6 weeks, doc dissapointed in weight loss

[M2G 1,836]

I do believe that everyone loses at a different rate. Granted your dr. has (hopefully) seen thousands of weight-loss surgery patients and can probably rattle off statistics and averages in his sleep, but I don't agree that your weight loss needs to be a one-size-fits-all job. I think SO much more factors are at stake than just age. I definitely don't think you should be down on yourself. I agree that it is kind of sucky that he didn't have any helpful advice and that the NUT he recommends can't seem to answer the phone. I also agree that trying to shake things up, add more solid lean Protein, and increase your workouts might help jump start more of a loss. A loss is a loss, and everyone does lose at a different rate. I try very hard not to compare myself to others (it's hard, really!) and I do track my food intake, Water, Vitamins, and workouts, just so I know that I'm on MY plan and that is what works for me. Try different things and find out what works for YOU. But do not berate yourself or sell yourself short. Keep working your sleeve and you will see results.

[chilo1 62]

Well, from what I see he didn't say that he is disappointed, he just looked disappointed and then asked what the problem may be.

It seems like lolli is actually following the guidelines she was given weeks ago, but I do believe that as time passes, your guidelines and the diet should change. Your nutritionist told you a couple of weeks ago that you are doing good - but since it's now several weeks later, did you adjust your plan? I believe most of us have a plan for weeks 0 to 2, 2 to 4, post 6 weeks and in my case, foods and portions changed significantly.

I do believe you should up your calories and I believe you should try and eat more solid foods and rely less on shakes. This was perfect for a few weeks after surgery, but 6 weeks out you should start and eat at least more mushies if not real food.

Ha, I just posted on my blog about this (http://www.bananatum...or-not-to-diet/). I am not following too specific a diet either, I do follow general guide lines but that's about it.

Very interesting point, the diet/not to diet thing. I feel the same. As I said in many threads before I have been on a diet for 30+ years (I was first put on a diet when I was 9) and the only thing it did was make me fat. Lose 10 gain 20, lose 20 gain 30, it went on and on, the story of my life. Restricting myself from so much food that I love would make me go mad after having finished whatever diet Iwas on and eat 10 times as much as I normally would've eaten had I not "banned" that food in the 1st place. It's a fact that we (including children) eat much more of the "prohibited" food once we have it available. So yeah, I'll probably not get to goal that quick, but I have made that desicion, never "diet" again!

[BZButterfly79 19]

Honestly I am shocked that the scrutiny does not stop even after such a dramatic procedure, let me say this to you lolli, congratz on your 22lbs that's a lot of weight and another thing lolli is that if you lose slower your skin won't be so mad at you, I am glad to hear you did not gain 22lbs then I would think something is strange. I have a friend who lost 61% of her weight in 6 months, docs say the average with the sleeve is 2yrs...she doesn't do anything different than we are doing. Keep your head up focus on your goal and the rest is history. My surgeon wants me to lose 2lbs/week and I can't blame him he is trying to avoid me looking like an empty potato sack once I hit goal.

[SouthernSleever 228]

One other thing, make sure you are drinking lots and lots of Water and as someone said before measure yourself for sure! I'd be asking some serious questions if you don't feel restriction from your VSG.

[lolli 3]

Yes, I Drink Water religiously and make sure I get a minimum of 64 oz a day. I DO feel the restriction with the sleeve, I never complained about that. Im not sure about the fat content of my food but I plan on calculating that for a few days to see where im at. I tryed calling the NUT my surgeon recomends again and still, no answer. I have my next appointment with the other NUT next wednesday. I was never given strict guidlines or stages as what to eat and what not to eat as many people have. I went for my first post op appoinment 10 days after surgery and was given the green light to eat what I wanted but to stay away from startches (those were my instructions and I have followed them) Im going to try to push myself more on my workouts and maybe up it to 3 or 4 miles but after 2 I litterally feel exhausted. I stayed at home all day today sulking, forced myself to go workout, took a shower, and then came back home again. I feel like im slipping into a depression. I feel like im trying SO hard and taking all the advice and its getting me nowhere. I dont even care about food or eating anymore I dont miss the foods I used to eat, I just want to lose this weight. I had most of my stomach cut out of my body, I baraley eat anything, im excercising everyday, and its still not working

[janinemaire 7]

Lolli, i'm losing about the same rate as you, 3-4 pounds a week. I didn't lose for almost three weeks. But I will not feel bad for not losing faster. I spent many years starting a new diet every Monday just to mess up by Friday. This is the first time I stuck to a healthy eating program for 10 weeks and feel I should have no trouble sticking with it. So eventually I will lose all the weight I need to lose and so will you. Don't workout so much that your going to hurt yourself and I would increase my calories.

Hope you feel better and good luck, Janine

[BZButterfly79 19]

Lolli you've got to have more faith in yourself and in the procedure, you've got to believe if you don't you are only hurting yourself, this is a time in your life where you need "you" more than ever, no outside validation or scale can be as good to you as you can, you've got to love yourself the weight is gonna come off whether you like it or not and that's the beauty of it all.

[Susanne 32]

There are a couple of things that seem to point to problems:

First, you feel exhausted - I think you really have to eat more, no matter how counterproductive that feels to LOSING weight. Just do it - what do you have to lose? (Pun intended)

Second, you start feeling depressed - depression is not good at all when trying to lose weight. Find something positive - it's not the weight loss YET. For me, the fact that I don't HAVE TO eat anymore in and of itself is a major advantage. You said you walk/run 2 to 3 miles every day. Were you able to do that before? Is that an accomplishment that you have reached after surgery? If yes, go and run with your new physical fitness.

Third, you said you don't care for food or eating anymore - this is not good in this situation. Especially this early, you have to care about what you put in. Your body doesn't "make" you eat anymore, it is now your brain that makes you eat so you MUST care.

Since you didn't get any guidelines for eating other than "Stay away from starches", here are the guidelines I got from my nutritionist:

Week 2 to 6: http://www.bananatummy.com/2010/11/food-for-week-2-4/

Week 6 to 12: http://www.bananatummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/6-to-12-Week-Meal-Plan.pdf (this should probably be what you are looking at)

Someone said something about the "scrutiny" in the replies. I don't consider my answers scrutiny at all.

If you write a C paper in college and you ask your instructor how you can get an A paper next time, what do you want him to tell you? Does "You are doing great, keep doing what you are doing" help you improve or does "Let's look at what you did so far and find things we can work on" help you more? Yeah, you don't want him to say "You are dumb, that's as good as it gets for you", but no one did that here :-)

I hope this helps and I sincerely hope that you can get off the C paper and next time you see the doctor, he'll give you a B or even better, a nice A on your weight loss.

[Thea'sMom 2]

I find that, at 600-800 calories, I don't lose anything. I'm at 1,000 now, and things are finally moving. I weigh everything I eat, and record it in fitday because it allows me to use grams for measurements (can you say OCD?). As someone said, I think you ought to try fewer Protein Shakes and more real food. I'm a great one for wanting to have the same thing day after day, so I have to make an effort to keep a variety. My current trick is to get a pound of ground meat (beef, lamb, bison, turkey), cut it into 54 gram portions and freeze. That way, I can have two meals in a day with meats that are easy.

[Susanne 32]

I find having meat balls and small portions of chili around very handy. Especially the meatballs are often a life saver - a great, hearty Protein snack, easy to eat warm or cold, and once cooked they last for quite a while. I can make a lot of flavor modifications, make them spicy, mild, BBQ-style, dip them in peanut sauce, add ranch dressing, throw them in Soup - endless varieties, same little meatball.

As a mix, I use this http://hansaimporthaus.com/store/product/12199/Maggi-Fix-%26-Frisch-Hackbraten-92-g/ - if you have a German/European import store, you can probably find it there too. It's no cuisine, that's for sure, but the stuff keeps the meatballs from getting too dense and it adds a nice flavor but also carbs and calories - not too many, I come out at about 50 calories for a small meatball when using 93% ground beef or turkey.

But I am sure you can use just plain meat and add bread crumbs and whatever seasoning you like - you can try any kind of grilling spice mix, rubs etc. Or check with your butcher, if they have some ready spice mix for meatloaf and make little balls.

Best snack ever...travels well too!

[pumpkin07 32]

Lolli -

This will work sweetie..It will. I was wondering how much you have to lose. Also, did you just start working out after surgery or were you working out before. BC we all know muscle weighs more than fat.

Just apply COMMON SENSE. You did just get a crap load of stomach cut out of your body, you are eating 600 calories a day, and you are jogging. You are gonna lose the weight, NO DOUBT. But our bodies have a lot of special functions and protections and sometimes it doesn't come off exactly when we want it to.

I hope you can cry today, and then tomorrow reinvest in this process. It will work.

Maybe your doc was thinking out loud, but there could be a reason the doctor couldn't find in that moment. People seem to lose at different paces and those that have not been able to lose as much usually complain about not having enough restriction which just might mean it was a surgery problem like too much tummy left.

And usually people with just a little bit of weight to lose seem to get a slower start, but they still lose about 1/2 of their weight around the 3.5 to 4 month mark.

Hang in there girly.

[myrori 55]

May I ask how old you are? I just came from a 4 week stall after gain 4 pounds! I thought I would die! Anyway here are some things I discovered about the stall. 1. I was not getting enough calories in a day,, about 550. Since eating more is hard I added a Protein shake.

2. I stopped taking my Water pill, if you are dehydrated the body can not flush fats

3. I was not getting enough EFA's (essential fatty acids) Without them you can not lose weight. Efa's are : Omega 3s. You can find them in Olive oil, fish, flax seed or flax oil, avacado and fish oil supplements ( learn about the RIGHT fish oil supplements here Dr. OZ on fish oil )

4. If you are over 40 talk to the doc about adding DHEA to boost your metabolism along with doing all the other items mentioned.

5. Are you keeping your carbs low? I strive for less than 50 a day.

[klus263 9]

I told him what I eat in a day Wich is around 500-600 cals and that i walk/jog 30-40 min every day

I met today with a personal trainer at the gym I just joined. I let her know that I had weight loss surgery and I that my calorie intake is low at this point. I just recently got it up to around 700 calories per day. She advised that I need to be careful with such a low intake with burning too many calories. I know that I will need to increase my calorie intake to at least 800 or higher on the days I excerise as it is not healthy to burn more calories than you take it. So try to increase the calorie as you excerise and that may help. Don't get depressed-look you lost 22 pounds that most of us would not have lost if it wasn't for this surgery. My doctor has never given me a number to lose-mine is all self imposed. Hopefully your next nutritionist is familar with weight loss surgery. Search the website I know I have come across several diets that other doctors and clinics have actually posted for their patients. This may help you. I am currently getting all my Protein from foods and not from shakes. I do track what I eat and find that my body loses better when my carbs are around 30 but others do better at a higher number. Keep track and look back at the weeks when you had a better weight loss and see what did you eat differently that week. Hang in there!!! It is a huge learning curve out there and you will get.

[pwpjp10 0]

Yes, I Drink Water religiously and make sure I get a minimum of 64 oz a day. I DO feel the restriction with the sleeve, I never complained about that. Im not sure about the fat content of my food but I plan on calculating that for a few days to see where im at. I tryed calling the NUT my surgeon recomends again and still, no answer. I have my next appointment with the other NUT next wednesday. I was never given strict guidlines or stages as what to eat and what not to eat as many people have. I went for my first post op appoinment 10 days after surgery and was given the green light to eat what I wanted but to stay away from startches (those were my instructions and I have followed them) Im going to try to push myself more on my workouts and maybe up it to 3 or 4 miles but after 2 I litterally feel exhausted. I stayed at home all day today sulking, forced myself to go workout, took a shower, and then came back home again. I feel like im slipping into a depression. I feel like im trying SO hard and taking all the advice and its getting me nowhere. I dont even care about food or eating anymore I dont miss the foods I used to eat, I just want to lose this weight. I had most of my stomach cut out of my body, I baraley eat anything, im excercising everyday, and its still not working

[Pumpkindarlin 2]

On 1/20/2011 at 4:49 AM, Dawn said:

You are loosing and that is what matters! Some people do just loose slower then others, nothing wrong with that!

Have you met with a NUT to see if they have any ideas? How much Protein are you getting in? I have personally found that my Protein intake seems to affect the number on the scale!

Have you been taking measurements? Many times you will see it in inchs more then on the scale!

Good Luck!!!

What do you mean about your Protein affecting your numbers?