isn't giving up on me but we need a plan B. I cried the entire day I was so upset. Waking up to pain and incisions only to discover the surgery didn't happen after so much preparation for that day I was completely overwhelmed with a feeling of grief. I'm really hoping he is able to fix my hernias and mesh successfully so he can complete the conversion to bypass. Has anyone else gone in for surgery and had the surgeon not be able to perform the surgery? I'm still feeling bummed and I don't really know exactly what's next until I speak to my surgeon again and my new incisions completely heal. Happy New Year

I lost about 20 pounds in the first two weeks. Then, I had my first stall. It lasted nearly a month. The weight loss picked up again, but at a much more reasonable pace. My typical pattern is: lose 3 pounds, gain 2 pounds, stall - repeat.

I agree with those who recommend you find another PCP. I would be concerned about this doctor's fixation on your BMI. First of all, as a bariatric patient, you might not need to have a BMI within the "normal" range. I saw a video on YouTube a while back (someone linked to it on this forum) by a bariatric surgeon talking about the best weight for bariatric patients and he suggested that a "normal" BMI may actually be too low. So the first problem with this doctor is that his advice for you to lose weight might not even be correct. The other thing that bothers me here is that I have a dear friend who went to her PCP complaining of malaise, and the doctor dismissed her symptoms and told her she would probably feel better if she dropped 10 pounds (and this is someone I have always envied because she has always been in great shape;). Turns out she had cancer. I would be wary about a doctor who jumps straight to losing weight as the cure for everything. Something I appreciate about my PCP is that she never commented on my weight. She suggested I change my diet and be more active to lower my blood pressure and blood glucose, which are obviously associated with weight loss, but she recommended actual actions and not just, "lose weight." Likewise, she didn't praise me for losing weight, only for improving my health. I wish more doctors would take that approach instead of just using BMI as an all-purpose measure of health.

I know this post is old. But I’m pretty anointed as well. I’m only 1.5 weeks post op and I’ve stalled all week. I’m still only on liquids. In fact, I gained a pound. Why so early???? I’m practically starving. I guess I just don’t understand the science behind it. Nor did I know a stall happens this early. Everyone always talks about the dramatic weight loss early on and then the stalls come. I’m not even two weeks post op. I guess this is the reason they say not to weigh yourself. I am pretty frustrated.

I'm really worried that you're overtraining. While physical exercise is a good thing, it's absolutely possible to overdo it. Some possible warning signs for you to watch for: Feeling tired all the time Trouble sleeping Constant muscle soreness Symptoms of depression Mood swings and/or feeling irritable Feeling stressed all the time Why should you be concerned? Due to your weight, you are at a lot higher risk of injury when exercising. Overtraining ratchets up the likelihood of injury quite a bit more. A significant injury right now could set you back months. Due to reduced food intake, you are at a pretty significant disadvantage recovery-wise compared to someone that does not have to contend with a very low calorie diet. Calories from food (not just protein), is absolutely needed to help post workout recovery. Overtraining can actually be counterproductive to weight loss because it significantly increases cortisol levels. I won't spend too much time talking about why cortisol matters, but even slightly elevated levels of cortisol can negatively impact weight loss. Plus, if you're impacting your sleep levels, this negative effect is exacerbated. Overtraining can actually be bad for your heart. We tend to think that if some cardiovascular exercise is good, more should be better, but that's not always true. Among other things, people that overtrain can cause problems like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and AFib. While I don't think you're quite to this level yet, it's something to watch out for. Overtraining can actually impact your ability to fight off infection. Getting sick could also set you back quite a bit. If all of the above weren't enough, the likelihood of you stopping training altogether is significantly elevated if you overtrain. I certainly understand you think you're doing the right thing, but hardly anyone that's overtraining realizes it until they suffer the impacts of it. I also think many formerly obese individuals may be more likely to overtrain for a few reasons: We are typically starting from a poor base fitness level, so it does not take nearly as much to overtrain. Most of us have tendency toward addictive behavior. (Yes, overtraining can be due to transfer addiction.) We are trying to "makeup" for a previous lack of exercise. We think that this will help us lose weight faster. As I mentioned, this behavior can actually slow down fat loss, rather than speed it up. Instead, our goal should be to build a sustainable level of fitness that accomplishes a few things: To develop a good level of cardiovascular endurance that keeps our bodies and minds healthy To strengthen our muscles to make everyday living easier and more sustainable for the long-term To decrease the risk of illness and injury To burn more calories, both during exercise and at rest To look good naked (okay, for some of us, maybe that's pushing it!) One of the best ways to do all that is to ensure your current level of exercise is sustainable. From that sustainable base, we add in something called "progressive overload" to ensure we are actually benefiting from the exercise. When we overtrain, there's no room for progress, meaning eventually you either burnout, or your body adapts and the benefit becomes lost. Sorry for the long post here. I know to you I'm just some random person on the internet and you're not likely to pay much attention anyway. Even so, the risk is real, and I encourage you to research this to make sure I'm not just blowing smoke. More than anything, even if you don't think you're overtraining, I'd hate for others to come away from this thread thinking your exercise workload is what they should be doing too. For 99% of us it's not.

re: hair loss: I think mine lasted about three months

Keep in mind that 'weight loss' does not equal fat loss. I would be skeptical that you lost 7 pounds of fat in a week, but some fat, some fluid, and possibly some muscle? Sure. We wrongly think there are only 2 types of "stuff" in our bodies, the good stuff that never goes away and the bad stuff (fat), that we want to go away. It's a lot more complicated than that, and scales are just not a great way to really know what's going on inside your body. Unfortunately, scales are the tool most of us have, so we have to make due. I guess my point is don't overthink what the scale is telling you in either direction. As soon as you hit a stall, you're going to start questioning if you're doing things "right", but you may be having the same issue with a scale not really telling you what you need to know regarding fat loss. If that happens, it's better to just stick to your program and remember that you're using a tool that's pretty lousy at measuring fat loss.

You’ve lost 62 pounds in 6 months and you’re dissatisfied with that? I think that looking at other bariatric patients can skew our perspectives on weight loss. If you are expecting the same rate of weight loss as the patients on My 600 Pound Life, for example, that is not realistic because you don’t have nearly as much weight to lose. Your expectations for weight loss may not be realistic. At your height of 5’6”, your goal weight of 140 pounds puts you at a BMI of 22.6. The average gastric bypass patient loses 50-70% of excess weight, which means that the average gastric bypass patient doesn’t quite get to a BMI below 25 (which would be 155 pounds for a 5’6” person). With a starting weight of 270 pounds, your excess weight was 115 pounds. If you lose 70% of that, it’s 81 pounds of weight loss and a final weight of 189 pounds. A loss of 62 pounds in 6 months puts you on track to achieve that in a year (but remember that there are a lot of factors that can affect rate of weight loss, and you may lose faster or slower than others). Keep in mind that this is an average and not indicative of any individual patient. It is certainly possible to lose more than that. Some gastric bypass patients do lose all their excess weight and end up with a BMI below 25. You might be able to get to 140 pounds, but it is probably going to take a lot of work. The surgery is just a tool, not magic. If you were expecting to shed all your excess weight in 6 months without trying, then maybe you did waste your time and money, but if you are willing to put in the effort and use the WLS to your advantage, then you can achieve more weight loss than you ever have before.

Update: It's been a month since I posted the photo of my hair loss last spring. This morning I noticed a lot of 1-2" long hairs on top of my head. I can actually part my hair and the scalp is not so prevalent. I lost most of the hair in June, so it's taken 6+ months for it to noticeably grow in.

It is definitely possible in the beginning but as mentioned you will also hit stalls which seem just as impossible because you won’t lose for days or even weeks when your calories are just as low. Also, the closer you get to normal the slower the loss will be so enjoy the quick loss ride while it lasts.

Ahh I didn't even think about how much easier shorter hair is too style! My longer fuller hair would sometimes take 2hrs to fully style. Maybe shorter hair will be a nice break haha

Thank you. My hair used to absolutely be part of my identity. I used to dye it so many colors & I had fun with it for so many years. So this is hitting me extra hard I think that's what I need to do, cut the ends that look thinner on hopes it looks like I have more volume. I think ranting here about it will relieve that stress . I just needed to tell someone so thanks u guys for listening

For me this was the hardest part to deal with after surgery. My issue is and was that I had already had some hair loss before surgery and now I see a lot of scalp. My plan was to get a curly hair cut and once I see my stylist she may be able to still do it though I'm not holding out hope for that. My hair is finally starting to grow back though I still have a lot of scalp showing and the hair loss has slowed down. Hang in there it will get better.

NO ! You haven't wasted anything ! You have GAINED experience, you have gained the knowledge that IF you eat certain foods, you won't lose weight. One of the biggest issues for many people, myself included isn't losing the weight... if I really set my mind to it.... it is keeping it off. I am a dozen years post surgery. Look at where I started and where I am now. About 4 years ago I decided to take some gained weight off.... again... and to stop every so often and maintain THAT weight for a while. BLEW MY OWN MIND !!! I could eat more, or eat treats and maintain my weight each time. Two years ago I got down to about 172 - 173 and decided to stay there and only panic if I got to 177. I kept a 40 pound weight loss for 2 years. AFTER losing 120 pounds 12 to 10 years ago. A while back... a few months I decided that I would just try to get back from an average of 175 to maybe that 172. Took my time, made some small changes. Gained 2 pounds during the 8 days of Chanukkah with some latkes and jelly donuts. And family dinners. Not a problem. Went back to what I was doing before our holiday and lost the two pounds ... (again) and didn't beat myself up over it. As soon as I stopped eating the holiday foods, the two pounds came off and another couple pounds after that... For me, it is all about getting into the right head space and weighing daily, watching what I eat, and balance. Friends dropped off dinner for my adult daughter and I tonight.... line caught, home made fresh FRIED fish. And french fries. (REALLY ?!) The fish was delicious. I ate 4 fries. And a piece of fish. I have fish for lunch tomorrow, and dinner..... and my daughter has fish and fries for days... I am the same weight now as I was in college... in 1977. From my heaviest weight I am almost half of myself. NEVER ever say that you cannot. Take a break from being so hard on yourself. Take a week and maintain where you are now. Then go back to where you need to be. You can do this.

I have been crazy busy, but I love it here and wanted to update you guys on what's new with me. And hopefully some of you will give updates on yourselves here, too So I am getting used to the work outs I've been doing (and by that I mean I don't need 2-3 days between working out now. I can do 6 days and take 1 rest day). I do cardio twice per week for an hour and a half each time, I do strength and core training twice per week for an hour and 15 minutes each time, and I do weight training twice per week for an hour each time (that's my least favorite lol) On my rest day, I literally do nothing. I work and do college from home, so I either lay in bed or on my love seat and get stuff done. I'm a complete veg head lol I made my rest day on Mondays because...well...Monday lol I drink three 16oz bottles of propel electrolyte water everyday (my favorite) and one 20oz bottle of gatorade zero each day. I also drink 2-4 cups of tea (sweetened with monkfruit sweetener, or not sweetened at all, depending on the tea). Specifically, I drink green tea in the morning, black tea in the afternoon, white tea in the evening, and if I'm in the mood, I drink either oolong tea or yerba mate tea at night. Helps suppress appetite, burn fat, and the green and black teas give a little caffeine boost (not a lot, but juuuuust enough). I usually make a protein shake in the morning for breakfast (never been a big breakfast eater). I have several different protein powders to choose from, and I typically add my greens powder to it, turmeric powder, moringa powder, matcha powder, mct oil, black seed oil, collagen powder, soluble fiber, avocado, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, gut health powder (digestive enzymes with pre and probiotics), and vitamin c powder. If needed, I add some monk fruit sweetener for a little extra sweetness, and it's really yummy and filling. For lunch I typically have some kind of salad (I have a few different ones that I like) and I add a protein to it, and then dinner is always some kind of protein and veggie. On weight training days, I have a P3 protein pack for a snack, but I don't usually have a snack on other days. On cardio and strengthening days I tend to have about 1200 calories and 20 carbs. On weight training days I have around 1300 calories and 25ish carbs. On my rest day I have between 900 - 1000 calories and 15 or so carbs. I also found a new salt to use (I rarely use salt, but this is much healthier for when I do) called Kala Namak Himalayan salt (it's black). Black salt has antioxidant properties and has surprisingly low sodium levels. It also contains important minerals like iron, calcium, and magnesium, which are essential to healthy bodies. Black salt stimulates bile production in the liver, and helps control heartburn and bloating. Its sulfurous, salty, mineral taste works great in cooking or as a finishing salt. I'm firmly in a size 20 clothing now, and my ring size is an 8 (but it's starting to get loose, so I'm looking at 7 1/2 now). I'm also in a stall again, but I honestly don't even care. I'm getting so healthy and strong and I can see a difference, so the scale will move when it moves, and until then, I'm just gonna focus on what I'm doing. I'm working full time and I'm in college full time (I'm finishing up my bachelor's degree - I have 8 more classes now) so between that and my more fit lifestyle, I'm always busy with something lol I really love it, though. I finished my Associate's degree in October and decided that I was going to finish the rest of my dream and get the bachelor's degree. I already have my dream job, but it's for ME, you know? I'll be the first one in my family to have a degree, and I want that. It means a lot to me to have it, and I graduated with a 4.0 with my associate's degree, and I still have a 4.0 so far now. I'm going to do my best to keep it, too. I'm noticing I have zero boobs to speak of now LOL I wasn't really expecting that at all, but it's fine. That's what padded bras are for until I get em done later on lol I'm more than ready for my hair to stop falling out and to start growing back. I'll be 8 months post op on the 3rd. How much longer will this go on before it finally calms down? That's really my biggest gripe right now. I'm just ready to not lose so much hair. I knew it was coming, so I never freaked out, but it's getting on my nerves now lol That's really it. All in all, things are going pretty well. How is everyone else doing?

That is a pretty strong drink. Don’t know what your daily calorie intake is but 248 is a lot of calories to waste on a single glass of alcohol which provides no nutritional benefit which should be your focus. 248 calories would have been 3/4 of my daily intake then. The carbs would also be a significant percentage of your limit too I would guess. And alcohol dehydrates you & slows your metabolism. In saying that I had a gin & tonic at around 2 months at my cousin’s 40th. I nursed that drink for more than 4 hours. Didn’t really enjoy it either & I didn’t have another drink for months. I don’t drink much at all since my surgery. An odd glass of champagne or a G&T maybe once a month or less often. My friends don’t pressure me to drink even though they drink. I realised I don’t need to drink to socialise & enjoy being with my friends. My question is what sort of friends are they to try to force you to drink when medically you’re advised not to? Are they trying to sabotage your weight loss? Ultimately though it is your decision. If you want to have a drink maybe look for a lower calorie drink with fewer carbs & less alcohol.

I started losing large amounts of hair around 3 months post, and cut it into a pixie a week or so after. The shorter hair was easier to style and fluff (and stay) up to give the illusion of volume vs the longer hair, which weighed down against my scalp, making the scalp more visible and looking bald-ish. Plus i was sick of vacuuming up the carpets of long hair i kept shedding around the house. Little chicken hairs started to sprout up around 6 months post and by 2 years post those chicken hairs were down to the tops of my shoulders. Im a little over 4 years post op today and its almost exactly like it was before surgery. I say "almost" because i believe it's actually thicker looking now, but that may also be due to the fact that the hairs came in wavier/bendier that before. which im not hating at all. 😉 Below my hair progress pic lol. I actually had a lot of fun putting this collage together...i spent a good couple hours trying to find a pre-op pic of me with my hair down (i almost always have my hair in a bun or ponytail), and i was marvelling at all my obese pictures! i am in shock at how big i was...i could've sworn i was never that big! crazy. just crazy.

Same here. I lost three pounds last month. Three! I feel like I’m losing inches though. I think the three pounds was all of the hair I’ve been losing! Here’s to ending the stall in 2023!

I havent had my sugery yet and Im already losing hair because Im old!! I keep my hair short so its not so noticeable. I too used to have very thick hair but not any more.

It's the worst! In one shower I lose what I used to lose in a weeks worth of showers. I am so glad I had thick hair, but it is getting to be so noticeable. I have been considering shaving the rest of my head...

Wow it sounds like you are doing amazing!! Sorry you started off so rough but you are doing great, you should be so proud! I wish I could forget sweets. I've never been one that ate a ton of sweets but if they are in my reach I'll have some. That's why I usually just don't keep any in the house but Christmas seems to be the exception. I'm finally able to get most of my protein without the shakes but I still enjoy eating a protein yogurt for breakfast every day so that gives me a good start. Although I do love my hot chai made with a protein shake but only the vanilla from fairlife. I tried like 3 other vanillas and didn't like them at all. So I still do eat some protein items but its because I like the flavors instead of needing it. My goal is lower than yours though, I'm supposed to have 60 per day. You are doing amazing at working hard at your goals, can't wait to hear what the next 3 months brings for you I hope our hair struggles are short lived but I know its all worth it in the end.