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Ahhhh. The dreaded three week stall. Hang in there. Your body is playing catch up Don't change a thing . You will be losing again real soon

I guess I look at my overweight being that I was always more willing to take the easy route and that led me to more weight gain. Even at my thinnest, I was still looking for an easy way to cheat the system. My cheating and falling for the easy way led me to gaining even more weight over the years. I will be honest and tell you, I am also one who chose not to tell many people about my WLS. I chose only a few people I knew would hold me accountable as well as give me positive feedback on choices I make for my new life ahead of me. I have a very encouraging group of honest friends and family that I trust will not share my journey, as for the rest, I will not lie, I will tell them I have decided to make better food choices and exercise more! You are right! There are so many people that will snub their noses at you for the mere fact of thinking of having a WLS, but the way I look at it is "It's not taking the easy way out"! I once read a book with a terrific truth to those who say by having WLS you are just taking the easy route. NO, there is nothing easy about preperation for the surgery, having the surgery, nor life after the surgery. I can say there are times that because we eat less and have been encouraged to exercise more the weight will come off faster but there isn't anything easy about it. The book made a suggestive: When there is negative feedback, or derrogotory comments, remind those by asking; "Do you still go out back and beat your laundry with rocks to wash?" "Do you have still hand wash all your dishes?" "Do you still hang your clothes out to dry?" I am quite positive the answer to at least two of these questions is NO. Well, does that mean they took the easy route out? NO, they found a more efficeint way to wash clothes and dishes so they aren't slaves to chores, they found help. Well, we found a way to help us not be victim to food addiction with a little help! Honestly, I chose to weed out the negative people in my life. I do not like to be involved with people like that! I think they are just envious. What we choose to do with our bodies is our choice, nobody else matters!!! As far as me, I am in my three week stall and I dislike it! I thought I would shed the weight faster, and I did the first two weeks, and then there is this nice hill to climb, "Three Week Stall". I've read much about it and I will do all I can to stay motivated and positive about moving through and climbing up out of the valley! I want to be on the top of the mountain, not in the foothills!! =) Wishing you a fast next few months!! Keep in touch! Christie

How many times have you stalled and how long were they? I'm five months in and I'm in a three week stall, it 's the third or fourth time the scale hasn't moved but for one to two pounds. I've lost 55 pounds since surgery and I'm supposed to lose 17-20 pounds by my doc appointment next month and I'm freaking out.

There are a GAZILLION posts on the three week stall. (20 days is 3 weeks, right?). Nothing is failing... you are just healing and your body is getting reordered. This WILL fix itself! Have patience, and if you can, don't weigh every day... just makes you crazy!

@@boosh10 - I just got out of my three week stall. I don't want to do another one :/

Five days is technically not a stall. Im on a three week stall so far and I must say, it has been completely demoralizing. I really feel for the people that have this go on for months. There is more to it than eat less than x amount of calories and exercise for sure. It is so easy to encourage others to stay positive during a stall but when it’s happening to your own self....not so much. I’m tempted to just not weigh myself for a few weeks because when I see the same weight or worse, it’s up a pound, I want to cry. Sigh.

do a search on the "three week stall". You'll find hundreds of posts on it. Happens to probably 99% of us. Just stay the course, stay off the scale, and your weight loss will start up again after a week or two.

here are the 15K+ posts (and no, I am NOT kidding) from members who've experienced the infamous "three-week stall" (i.e, just about everyone...): https://www.bariatricpal.com/search/?q=three-week stall

You are by no means a failure!! Everyone reacts differently the first few weeks are the hardest! Next month you will start to feel normal! It's so worth the aggravation!! I was sleeved 4\23 and Just came off a three week stall!! Talk about aggravating! The scale is moving again 4 lbs down in two days! I finally made it to an XL!! yeah! Hang in there it gets better!!

The three week stall is NOTORIOUS!!!! Hits almost all of us between 2 & 4 weeks out. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

The thing is that the scale isn't moving. I'm at 218 lbs. I'm aware that there's a stall. But isn't this rather early for the infamous three week stall? I will not despair, I will not despair. Boo!

you wouldn't have gained five pounds of true weight unless you ate 17,500 calories above and beyond what your body needs. It's probably water retention from sodium - or you may be constipated - or it may be hormone-related. At any rate, give it a couple of days and it may be gone. another thought - it could be the infamous "three week stall" (most of us experience that - although it's USUALLY the third week post-op, it's not always - it can happen any time within the first 4-6 weeks post surgery). If that's the case, just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. It'll eventually break. It always does.

I'm really discouraged and feeling completely ashamed about almost EVERYTHING following this surgery. Pretty much the same amount of self-loathing before the procedure! The three week stall, the weird things happening to my insides, the stomach acid...I could go on. It's all distressing. And frustrating. Even though I'm on soft foods now, I still can't get in enough calories on high Protein stuff. I try to choke down 1/4 cup of tuna or egg salad each day for lunch but I can't force myself to eat more than 4-5 bites of it. Two days ago I decided to eat a piece of pizza and I was able to eat the whole slice! Then another a few hours later! It was music to my mouth and I was SO relieved to be able to eat something. But now? Eater's remorse. I feel like crap for doing that now because I feel like this isn't the right food to be eating. The last day or so I've done a tortilla once or twice a day with a little cheese and guacamole and have been able to eat and enjoy it. Again, I feel like this is not what I should be having but my hunger is starting to finally come back & I want to start eating more. I'm going to bake salmon tomorrow & see how I tolerate that but I really hate that the high protein foods I'd LIKE (and NEED) to be eating aren't being tolerated successfully. Please tell me others have had this happen and have gone on to do better, have the ability to eat the "right" foods over time AND have gone on to lose weight.

I had a three week stall around three months out that was brutal to my morale. Just nothing happening no matter how hard I tried to adjust everything. I finally gave up and stopped looking at the scale for a while. Continued to eat 1200 calories, figured whatever happens, happens......eventually the scale started moving again. Has been a nice slow consistent loss since. But yeah...when you're doing every single thing they tell you to do...and lose nothing for a while....that's tough! And it happens to nearly everyone.

Google three week stall. In my experience, stalls are very common. In fact, during my loss phase (I got to goal at 1 year and 4 days post-op), the periods of stall vastly outnumbered the periods of loss. It is just part of the process. Hang in there. Stick to you plan and make the right decisions and the weight will come off. Good luck!

When you say weight is creeping back on, how much weight are you talking about? If it is just a pound or two, you're likely experiencing the "three week stall" that almost everyone experiences. If this is the case, you should stay concentrate on meeting your protein and water goals, and the weight will start to come off again. If you have gained a significant amount of weight, I would talk it over with your team.

HW: 270 DOS: 232 CW: 215 I have gone from 3x to 2x scrubs and 26W to 22W jeans. So far I can tolerate almost all foods except for milk straight up. I have accepted that I am a slow loser weight wise but the inches seem to be coming off. I have had 2 three week stalls and I am only almost 2 months out which is frustrating and a reason I don't post very much. I still have many regrets and am not sure if I had the choice that I would do this again.

I had the three week stall as well and I am now 3 months out and it was the only time that I have stalled. I wish my doctor would have given me a heads up so I didn't panic. A good reason why this board/forum is great to be a part of. You will be fine. ~LA

I broke the three-week stall. I tried to stay positive, but I'll admit, I was concerned. I weighed in a few weeks ago at 230, then 228 (yes, I weigh every day), and it went back up. I was back to 232ish and it stuck there for about a week. That was frustrating. I'll admit that this coincided with me pushing my limits as I tried to introduce more normal foods into my diet. I am happy to report the past three days, the scale has started moving again and I hit 224.8 (HW 284) this morning. I'm happy with where I am so far and feel like I'm heading in the right direction. I am also thankful for the advice on this forum, so when I hit the stall, I was more patient than I otherwise would be, since I knew what to expect.

Most everyone stalls at 3 weeks. It's been dubbed the dreaded three-week stall. It's completely normal. Brace yourself for the stalls. They happen. And it sucks. You just have to push through it.

Hello all, I was sleeved on 3/24/15 and what a journey it has been in just two short months. I went from the early stages of thinking "What the hell have I done to myself" to the dreaded three week stall, to testing out my pouch, finding out it is made of steel then falling off the wagon with sweets a few times. Another stall and now I am in kick ass mode and dropping weight like crazy! I read these pages like they are my bible and have only posted a couple of times. I wanted to post about sweets and sugar because they are DEFINITELY my weakness and I apparently have no aversion to them post surgery. Also, being sleeved in March, I hit my 6 week sold food phase right when my daughter's birthday came, Mother's Day, my wedding anniversary, hubby's birthday and now coming up....my birthday. So what have these events taught me.... 1) I am a full blown sugar/sweets addict. This is an important realization because pre surgery, I was insulin resistant and on diabetes medication. My blood sugar would drop all the time so I had sweets around when this happened. Post surgery, I'm no longer on medication and my hypoglycemia is gone. So all that's left is my head addiction to sugar! 2) I can "fall off the wagon" but also get back on as often as I want. It is in my control. I prefer to be on the wagon in terms of carbs ad sweets! 3) I have to come up with a plan for celebrations because having left over cake in my house is a DISASTER!!!! I did some research and found a bakery that makes gluten free AND sugar free cakes and the best part, they make bite size samplers (about 4-5 ounces). I went in and had a sample and it is really good! So for my upcoming birthday, everyone is getting a bite sized cake and the best thing, NO LEFT OVERS!!!!! Just thought I would share some of my experiences as I know reading others' posts helps me out tremendously!

You likely hit the three week stall. It's incredibly common and can last 1-3 weeks on average. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss so try not to get discouraged (basically impossible, I know). Your body is just adjusting to rapid weight loss and is just needing a bit of time to process the change. Stalls will happen throughout your journey and it will alternately irritate you and make you question every little thing you do because you'll feel like you must be doing SOMETHING wrong. But it's normal. Just ride it out and continue to eat like you're supposed to and the weight loss will start back up again.

I can tell a difference for sure. Keep up the good work! I am on a three week stall. I just keep telling myself that it will pass but it's getting frustrating. I never eat above 750 calories. I am almost two months out and have only lost 26 pounds. Maybe I expect too much too soon but I feel like during this stall that my clothes are getting loser. You're pictures are encouraging because I can definitely tell a difference. Are these ictures taken during your stall period?

800 kcal per day is a very typical number and consistent with good weight loss. Our loss tends to be heavily forward loaded with a lot of water weight loss early on - your loss rate should be slowing right about now (do a search for the "three week stall") as your body pauses to catch up. As a reference, I lost 32lb the first month, and then 15 each of the next two months, so things do slow down. (What is happening is that your body, when it goes into a big caloric deficit as it does immediately after your WLS, starts drawing of your body's glycogen reserves - basically stored carbohydrate - which takes a lot of water to stay in solution. So your body is throwing off a lot of water as it burns the glycogen. Then, when that runs out (after 2-3 weeks typically) the body has to start drawing on its stored fat (which is what we want!) but it can take a few days (or weeks for some) for the body to shift gears to do that, so don't panic if your loss suddenly stops for a while. Also, your loss rate will be lower once you start burning your fat reserves, as the fat burns more slowly than the glycogen. The glycogen burn may also be why you are feeling a bit weak and tired, as that is your quick response energy store, and you are running low. Try working in a little more carbohydrate - oat meal, cream of wheat, unsweetened apple sauce are common - to help keep those levels up a bit more. In theory, our body is supposed to burn our excess fat to make glycogen, but that doesn't always happen as quickly as we need it (this is why marathoners will "carb load" with a lot of bread and pasta the day before an event - to make sure their glycogen levels are as high as possible before they go burning it all off the next day - we don't need to go that far, but the same principle applies.) Overall, it looks like your are doing great, and I wouldn't worry about losing too fast until you are within maybe five kilos of your goal weight - if you get there withing six months, then you may need to slow things down so that you don't overshoot the mark too far; otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. (And yes, my doc's RN also told me to cut back the exercise because I was losing too fast - but that was at six months, and about 10 lb from goal weight, and while I wasn't inclined to cut back on what is my normal maintenance level of exercise, I did start ramping up the calories to start slowing things down.)

you're probably going through the infamous "three week stall" early. I did as well - mine was weeks 2 and 3. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you stick to the program, the stall will eventually break and you'll be on your way again. They usually last 1-3 weeks. constipation is a common issue for WLS patients. It's due to the high protein diet and some of the supplements some of us take (i.e., calcium and iron - both known to back people up). I've been taking a capful of Miralax every morning for years, and so do a lot of others. Other people take things like stool softeners or magnesium tablets - whatever works!