STALL, STALL, STALL, STALL, STALL, STALL

[TeacherMommy 35]

I am 6 months and 2 weeks out and I am BEYOND FRUSTRATED!!!! I think back to the days when I stalled for like 5 days and LAUGH!!! I am now on a 3 week stall. I have tried EVERYTHING. I am working out more than ever (rowing 5000 meters, running 2.5 miles daily), drinking 80+ ounces of Water a day, get!!! Please tell me that it ends or give me any suggestions. I AM AT A LOSS!!!! I have lost 1 pound since March 26th.

[JamieLogical 8,708]

What's your calorie and Protein intake like? Could be that you need to consume more calories to sustain your increased activity level.

[alwaysvegas 702]

I had many stalls, but thankfully all stalls end, the longest being about a month. @@JamieLogical is asking all the good questions...if your caloric intake is too low with extensive exercise, then it may actually stall weight loss.

The benchmark I've read is "one month" meaning if your stall is over a month, then you need to seriously look at calories, carbs, and exercise and see if any of those is outta wack.

Don't get discouraged. Always see how far you come and congratulate yourself for that! It isn't all about that magical goal, but a life-long commitment to better health!

[VSGmary 418]

I had a 3 week I'm not going to call it a stall, I'm going to call it a hiccup! I had to re-evaluate what exactly what i was eating, how much Fluid i was drinking and how much exercise i was doing.

Well low and behold after tracking i could clear as the sun is shining see that i was not taking in enough calories to burn anything off. I was also not drinking enough (i still struggle with this) but I'm oh so very conscious of it and have made changes to get close to goal.. Ill reach my Water intake target hopefully by tomm!

I had to up my calorie intake, i now sit around 800 - 900 calories a day with 70-90 Protein and i track it on my fitness pal, it keeps me accountable, and its really easier than i thought it would be.

With regards to fitness, well i have also upped the tempo, i was walking anywhere between 2500 steps a day to 7500 steps a day, over the last few days I've kicked that right out of the park and walked over 11,000 steps on both says. Is this sustainable? I don't know but i'm going to give myself a fighting chance at making it so! (I have OA in both knees).

So a combination of the three key factors changing over the last 3 days has seen the weight start to move down again - Im already down 2 lbs!!

As @@JamieLogical has mentioned what is you calorie/protein intake at the moment ?

Wishing you all the best with your weight loss journey xox

[AlanaRN 419]

I went through a phase a couple weeks ago where the scale just wasn't moving. I am 6 months, 2 weeks out as well. In the last week, it has picked up again. I've heard the closer you get to your goal, the harder it becomes. I just continue to do what I'm supposed to do. It is very frustrating though so I completely understand!

[TeacherMommy 35]

As far as my Protein intake... It usually sits around 70 to 80. I take in tons of Fluid (very aware of this daily). I typically row 5000 meters a day and run 2.5. My bodymedia band says i burn about 3000 calories a day and walk about 14,000 steps (this including the run). I am a teacher, so I'm always moving. i have now hit the 210 day streak on myfitnesspal. I have to log there or i'll go crazy... hahaha

The thing I'm concerned with now, is calorie intake. i'm thinking that I'm not getting in enough. i try to stay less than 50 carbs a day and less than 25 grams of fat. I usually get 600 - 700 calories a day. i'm thinking i may need to bump it up to 800 - 900. If this doesn't work, i'll go see the doc. I still have about 45 pounds to lose. I don't want it to stop now...

[uni2424 48]

My answer is probably not going to be that popular since it would not be what the doctor recommended. I am 6 weeks out tomorrow and have been at the same weight for about 4-5 weeks. Very frustrating! I quit drinking my Protein shakes and walking over the weekend and finally dropped a few more pounds. I was drinking about 100 grams of Protein a day which equals about 700 calories and I was walking well over 10000 steps with 50 minutes of very active. I am not going to start back because I want to see if it will boost some more weight loss. If it does then I will gradually add back in. I am still getting protein through turkey, cheese, almonds, and chicken but not shakes. My calorie intake had dropped since dropping the shakes and adding more food has seemed to work for now! Getting enough Water in is still a problem for me- so sad since I could drink a couple of gallons per day prior to surgery!

[AlanaRN 419]

I think you need to up your calories a bit and you're Protein. My dr recommended this before when I was stalling and it works. I get about 100 grams of protein a day and 800-1000 calories depending on the day.

[JamieLogical 8,708]

I'd say try to push your way up to around 1000 calories a day. I'm at about 1050 right now and the scale is moving steadily, so that is working well for me.

Edit: I wanted to mention that I aim for 100 grams of Protein per day as well. My nutritionist wanted me to get up to 100 as fast as I was able to.

[Djmohr 6,965]

So I learned from my nutritionist that you should be getting 1 gram of Protein for every inch you are tall. For me it's a minimum of 70 grams per day. She does not want me to go above 90 because that can become hard on your kidneys. I am usually between 75 and 95 and have been losing consistently. I am just shy of 7 months post op.

Anyone else heard this rule?

[JamieLogical 8,708]

So I learned from my nutritionist that you should be getting 1 gram of Protein for every inch you are tall. For me it's a minimum of 70 grams per day. She does not want me to go above 90 because that can become hard on your kidneys. I am usually between 75 and 95 and have been losing consistently. I am just shy of 7 months post op.

Anyone else heard this rule?

Nope, I've heard the one where you should be getting a max of 0.9 grams per pound of body weight, which is used by most bodybuilders and athletes who are trying to "bulk up". I'm nowhere near that, even getting the 100 grams per day my nutritionist recommends. Max for me right now would be 162 grams, so no risk of that!

[Alex Brecher 10,512]

TeacherMommy,

Sorry to hear about your struggles – it’s tough! Try not to get down on yourself, although I know it’s easier said than done. The problem with getting down on yourself is it encourages you to give up…and that never helps! It only makes things worse. Know that all of us have had (or will go through) multiple stalls.

The advice I always give is to go back to the basics…back to the very beginning when you just had surgery, when you were so scared to take a bite (or sip) because you didn’t know how it would affect you, or if your surgery was going to help you lose weight, so you didn’t want to overeat. Go back to counting every single crumb. Be brutally honest with your calories.

And do what your doctor and the others say: go for Protein, do (but not overdo) your exercise, stay hydrated. And be patient. The weight has to come off if you’re eating fewer calories than you burn – it has to. There’s just no telling when. But it will.

[wilbskinny 11]

I have had many stalls myself. I had my surgery on 5/27/14 and have been in a stall for several weeks. I read in your post that you are doing fantastic exercise. Don't be discouraged...you are likely replacing fat with lean muscle mass, which weighs more than fat. Lean muscle also burns calories more efficiently and of course is much healthier than fat. I also agree that you must be sure that you are consuming at least 800 calories each day or your body goes into "starvation mode" and holds onto fat. Don't worry all stalls end and weight loss does resume. Best of luck!

[AussieSam 234]

Doctor advised me to change up my exercise routine to trick the body he also advised me not to stick to the same amount of calories each day. So to overcome a stall I fluctuated calories between a 500 amount on 5 days and changed exercise routines for example one day I trained morning the next afternoon and so on and it worked.

[AngelaE 104]

Hi there, it's definitely your calorie in take plus you exercising with 700-900 daily intake is too low. I would up it a little by 200 calories and see what happens.