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Well first off, welcome to the rest of your new life! With that statement comes a great number of changes, mental and physical. First, I would say you are eating too much, however, I too had issues soon after surgery. Do not get me wrong, I am just now 3.5 months post-op, but down 70 pounds. Weight loss is 'strange' after surgery, especially in the beginning. I really set the bar high, and decided long before surgery that I was committing to a complete lifestyle change, and I am living it today. As mentioned earlier in this post, tracking your food is very important. This is one of the three reasons I recommend a Fitbit to everyone, you can track your food/water/protein input with the Fitbit website (or MyFitnesspal.com), secondly, you can track your activity, and lastly and this is a biggie, you can see your heartrate. Why is this so important? One of the very early signs of dumping is Tachycardia, and elevated heart rate. So, you are chowing down on a new food and you start to feel a bit strange. Am I eating too fast? Am I going to dump? Does this not agree with me? A quick glance at your heart rate is a great tool to determine why you are feeling the way you are, and more importantly to prevent dumping. I have had three such incidents now, where I was juuuuuuust on the border of dumping, but I began to feel odd, checked my heart rate, saw it in the upper 80s' low 90's and realized I was about to dump. I stopped eating the suspect food and within 20 minutes I was fine. Why is food tracking so important? One word, accountability. I look at my food intake every day. I log every single thing that touches my lips. My weight loss never surprises me. I know when I was adding new foods, or ate 'heavy' foods and lowered my expectations for the week. Tracking with software allows you to see, how well or poorly you are doing in a given day, and to evaluate the prior day once it had concluded. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Activity. Let's face it, weight loss is really as simple as burning more calories than you take in. You need to be able to determine how many calories are being burned and a Fitbit does a great job at this. No it is not perfect, but it is better than guessing. No matter how obese you may be, you can walk. I do. In fact, I am up to 8 miles, 5 days a week. I am a full time student, so I have the two hours to dedicate. Many do not. Track your activity, and HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Pro tips: -Do not drink 30 minutes before a meal and for 30 minutes after a meal. -NEVER eat while distracted. NO EATING IN FRONT OF THE TELEVISION!!! Sit at the table, without distraction and slowly eat your food. FEEL what your body is telling you. Savor every bite. -Remember calories are not all created equal. I have gone to a rather extreme diet, but I like low carbing, I like the energy and the overall great feeling. Thus, I do not imbibe anything solid and white (fat free cheese is the lone exception), no Sugar, Flour, Rice, Pasta, Bread or Potatoes. There are only two things you are concerned with at this stage, really, two. Water intake and Protein. And your body will punish you for failing to take in enough. I shoot for 100g of high quality protein a day (not all Proteins are created equal, research PDCASS), and at least 80oz of water. -Calories, your mileage will vary, but I have found that I lose weight at the best rate when on active days I get in 1100-1300 calories and on inactive days 600-800 calories. I am never really hungry, and have to stick to a schedule to make sure I get enough calories in on any given day. -Milk, try Isopure in Fairlife milk. That is how I do it, in fact Fairlife milk is one of the many wonderful things I learned about here in these forums. Short story, it is lactose free, has twice the protein of regular milk and 1/2 the carbs. I use 2 measured ounces of whole milk in my coffee, and use the skim for everything else. It is much creamier than regular milk. The whole milk is more like cream, and the skim more like 2% milk. -These tips may or may not help you, they help me. -Fiber. Yes you need it, see the post about dealing with your new post op ass for more. I struggle with this, daily. In closing I would say, do not put your head in the sand. Hold yourself accountable for ALL your actions. It is the aggregate of all your actions that will determine what the scale has to say at the end of each week. You are nearly due for the 'dreaded three week stall'. It will pass. Do not let it get you down if it hits you. Seek counseling for food addiction. I am not a '12 step' kinda guy. I have to solve my own problems, but that is me. I think it is the Military in me, I do not like asking for help, I see it as a weakness. It is not, but as my ex mother in law was famously quoted, "Feelings are not facts". I FEEL like asking for help is a weakness, but my mind knows better. That is my issue to deal with. Best of luck. Post often. Keep us in the loop, there are a LOT of WONDERFUL people here.

8 weeks and 30lbs! Congrats. Yes congrats! You need to be proud of that. I'm at the dreaded two/three week stall and hope to hit 30 by the eight week mark! I've never been able to drink plain water. Briefly after surgery cuz I was so dang thirsty but not without mio or something. Fluids for me are Soup, sf Jello is my friend, Popsicles, Luke warm vanilla roobios tea (tazo) and flavored water. It's an alllll day affair though to get it all in. My protein is mainly still from 1 scoop of whey tech protein with 4oz of water. 24g and only one sugar. First thing in AM and again in Late afternoon. The rest comes from a greek yogurt, soup, eggbeater, etc...but I can choke down two shakes knowing I'm getting in 8oz of Fluid and 48g of protein.

I am one month out yesterday and down 22 lbs post op and 45 total . Right now I'm averaging between 400-500 cal a day but I'm wondering if this should be higher. I'm getting in all my water and about 60 g of protein. I know every docs recommendations are different but I'm wondering what is working for each individual. My loss has slowed ALOT the last couple weeks and I realize thus is the dreaded three week stall but I want to be sure I'm not putting myself in mode

Sounds like the three-week stall got caught in traffic. Just stay with your program! It WILL come off. And if you have doubts, call your NUT!

I had my gastric sleeve surgery 10/1 and went from 296 to 282 by the one week doctor's visit on 10/9. Now I'm stuck there. I'll be three weeks post op on tuesday and the scale is not budging... no matter what. I've been on full liquids, and will start soft foods this weekend. I'm getting pretty frustrated because I've heard of the three week stall, but never the one week stall. Am i doing something wrong? How am i not losing weight only eating a small amount and liquids at that.

My dreaded three week stall that is. I actually stalled at about two weeks, and it held until just past four weeks. Last Tuesday was my one month check and I was 270lbs. I am very lucky that my home scales and my surgeons scales weigh the same. (I was 270lbs at home too) As of this morning I am 264lbs. And my other major milestone was I hit my 50lb mark over the weekend. Since this all began I have lost (now) over 50lbs. I still have a long way to go to hit my goal, but this is the single biggest weight loss I have ever had in all the years I have been obese. It is such an awesome feeling. It is inspiring me to keep on keeping on! ( esp. after the stall) And part of that weight loss I did on my own, before the sleeve. I knew my life was about to change and I couldn't wait to get at it. I do have a lot to be thankful for this week, I finally see a brighter future.

We do talk about the phenomenon of regret during the first few weeks post-op, also called "buyer's remorse" quite a lot here. However, pre-ops seem to close their eyes to this kind of discussion, so we have lots of people who post during their first few weeks asking about regrets, and replying to such threads. I wish somehow we could get the message out that this is a normal feeling, and barring complications, usually passes by the end of the first month, when you have mostly healed and food choices are getting more interesting. For those who are new, how could we have phrases this so you would have heard it during your pre-op research? When you were pre-op did you do a search for threads with "regret" in the title? Do you feel like you understood the post-op graduated diet before your surgery? I'm really curious if there is some way to make sure that the right info gets to people before the surgery is they are not surprised afterward by buyer's remorse, the three week stall, etc.

I am so glad I have your experiences to help me through this process. I'm close to five weeks post op and it really encourages me to know about the three week stall, etc. Im going on my third week of the three week stall but gradually lost six lbs. Hovering so close to reaching to onederland and you guys give me a lot of patience! Thanks!

It happens to just about everyone. (As @@hudjess mentioned, there are TONS of threads to check out.) Just keep meeting or exceeding your Water and Protein goals. Your body is catching up with itself, and the weight will begin to come off again soon. My three-week stall lasted about 2 weeks. You probably want to stay off the scale during this time if it is going to upset you. Good luck!

Follow your surgical team's plan. Do a search in these forums for "three week stall" and realize that the first month is not about weight loss but about your body healing. If you look at two months out nobody is still stalled and everyone loses significant weight. This is not the time to start changing your diet. This is time to follow the instructions and stop weighing yourself more than once a week.

You're going to have lots of days where this happens, fluctuations are completely normal! I was sleeved 9/19 and am mentally preparing for the dreaded three week stall by stepping off my scale and moving to weekly instead of daily weigh-ins. At 10 days out your most important tasks are to hit your Fluid intake and Protein goals, walk walk walk and rest. Everything else will fall into place! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

This is so normal that I didn't even have to open your post to know what it said. Anything titled remotely close to "week 4 and concerned" is going to say something like "I lost a lot of weight in the first couple of weeks and haven't lost anything since. What am I doing wrong?" Seriously, do a search on this forum for "three week stall" or "week 3 stall" and you'll see multiple posts about it almost every single day. The best thing you can do is stay off the scale for a few weeks and keep following your plan. As the others have said, your weight loss will start up again and everything will be fine, but jumping on the scale frequently won't make it happen any faster! Rest easy in knowing that you are perfectly normal and doing everything right

I never had a three week stall and now I am stalled at six weeks. I had my period last week and when I weighed I was 240 now I am 242. I am not sure what to eat but I want to make sure I stay on track and keep losing not gaining two pounds. Please help ... what are some good recipes for six weeks out?

Take your measurements (hips, waist, bust, arms, legs), and then track them each month. You will see a difference in sizing most likely during the months that it seems the scale showed little to no loss. It's because you sometimes lose fat and gain muscle - a pound of fat takes up way more room than a pound of muscle, so it helps to minimize the panic when you think you're not making much progress. And yeah, three week stall is pretty much a given, and it can last for weeks and you'll see other stalls most likely all during your weight loss journey. Don't panic, just keep drinking your Water, eating a healthy diet and exercising.

The vast majority of people experience the "dreaded three week stall" after having WLS, though sometimes it comes a bit sooner or later. That is most likely what you're going through right now. If you do a keyword search about the stall you'll find heaps of threads here about it with tips. You haven't done anything wrong. Your body just needs some time to adjust. It's been through a major surgery, radical eating changes, and weight loss all in a rush. You will start losing again. Just persevere. My stall broke when I increased my calories. Basically I'd been consuming far too calories, so my body thought it was starving and was holding onto to everything I took in to help protect me. It relaxed when I started having more calories.

where did you hear that the average is 5-15 lbs a week? NO ONE loses that fast. Maybe 5 lbs a week the first MONTH (and it wouldn't be five lbs each and every week - most of us experience the dreaded "three week stall" - but a 15-25 lb loss the first month seems to be pretty average, unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life". After that drop the first month, you'll settle to into a slower rate for a few months, maybe 10 lbs a month, give or take, for the next few months - and then it'll slow even further. so I don't know where you heard that figure, but it's not accurate. You need to adjust your expectations or you're going to be frustrated and disappointed. As long as you comply with your clinic's plan, the weight will come off. Don't stress over this and more importantly, don't burn yourself out - you don't want to crash and burn. Just follow the plan. Depending on your starting point, it can take a year or more to get to goal - it took me 20 months. You want to jeopardize your health.

I feel like such an idiot, but the allure of hitting the scale proved too much for me this morning...... Down 4 pounds. And that is after pee number one, I don't know about all of you, but I get so much liquid in me that my "floor weight" cannot be determined until after pee number two in the am. At least the scale did not go up! I have two more days this week to lose weight before my official weight in on Friday morning. I'd go for my am walk, but it's 03:15 and fargin cold outside, oh and dark. The park system where I walk is great, however, it's massive and reclusive, and a number of homeless setup tents in the woods and sleep there overnight. Between 0500 and 0600 when the local corner stores open, they start drinking, I've had to put down several, let me restate, I was forced to take aggressive action to subdue drunken idiots on several occasions. No police, I was also kind enough not to break any bones or do any serious damage, just make my point "Don't F with me" and move along. My fear, is the duo, one or two of which is armed, I can drop one quick, but if the second pulls a (insert weapon here) I don't know how casually I would take it. And honestly the last thing I need is to be on the news for killing an armed homeless alcoholic. Thusly the end of an overly long paragraph is I try to avoid the park before the sun comes up, as the homeless take down their tents and move out before the police begin patrols. I guess tomorrow will be the real testing point. If I continue to lose weight, the stall lasted nearly a week, if not it's still going on, and today was just a 'teaser'. BTW my NUT indicated that "The Dreaded Three Week Stall" happens for a reason. She said, "You ever notice how it's always right after a dietary change?" then she went on to describe a variety of different dietary reasons that could cause a stall, but her logic was sound. This did not happen until the day I began eating pureed foods instead of liquids. I am not saying it's not real, obviously it is, nor am I saying that anyone is doing anything wrong, it may just be, the body reacting to a new diet component or something. Anyway, Thanks for those who posted.

it's the infamous "three-week stall" - right on schedule! Do I search on this site for it. When I last checked, there were over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding...)

Well, it's been a whole month since I've weighed myself. After my three week stall, which broke with a measly one pound loss, I was getting very frustrated. I took one member's challenge (I think it was Lisalu) and decided to stay off the scale for a month. For someone who doesn't own a scale and was fine with a weekly weigh-in, I thought it would be a breeze. Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought. But, my clothes fit was changing so much along the way that it kept me going and I was able to resist. I went in for my 6 week followup a couple of days ago - it had actually stretched into a 8 or 9 week followup - and was excited to find that I had lost 11 pounds since my last weight check a month ago. What a confidence boost! My goal was to weigh 230 at the docs office but I weighed in at 228. Yeah!!! I've gone from a size 22 pants and 2X top to a very baggy 20 pants and 1X and some XL tops. My pants were so baggy this last week I went and bought some 18s. I'm going to have to wear them close fitting for a while because the saggy look ain't working for me. :lol0: I'm making my way out of the Women's section and back into the Misses section. I'm looking forward to the clothing options that will open up for me then. I'm happy to say that I'm finally settling into a good routine and feeling good about having had surgery. It's still difficult sometimes having to think so much about what and how I eat, but it gets better every day. I actually feel normal most of the time. Of course, the minute I sit down to eat I get a dose of reality from my stomach. But, it doesn't seem like such a big deal now. I know the scale strike won't work for everyone, but it helped make this past month so much less stressful for me. I just stopped worrying about my weight and focused on getting my Proteins and my clothes fit. I don't know if I'll stick with the monthly weigh-ins. Once every two weeks will probably be more realistic for awhile, but I don't feel like I have to decide now. I do plan to get a scale as I get closer to goal because it will be more important to monitor those last few pounds that come and go. Until then, I guess I'll keep sneaking onto the display scales at Wal-Mart. :thumbup: Best wishes to anyone starting this journey and empathy to anyone struggling with their scale. I feel ya!

You are not doing anything wrong. The three week stall is extremely normal. There are many, many discussions about it throughout the forum. I had a stall at one week post-op that lasted for 10 days. Next thing I knew it broke and I lost 11 pounds in the following 2 weeks. Every so often your body has to take a break and recovery from the quick weight loss and then it will start up again. This might be the first but it won't be the last. During a stall try to look for non-scale victories. I noticed that my body shrank a bit during my stall. Keep working the plan your surgeon has given you and things will work. In the general surgery section there is a food forum for recipes broken down by the stage you are in. Check those out for some savory protein options and ideas. I would also suggest to weigh once a week. The daily fluctuations are going to drive you mad. Hang in there. You are doing great. It's kind of like Dory in Finding Nemo - "Just keep swimming". You are going to get there!

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!

You might be in a stall. They happen. They're frustrating. And they all break. Just keep following your plan. If you're truly stuck for like a month, then ask your nutritionist about shock calories—a week of an extra 100-150 calories to get your body to think something else is happening. Are you measuring yourself? When I hit my three-week stall, the inches kept coming off even though the scale change was pokey.

The three week stall is the most common, notorious stall. It's perfectly normal. Mine lasted for 7 days some people's last longer.

My scale comes with an app called FitIndex that I really like. It also has a fancy smart tape measure that I bought so I can measure myself for the times when weight loss stalls. I am about a month out and lost 9 lbs on my pre-op diet and 35 lbs. in the first month post-op. I'm currently in the dreaded three-week stall, just continuing what I need to do and I know it'll resume eventually.

I lost 18 pounds in my first two weeks after surgery. Then came the infamous "three-week stall." When your body begins to understand it isn't getting as much food as you used to give it and it goes into a bit of starvation mode...leftover from our caveman days when the next meal might be far away. Don't fret when a stall occurs. They'll happen more than once before you hit your goal. Had surgery August 27, now down 53 pounds. Am in another stall now, sitting at the same weight 3 weeks, but I'm working out, I keep going down in clothes sizes, I'm feeling good, I've changed my eating choices and eating habits for the better...I'm happy.