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My surgery was Dec 19th. I was down 32 pounds from surgery diet, but I hit the dreaded three week stall the end of last week. Not only am I in a stall, but I am GAINING weight. This is so frustrating to me! I think it is probably water weight as I'm sure I was dehydrated before, but it really is discouraging. Did anyone else gain a few pounds in their stall?

I have been in a three week stall and wondering about it myself. I do, however, think that I am losing waist line, so I'm keeping a tape measure in the bedroom to check. I feel much stronger now that I'm walking and working more. I am over the post-op weakness that plagued me earlier. I am comfortable with my diet - 12 to 16 oz. of high protein foods and a protein shake a day. I feel that I should drink more water to kick the weight loss elves into production. We will see.

My first one was at three weeks. Stalls are like lovers. Your first will probably not be your last.

First, thank you to everyone that posted not only where they are but their personal struggles as well. It's a big deal to know that I am not alone here...I knew that, of course, but it's nice to really see it's true. So many things that were written really resonated with me and it was good to see the approaches you guys take. I suppose that right now I'm realizing that I am a horrible hypocrite. Yes, indeed, I am. I must be. I have posted multiple times over the past year about being happy with accomplishments we've made and not worrying about a number on the scale. And here I am, making myself insane in my own head because of a number on the scale. A number that, quite frankly, does very little to even impact how I look. I might not like my snug pants, but they're still a 5/6 and I'm still in a small. I have reassured my friends like coops over and over again that they're successes and here I am beating myself up like I'm a failure. Quite frankly, I'm being ridiculous. Not about wanting to keep on top of things and certainly not about wanting to perfect a way to slide back into loss when I need to. Certainly those are valuable things to learn because maintenance is the long haul and who knows what will happen as I get older and naturally tend to hang on to weight? (Even more than I already do, blech!) I am definitely dealing with some hormonal/emotional wackiness postpartum and where we live does not help. I need abundant sunshine to feel good - days on end of overcast gloominess really affect my mood. I also have a great deal of stress, partly just because of life and this feeling that we're hemorrhaging money lately but also because I try so hard to shape my future and stay on top of things and we have a lot going on. Additionally, crazy as it sounds but a book of poetry I recently read just crawled in my brain and reawakened so many old emotional feelings and really made me reflect on who I am and why. I've been worrying it in my brain for weeks now and I keep trying to find these things I can just "fix" so I'll be back to how I was feeling a few months ago. And let us not forget what sleep deprivation does to a body and mind! I keep wanting to Google things like, "When will this baby ever sleep?!" but I know that it will be at least another month or so before I'm able to get more rest. With all this, weight seems like it should be an easy target, but it's just not. Am I in a better emotional place than I was three years ago? Most assuredly. But it's kind of sad and puts a control freak like me on edge to realize that it's not all gone - that I still have some issues that need attention or work, or that might never go away. A big hallelujah for the fact that I am still fortunate enough to not be battling non-stop hunger or food obsession. But let's just say that when you're not paying attention, a real desire to eat does not have to be there to overindulge or mindlessly snack. I've gone totally off the rails the last few days, eating the sloppiest I have eaten at all since my surgery and after going back and logging all my calories to the best of my memory, I was disheartened to see that I'm eating 1,800 calories a day or more, mostly in junk slider foods. Foods that do not taste good to me, do not satisfy me and even make me sick. I've been having digestive issues all week and no wonder! You know, it's sad...really sad, because I am NOT EVEN HUNGRY. I am not eating for stress. I am eating JUST BECAUSE. Just because it's there and I can. I realized last week that I was a bit peckish for a sweet in the evening and we had nothing to suit what I was looking for (okay, junk, I admit it) in the entire house. So the next time I shopped I bought a bunch of junk! And you know what that stuff does even when you're not triggering cravings? It makes you feel like crap, I swear. Not just physically but mentally. I'm up one pound on the scale, too, and I'm lucky it's just one. Today, I am fasting. I feel good. Well, the sun is shining and I'm sure that helps. But that junk got packed up in a bag and sent to the office with my husband. Let his poor coworkers divide the stuff up, I don't want it in the house. I don't have to avoid those things forever, but right now is not the time to surround myself with it, either. I've gotten more than one email about doing the 5:2 thing and I might try it. I don't know. At first I was convinced that no way would I even consider another diet. But after reading about it, it's actually pretty close to how I ate in maintenance, when I easily maintained. I'd weigh daily and restrict when I needed, but mostly I ate what I wanted, within reason. I'm not sure if it would help me lose again, and honestly, I'm not sure if I just need to take a step back and stop thinking about my weight entirely. I'm sure some counseling would help because I feel like I've been on a roller coaster since a few months before I had the baby. It's unfortunate that it's just not a real option for me - having a counselor write in paperwork that I need regular counseling can red flag my husband's career, and never mind that it's not supposed to happen that way. It does, trust me. So what am I learning? Wherever I go, there I am. I do not get to escape myself and who I am, or my particular issues, just by changing my location or my body shape or my weight. I am still the same person, happier, yes, less weighed with baggage, yes, but still susceptible to depression or anxiety like I was before. It does no good to beat myself up over this, either, it just adds another stress I don't need. Maintenance is hard, and it is forever. I don't care how fast people get to goal. I don't care how they do it. The fact is that it is hard to stay there, forever, if you do not pay attention and keep yourself accountable. If I had avoided VST, gone off to my hermit hole and kept binging on junk for a few more weeks or months, I could easily find myself up twenty pounds and even more frustrated. We say this to newbies all the time, but it's true. I don't care how long you've tried to build good, new habits. The old ones are ingrained, comfortable and immediately gratifying. I can eat wonderfully for ten months straight, but give me a few days with the old foods and tack on some emotional struggles or some boredom and I'll slide right back into the habit of grabbing a snack here and a dessert there. Maintenance is the real battle and it makes things like the three week stall pale in comparison. It is ridiculous to pursue perfection. There is nothing wrong with pursuing a goal. And there is everything right about wanting to be a better person today than I was yesterday, to continually improve myself. But I have a problem with telling myself that I'll be happier, or feel more accomplished, or whatever, once I achieve "X" goal. That's B.S. Because I always have another goal or another reason to beat myself up waiting. I beat myself up for being fat. I was going to be totally happy when I got to 160 pounds and could wear a size 12 again. Then I exceeded that goal. Then it was the skin. I'll be happy once the skin is gone. No, I won't. Because then I'm going to beat myself up over my scars. Or over my lack of physical fitness. Or over the fact that I'm still not 100% over all of my emotional traumas. I'll always find a reason to defeat myself in my pursuit of perfection. The fact is, I need to learn how to love the skin I'm in and the person I am and I still struggle with this. If I tell myself, even whispering it in the most hidden part of my mind, that I'll love myself more when I reach a certain place, I am defeating myself. I am ensuring that I will never be totally happy and totally at peace. Anyway, I'm sorry for the long post. But if you haven't realized now that the way I work things out for myself is by writing them out, you haven't been paying attention! I appreciate all of the advice here. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The first thing is to try and deal with some of what's bothering me, and I think that weight loss is secondary to that right now. I do want to get back on track, though, so I'm going to focus this week on eating properly again. Beyond that, the scale is going away. I can weigh once a week right now, and so long as I don't see an upward trend I will need to be happy with that. This is not a food issue or an exercise issue for me. This is entirely emotional, and everything I'm dealing with stems from that point. New methods to attack the weight loss are only going to help part of my issue, and it's the smallest part, I think. ~Cheri

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

none at all or just this week? If the latter, you're having the dreaded "three week stall" that most of us have...

1) you've hit the infamous three week stall. Happens to probably 90% of us. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. It'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again. It usually lasts 1-3 weeks (that "gain" is likely just water weight) 2) yes - fluids go right through you. Some people have a hard time getting them down, but I never did. I didn't drink any differently than I did before surgery. Your stomach will tell you if you're going too fast.

UPDATE: Happy to report for the last 4 days, I've lost a pound each day, so looks like the "three week stall" is a real thing, and I was a victim <grin>. Not expecting to maintain this pace forever, but glad to go along as long as it does.

you've probably hit the infamous "three week stall" (most people have this early stall. It's usually the third week after surgery, hence the name, but it can happen any time within the first six weeks or so). Mine was weeks 2 and 3. Just stick to your plan, stay off the scale, and know that it'll break and you'll be on your way again. No need to do anything different.

You will likely soon hit the "three week stall" (do a search for it here) where your loss will slow or stop and possibly even increase a bit. This is entirely normal and totally unrelated to what food phase you are in (people who are still on liquids as well as those who have been on soft foods since the start go through it.) It has to do with the matter that initially you are losing a big chunk of water weight associated with your glycogen stores (basically stored carbohydrate) being depleted due to your low calorie intake. Once that is depleted, your body shifts gears to burn your stored fat, which burns more slowly, so the weight loss slows a bit, too. Entirely normal. In our program they specifically tell us that their patients tend to do better as they move into real food - not strictly from a loss rate perspective, but for the sake of feeling better and more energetic, which leads to being more active and helping to maintain a more sustainable loss over the long haul. I was starting to nibble at the gym again after a couple of weeks, not for the sake of boosting loss rate (it didn't need it...) but for maintaining the habit (and not allowing my wife to use me as an excuse for not going!) I was certainly not burning any more calories there than at home, but more just starting to get a bit more variety in activities.

I hit a three week stall and was totally stressing over it. But now moving on to week four and I'm beginning to lose again Last appt the Dr took me off all my blood pressure meds which was over all my main goal of all this. YAY me!

Up date.. my opinion on raw natural honey. I was at a three week stall. I figured I needed to up my protein and water intake. So im drinking protein shakes, and 1 pint water with 1/4 cup of honey Daily. To my surprise woke up this morning to see a 4 lbs weightloss for the week. Finding that raw organic honey is not bad. In my opinion. Im going to continue to drink honey water when I want something different then just plain water. I'll keep this updated.

Hey! I had the sleeve done 1/7/20. I’m official down 60 pounds! I did just come off a three week stall which was so frustrating, but then I lost 7 pounds in 4 days 😂 crazy how this works. I don’t get all my fluid, but I try to get close. Only food I’ve had a problem with are the greasy meats. Sausage, bacon, brats, etc. other than that things have been great!

I can see myself getting hung up on the numbers. I will weigh myself anyway but I will also take my measurements as well and try not to become obsessed as to it becoming counter productive. I don't wanna be the person freaking out over the three week stall or three month stall. This is about health for me and not just vanity. I'll need to remind myself of that no doubt.

Also the famous three week stall (not always right at three weeks), glycogen storage (needs lots of Water for the body to store it)… if the scale fluctuations bother you there are a few options… one, just weigh once a week. Do it after your morning bathroom routine so it’s consistent with your daily pattern.. two: if you want to weigh each day take today’s weight and subtract it from your weight seven days prior. This will give you a rolling average of your weekly loss, it’s handy for spotting true stalls / slow downs etc.

Not everyone has pounds melting off. You have lost 34 pounds total and that is a lot of weight. Your body doesn't know preop from post op weight loss. It is healing and adjusting. Make sure you are getting your Protein, Water and enough calories in so your body doesn't go into starvation mode. I average 125g protein, no worries! Only 800-1000 cals (max 1200 on a heavy workout day), but that is per my dietician's precise instructions. Your take on "Your body doesn't know preop from post op weight loss" is interesting. I lost 21 pounds in the month before surgery, so it sure seems like post-op - with reduced hunger and forcibly smaller portion size, not to mention a two-week liquid diet - I'd be losing MORE than that, you know? I mean, the surgery is meant to make us lose weight, not just maintain it. But that didn't happen. The loss I had was mostly from crazy cardio. I just didn't think losing weight with the sleeve would be this hard. I read posts about the three-week stall, but that's AFTER someone loses, like, 30 pounds or so! I guess my frustration is exacerbated by the fact that I self-paid. This was a very, very expensive 12 pounds. :/

The first few weeks can be challenging for many - physically and psychologically. Your stomach and your mind have to acclimate to profound changes. It's also common for your weight to fluctuate more then. I didn't even weigh myself for the first couple of weeks because I anticipated having gained weight from the anesthesia pumped into me for the surgery, and then a roller coaster of gain and loss as my body healed. I anticipated the infamous "three week stall" so many others experienced. I hadn't wanted to be discouraged, so I had my husband put the scale on a shelf that requires dragging out the step ladder to reach until things were more stabilized. I wouldn't really quantify the three pounds you gained as actual weight gain, considering that it came on the heels of a 17 pound rapid weight loss. Anytime you lose weight too fast it's common to gain some of it back. It's why the trendy juice cleanses and detox quackery usually cause people to drop weight fast, and then gain a portion of it back even faster. To me the positive to focus on is that you lost 17 pounds, but only gained back three of it. Meaning you've already lost 14 pounds since surgery just a few weeks ago. If you had a child who was recovering from a surgery and prescribed a diet specifically designed to help her heal, would you permit her to defy it and eat things that could jeopardize that process? I doubt you would. Love yourself as much as you'd love someone whose care is your responsibility. It's not a diet like ones you've probably followed in the past that is to help you to lose weight, though that's a side benefit. It's a medical diet, not unlike other ones people follow prior to or after a surgery or medical / dental procedure. As an example, one of my colleagues just had her teeth whitened and has to only eat white or clear foods for a couple of days to avoid discoloration, and another has been open about having to only eat certain foods in preparation for a colonoscopy. You might not have gotten sick yet, but you're chancing it by eating things your stomach isn't ready for yet. I didn't eat solids until the one-month mark, and got sick that day, so I then reverted to liquids and soft foods for another two weeks until I felt more steady. Have you ever checked out the blog "The World According to Eggface"? It has some recipes for each of the phases following WLS. Pinterest also has a lot of ideas. I enjoyed getting a little freshly ground peanut or almond butter from Whole Foods and adding that to chocolate protein (unjury was my favorite brand) and Fair Life (higher protein) milk and ice in my Nutribullet and having a dessert-like shake. I also still make a lot of smoothies using high protein yogurt like Fage, and lower carb fruit and some frozen kale (berries will mask the taste of it, and it being frozen helps with the texture) rather than having Protein powder. Tasty Soups, like the red pepper one by Trader Joe's, also helped me to have some variety. My nutritionist had suggested egg puddings for the soft food phase, and I found a low-carb, low-sugar but tasty recipe that uses SF Torani syrup. Persevere through this challenge. It's worthwhile.

it's the infamous three-week stall. Almost all of us experience that. It's called the three-week stall because it USUALLY happens the third week, but not always. Yours is a little early. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale if you need to. And know it'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again. Stalls typically last 1-3 weeks. if you want to see how common this is, search "three week stall" on this site. You will find over 17,000 posts on this. And no, I am NOT kidding...

Yes that dreaded three week stall.

Sounds like the dreaded three week stall!! Happened to me and many people I've read had the same experience. Google it, there is tons of info! My third week was actually a GAIN [emoji30]. Then lost nothing the next week, and finally picked back up again. Your body is just adjusting. Follow the plan for food/protein and portion sizes. It helped me to watch YouTube videos of people who had their stalls and then look at their most current videos. They were all still successful. Was nice to see and made me feel better! Hang in there. I'm a slow loser and totally impatient. Sent from my Pixel 3 using BariatricPal mobile app

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 would have to be very large portions very frequently over a prolonged period of time to stretch your tummy. And certainly if you had stretched your tummy this close to your surgery you would have had issues with torn stitches/staples & you’d know about it. How much have you lost since your surgery? How much were you expecting to lose at four weeks? A lot of people have very unreal expectations of how much weight they should be losing based upon programs like My 600lb Life. They lose large amounts of weight because they had large amounts to lose to begin. In my first 4 weeks I’d lost about 8kg (about 17lbs). This was a pretty reasonable amount for my height, weight, age & gender. Have you experienced the three weeks stall (though it can happen at week 2, 3, or 4)? With a stall, which is extremely common, you may not lose for anywhere from a week to 3 weeks. It’s just your body coming to terms with all the changes. You will start to lose again & you will likely experience stalls again as you lose. Ask your medical team for portion size recommendations. Most recommend 1/4 to 1/3 cup to begin but there are variations. Some are given caloric goals. Personally, it would take me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs so three meals but some can eat more. I still think you should be eating a wider variety of foods to get a broader range of nutrients. Sweet potatoes are very low in protein. Are you meeting your daily protein goals? Are you tracking the caloric & nutritional content or your food?

I was beginning to think I was the only one here! Doing great on this end. I have really had no issues or complications. I went through the "three week stall" and came out unscathed. Steadily dropping, with no hunger and no food issues. I'm glad you are excited, you're like 9 days away! Anxious.....yup, been there too. I just wanted the surgery over so I could start this journey. This has been life changing for me, even at just shy of 2 months post-op. This site has been a Godsend, my life line to the sleeved world. I am so excied for you!

My three week stall seems to have officially ended! It started just shy of three weeks post op for me and lasted for about 3.5 weeks.

almost everyone has their first stall during the first month post-op. It's usually the third week, but not always. Do a search on "the three week stall" - you should find hundreds of posts on it. Just stick to your plan and your weight loss will start up again. I stalled during weeks 2 and 3. My weight loss started up again during week 4, and I dropped like eight pounds almost overnight.