5 months out...tortoise or the hare?

[BabyNurse 2]

I am 2 weeks out. I have lost a total of 10 pounds. My doctor flat out told me I would not loose as fast as others or as much as others. I was barely at the 100 pounds over weight, but was cleared do to medical reasons. I am hoping with the slower rate it helps limit Hair loss. He also starts his pts on blended food right away as one tolerates along with Protein Shakes and fluids. So I am sure that prevented a rapid drop these past 2 weeks. I'm glad a am a turtle...and I am glad for a quick recovery. 1 week out I was out helping my hubby tag and brand calves.

[Cabingirl 55]

You're losing at a steady pace, and the slower weight loss allows your body, and especially your skin, to adapt better than it would if you'd dropped 90-100 pounds in 5 months.

Enjoy this journey!

[cutiecake 178]

It depends on how much you have to lose also. I've lost 47 pounds since my surgery June 9. I of course think it should be more. I want to lose about 25 more! But I feel and look good now, I'm in a loose size 10 jean now from a tight 16. And I think I would've lost more by now if I didn't give in to bad choices , on a weekly basis. I admit it, I eat things I should not eat, and I have a cocktail or two on the weekends. If I didn't maybe my weightloss would be more, but as it's been said slow and steady wins the race! I'm still healthier than I was before I started this journey, and I'm still me, the surgery didn't turn off my want to eat, I wish it did but that's just not the case.

[kimpossible67 608]

I learned a lesson one day. I don't drive and I'd walked a mile to the grocery store. I had bags that totaled about 20 lbs. I had half on one side half on the other. 20 lbs mind you. I walked the mile home and thought I was going to die. I didn't walk, I half lumbered/shuffled. My back hurt. It just sucked. So with that to put your weight loss into perspective, go buy 2 10 lb bags of potatoes and walk with them a mile. You'll be amazed how different it makes you feel!

[jenbaby75 283]

Is it possible you aren't getting enough calories, and your body has gone into starvation mode? If you work out, and aren't getting enough calories, you will stop or slow your loss.

[Get.Waisted 45]

I got totally freaked out by the people on this site and others that lost 100 pounds in 3 months! I kept thinking - "What am I doing wrong?" but when I stepped back and realized that I was losing 2 pounds per week (Same as you!) and I had never done that before and kept it off, I realized that my expectations were not realistic, and that 2 pounds per week is DAMN good!.

[Get.Waisted 45]

Same here Catherine! I was like, "you lost 100lbs in 3-6mos?? How??" I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. I have been far from perfect w/ sticking to my plan so for me I know that's why I run into so many stalls but I'm down +75lbs in 7mos and that's slower than most but it's not a race. I believe we'll all get to our goals if we remain focused and stay on plan. I have my doubts some days but you just have to shake that off.

[snowkitten 371]

Love this thread. It makes me feel so much better not to be alone. I'm a slow loser as well. I think what bothers me the most is that I read so many people saying the bigger you are the more you will lose at first. Well starting at 344 I didn't expect to only lose 35 lbs by my 3mo mark. The stall I'm currently in makes it that much more frustrating!

[fezik23 240]

Omg. Itsmeagain, we must be sisters. I was sleeved June 25th and I'm down 43 lbs total, including pre-op. I try not to read the posts about phenomenal amounts of weight lost. It's too discouraging.

[BigGirlPanties 957]

curious how you are doing now...

[Hockey momma 3]

Tortoise. I am short, only 5'2". I have read short peeps lose slowly. I do like the fact I am not a bunch of baggy skin though. Overall slowly is ok for me as long as I continue losing....if I stop we might have a problem.

[HaddocksEyes 205]

Tortoise. I am short, only 5'2". I have read short peeps lose slowly. I do like the fact I am not a bunch of baggy skin though. Overall slowly is ok for me as long as I continue losing....if I stop we might have a problem.

I'm a slow loser too. Right now I am losing about 2 pounds a week. I have only had one stall, and that was the 3 week stall everyone mentions.

Pre-gastric sleeve, I had to practically starve myself to lose one pound a week (I lost 70 pounds as a teenager). So the slow loss doesn't surprise me, but it is frustrating because you DO wonder, what if it slows down even more the closer I get to one year out? My nutritionist and the nurse both said that the closer you get to one year, the more likely it is that weight loss will slow down. They were telling me that because I had not lost the amount they believe I should have lost at my two month checkup and they wanted to warn me it may get harder in the future to lose weight. I don't need it to slow down at all - that would be hard to deal with but I would have to learn to deal with it.

I've still got 100 pounds to lose. They are wanting me to lose 70 pounds (total, so another 30 pounds for me by February) by my six month mark, which is what I have been striving for. I go to the gym 3-4 times per week (should be 5-6 times a week but life gets in the way) and try to be active outside of the gym. I eat 1000-1100 calories per day. But I can do more - like walking during lunchtime.

I am wondering if there are people out there that were slow losers throughout the whole process and still met their goal. I am wondering if people like us will just lose at this rate the entire time or if they slowed down even more as time went on.

[madwife2002 110]

I am defiantly the Hare! 63 lbs since surgery 6 months out but 81lbs this year

As long as it goes down I don't care how slow

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

When I read threads like this I wonder if most WLS patients are just math-challenged.

63 pounds in 6 months (the loss rate for someone above who says she's a "fast loser") = 2.4 pounds/week

75 pounds in 7 months (the loss rate for someone above who says she's losing "slower than most") = 2.5 pounds/week

So although Jane and Jill are losing at the same rate, one of them thinks she's losing fast and the other thinks she's losing slowly.

Who's right?

Does it even matter?

P.S. My own weight loss of 34 pounds after 14 weeks post-op = 2.5 pounds/week.

[kathy078 17]

I am feeling the same way. Somedays I wonder if I will be the one who fails. At my 12 day post op check in I was down 18 pounds. Then it went downhill from there. At my 6 week check up with the nutritionist I was down 28 pounds and felt like a failure. The scale wasn't moving. The nutritionist said I was doing everything right and losing weight like I was supposed to. Before surgery I had a positive attitude, every pound lost was great, now my attitude is, that's it!.

If I look at it overall I am down 33 pounds since surgery, 75 pounds from my heaviest in 2012. My worst enemy is the scale that I seem to always be stepping on. I am down to weighing myself twice a week and really need to go once a week.