I'm starting to wonder if this is it....

[crosswind 134]

I'm about six months out at this point and I've lost seventy pounds. I've been exercising almost every day -- although I have to say I was slow to start that so I could say my *real* exercise journey started a month ago when i got back into Pilates. I look better but the inch loss isn't that great since I started.

it just occurred to me that I've lost eight inches off my waist and ten inches off my hips -- all this is grand.

But BOY is it slow going now. I am really beginning to wonder if I am going to lose even a single pound more. My hormones are really fluctuating and irregular and this seems to have something to do with the stall pattern -- I usually start a huge drop after my period and another ten pound slide, and then nothing for three weeks. My calories aren't *too* low, and I change from low to high carb; low to high calories just to switch it up and keep it going. But logically, you know even if I were eating two thousand calories per day at 219 pounds with exercise some weight should be coming off. I am not eating 2000 per day -- it averages out to 1300.

I have never read this anywhere before -- especially not on these boards -- but are there people who never lose a pound after their bodies lose roughly half of their excess weight? Is it possible my sleeve is done? I am really trying to avoid Drasticland here.

[MegInNOLA 531]

Is it possible that you're in a stall? (ducking now) I think they can happen all over the weight loss schedule--and if your hormones are already zipping about, perhaps your body has sort of decided to stabilize for a bit? You know logically that you aren't doing anything that would cause you to gain or not to lose, so the not losing isn't food- or exercise-related. It's probably hormonal.

Have you had your thyroid checked lately?

Hang in there!

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

I remember that after 5 months or so my weightloss slowed down so much that I honestly thought it was done - I was about 155 lbs, so all in all it wouldn't be too disappointing if that was it, but I still wanted to lose a few lbs. But I realized that if I stayed away from the scale for a while, I'd actually notice the pounds lost. I continued to lose slowly, about 3-5 lbs a month for a few months after, even though at the time I felt like I was done losing. Even in the last few months, I've lost no weight, but my clothes fit looser - must be my skin tightening up.

Also, I think this would be a good time to amp up your workouts. Pilates is alright, but it's hardly the best for weightloss/firming up. You are not getting much more than you would out of a half-hour stroll. I'd take up weightlifting, running, or bootcamp-style workouts if you want to see quick results.

[Thomas CPA 496]

Remember two things of the sleeve: one, the sleeve is designed to help you get rid of 50 to 60% of excess weight (weight at time of surgery and "idea" body weight) and two, at some point your metabolizism has to stabilize, you can't lose weight forever.

[crosswind 134]

I have lost almost exactly 50 percent of my excess weight right now, and that's what got me wondering. Still, it would be weird to stabilize at 33 percent bodyfat. I've seen a couple things out there -- I've seen people who are still losing two years out and people who are at their target weight in eight months, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a person simply stop losing at 50 percent of their excess weight. Guess I'll have to tough it out for the next six months and see....

[Thomas CPA 496]

You won't just stop at 50% unless you want to. The surgery is supposed to help you lose up to 50 to 60%. I am two months out and already lost 50%. I have been stable for two weeks but that is in part because of fatigue in losing so much so quick. I will, as you will, lose more but it will take the normal diet and exercise to keep metabolism burning. The point is you can't rely just on the surgery to lose all your weight. Stalls are normal like in a regular diet, just need to find a way out of the stall.

Hang in there, you will lose more.

[M2G 1,836]

I used to think that everytime I would stall (which started at 4 months post-op and has continued through today) that I was DONE, but now I know better. This is a tool and even if things slow down we still continue to stay on track with eating right, Vitamins, exercise & Water, the weight will eventually come off. It is a LOT more frustrating to lose slowly but I keep working my tool and keep getting results.

Slow & steady....

[coops 1,790]

I have lost almost exactly 50 percent of my excess weight right now, and that's what got me wondering. Still, it would be weird to stabilize at 33 percent bodyfat. I've seen a couple things out there -- I've seen people who are still losing two years out and people who are at their target weight in eight months, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a person simply stop losing at 50 percent of their excess weight. Guess I'll have to tough it out for the next six months and see....

Hey Crosswind..

I remember at around the 7mth marker my weightloss came to a screaming halt and I bounced up and down the same 2lbs for 9 weeks. I didn't lose any inches either. At this point I had lost 56% of my ideal weight. I started to get frustrated and I constantly beat myself up, put myself down and worst of all compared myself to everyone who had been sleeved in the same time frame as me! Believe me, I wished I was them as they seemed to be doing soooo much better!! My hormones were really in a mess too... I had been back and forth my docs and the menopause clinic and they told me I was peri menopausal ( I hadn't turned 40 at this point and was really upset about this... I felt my body was fighting my brain!)... my mthlys are all out of sync and, yep, it effects my weight loss like mad!

Now, this is where I am hoping I am being helpful... since then I have lost a further 14lb. Okay, I know that is very slow as I am going back to the middle of April... but and it is a BIG but ... the extra pounds are coming off... I am 14lbs away from my surgeon's goal now and I feel much better about it all. I refuse to think that I am 'done' ... Since Jan I have had to work so hard for each and every pound lost, but it just makes it all the more gratifing when I eventually see movement on the scale or my clothes feel looser. That being said, I don't get upset now when I do bounce up a pound or two.

Reading this back, it sounds a little depressing... on average a 3lb mth weight loss isn't brilliant, but a loss is a loss?! I really hope this gives you a little hope that you are not done at 50%.

I also agree with Blackberryjuice...try mixing up your exercise too... I found that that really helped me 'feel' better, like I was doing absolutely everything I could, and I suppose giving me a little control in a situation that I didn't really have control over at all...pesky hormones!!

Good luck Crosswind... I am sure that you will get through this... keep coming on the boards; read and vent and just chip in whenever you can. It has helped me feel focused!

Let me know how you get on... *hugs*

[GreginMI 76]

What confuses me with these stalls is that if I hadn't been sleeved and eating like I am I would be losing weight like CRAZY. I know, I've done enough dieting over the years. I just don't see how you can NOT lose a pound in a week eating 900 calories a day composed of mostly Protein and not many carbs and NO sweets, pop, etc. When I've done that in the past before the sleeve I would be dropping at least 5 lbs a week. Weird.

[crosswind 134]

. Thanks, this is exactly what I wanted to know. My hormone cycle is a huge problem, and I think I should probably be happy that I weight seventy pounds less than I did just because without the sleeve I would have probably kept gaining. That was one of the things I was thinking in March: I had spent about six months at 265 and then suddenly I was at 289 and there was just no way for me to get it under control or even figure out how to do that anymore.

But once I got the sleeve I had this fantasy that I would do a Valerie Bertinelli and get incredibly thin and like go to the Cayman Islands in a string bikini and all like that.

Maybe...not.

In the past six months I haven't really worried about getting to goal too much. In fact I kept telling myself to just relax because it *had* to come off, at least to a certain point. And I was clear that this was not going to happen overnight. In a year, though,. I expected what I've seen on these boards. It *does* come off. In a year people tend to be really close to goal if not under it. I would absolutely take three pounds a month if I knew they were going to keep coming off. I've averaged more than ten per month over the past six months, but there was a month...I think August, where absolutely nothing happened on the scale for about four weeks. Then I lost another ten. And nothing since then, nothing since maybe the middle of September.

This summer I spent a lot more time outside swimming and walking than I have in a couple years. I realized this was really good for me because the fact is, I was really sick emotionally, really disordered and out of sorts. I spent the year before this not going anywhere at all, barely sleeping and hardly ever leaving the house. All of that has to take a toll and I should be glad I'm in the place I'm in now. I'm between a fourteen and a sixteen and I have clothes that fit.

The thing I've been avoiding is going on a "diet". I got the surgery and spent the money rationalizing that I had spent so much money already on diets that never worked and yo-yoing wildly trying to get some control. I knew part of this was just...you know, I've got a problem. I am obsessive, dysmorphic, and *happy when I'm thin* and *miserable when I'm fat.* I have all these weird emotional games I play with myself, like I eat and isolate when I'm feeling anxious; like I will get to a brilliant goal weight, my life will change and I'll start to gain and then I can barely think about anything else and then gain wildly. So going on a DIET -- this was what I was never going to do again. Ever. I was simply going to live my life and stop anything that even pulled me up near the intersection where I would go crazy and obsessive about my body. I was going to *teach myself* that I could still be happy, enjoy life, make friends, be myself without pouring Cereal into a cup measure. I've had this idea before -- that women especially could probably rule the world if they weren't constantly in despair over their bodies.

There are all kinds of diets, programs, supplements, sprays and toe cream or whatever you can buy to help you lose weight. i could probably name them all. This is what I'm trying to avoid -- the time, energy and emotional suck of weight obsession. It's bad for me. Really, really bad.

[crosswind 134]

What confuses me with these stalls is that if I hadn't been sleeved and eating like I am I would be losing weight like CRAZY. I know, I've done enough dieting over the years. I just don't see how you can NOT lose a pound in a week eating 900 calories a day composed of mostly Protein and not many carbs and NO sweets, pop, etc. When I've done that in the past before the sleeve I would be dropping at least 5 lbs a week. Weird.

Right. It is weird. Confusing. And really losing ten pounds a month is not some precipitous emergency loss that my body in particular would even mind normally. I try to eat more, eat less, drop carbs, do carbs for a couple days....just doesn't seem to matter in the least.

[meggiep 57]

I came to see what is up with you today and found this- hope things are better now! I keep stalling and slowing now too....wondering if I have hit my limit of loss but then like you wonder how that can be when I eat so little. I do work out a lot- an hour of brisk walking (3mph) a day and six Water aerobics classes a week. I low carb it- nothing seems to work lately, even ramping up for a day or two and then going down again. I have to say I will be extremely disgruntled if I have to eat 800 calories a day for the rest of my life with no weight loss! Havig 85% of our stomachs removed has to count for something.

My husband says I get too enmeshed in the day to day and need to look at the big picture of losing 88 pounds since April 25th. I am trying to do that but I remind him he is talking like someone with a whole stomach ;-P One who eats pretty much concinuously, as far as I can tell. SIgh.

Any way I miss you and wanted to hug you a big one! xoxo

[yecats 109]

Your doing great lady, you are almost there. Sometimes all you need is time, hang in there!!! Be encouraged, I would be tickled to be right where you are at. I watching for your next song and dance lol

I came to see what is up with you today and found this- hope things are better now! I keep stalling and slowing now too....wondering if I have hit my limit of loss but then like you wonder how that can be when I eat so little. I do work out a lot- an hour of brisk walking (3mph) a day and six Water aerobics classes a week. I low carb it- nothing seems to work lately, even ramping up for a day or two and then going down again. I have to say I will be extremely disgruntled if I have to eat 800 calories a day for the rest of my life with no weight loss! Havig 85% of our stomachs removed has to count for something.

My husband says I get too enmeshed in the day to day and need to look at the big picture of losing 88 pounds since April 25th. I am trying to do that but I remind him he is talking like someone with a whole stomach ;-P One who eats pretty much concinuously, as far as I can tell. SIgh.

Any way I miss you and wanted to hug you a big one! xoxo

[meggiep 57]

Your doing great lady, you are almost there. Sometimes all you need is time, hang in there!!! Be encouraged, I would be tickled to be right where you are at. I watching for your next song and dance lol

I do feel lucky- especially reading posts like this- having only 27 pounds left to lose is fabulous but at the same time it feels so hard! We compare ourselves- to people like my dear friend TIffykins- who hit goal in 6 months ....or Irene....that is a trap I fall in to!

One of the thing that occurred to me today is that I am at about the weight I was at for quite a long time eleven years ago- not sure since I was not weighing then ;-P - and I have heard sometimes your body wants to stay in a comfortable place that it was in for some time. SO I am being more vigilant about carbs etc. an trying to stay optimistic.

Oh and...you bet I will be dancing again when I hit goal!