Feeling really discouraged...

[AnA92212 577]

Hang in there! I was at a 2 week stall then I have lost 5 pounds since Friday. I haven't changed a thing.

[BigViffer 3,544]

A few things to remember. Are you having bowel movements? My first stall had me concerned and I asked my doctor about it. He told me you can't lose the weight if you don't "evacuate" waste. That's when I started making apricot, fig, and prune Protein smoothies. Lo and behold a week later I was down another 10 lbs. Also, you absolutely must have as much Fluid as you can get. I think I read somewhere it takes 8 lbs of Water to flush out 1 lbs of fat.

[mspal 2]

yes, i poop every day. it's now been 3 weeks since my surgery and i haven't even lost 9 pounds. this is probably the stupidest mistake i have ever made in my life. i cut all the carbs out and even purees and am on just shakes again, and nothing.

i'm trying not to be depressed. there's absolutely nothing i can do. i had visions in my head of losing 20 pounds the first month (just like everyone else). i am wondering if i'll even get to 40 lbs lost in 6 months. like did i really just self-pay and take out 80% of my stomach to lose less than 10 pounds?

[Mommabird 367]

Hello, everyone! I hope you don't mind me chiming in on this discussion as I had a gastric bypass rather than a sleeve. I have been in a stall for the last couple of weeks. Gaining and losing the same couple of pounds. Yesterday, I put on some yoga pants that I hadn't put on for a while. I had bought them a size smaller than I was wearing at the time so I expected them to be VERY snug. Imagine my surprise when they slid right on with no problems what so ever! So, don't get stressed out, your body has been through a LOT. It needs time to recover! And even if you can't tell anything is happening, believe me, it is! The weight will come off! So, take a deep breath, go drink a glass of Water, and relax! You've got this! Your doing great!

[laguerr13 993]

You are trying to stay on a timetable, and are being too marsh on yourself, if you are trying to do the right thing, following everything your supposed to, then you are already healthier for having done it, we are all different and function differently, that is why sometimes in commercials you see disclaimers in the bottom that read "not common results" but from what I've read on the previous posts , you don't seem to wanna hear it and you've already mare up your mind that you are too focused on the scale, maybe you should seek counseling at this point, you need to change your mindset and refocus on the positives of all this.

[AnA92212 577]

I know it's difficult but please don't judge your success after 3 weeks. This is a process...sometimes slow and diffucult. Are you walking? I gained 5 pounds my first week. Take your measurements because sometimes the scale doesn't show progress as fast as a tape measure.

[mspal 2]

a stall after losing 93 pounds is just totally not the same as losing 9 pounds the first 3 weeks after surgery.

laguerr13, what exactly are the positives of this? i'm a perfectly mentally healthy rational person and not a patient (i noted that you work "in a psych setting"). i assure you i do not belong in a mental ward. the scale tells me i'm still 100+ pounds overweight. there's nothing wrong in focusing on the fact that i'm not losing weight when i should be and that i have 100 pounds of fat that doesn't seem to be budging despite eating 500 calories a day. i'm not sure what's healthier about having surgery to remain on a liquid diet if the results are the same.

again, regarding recovery, i have not been in pain, tired, or nauseated. i don't care about eating. i have a FT job and a business and 3 children. i don't have time to worry about food. i drink my shake and move on with my day (it has the added bonus of giving me much more time!). yes, i walk on my treadmill. yes, i'm doing everything. yes, i'm on a timetable - the first six months are crucial and it appears that nothing is happening. i've blown through almost an entire month, and this is the "fast" weight loss portion. my body fat percentage hasn't changed either.

i'd be delighted to hear supportive comments from people that experienced the same issue - extremely slow loss during their first few weeks after surgery. did you end up losing weight? did you end up needing a DS? did you need to cut/increase carbs? i am looking for actionable advice (my doctor has none) that will actually help me tweak what i'm doing so i can lose weight. i am also interested to hear from others that had very little post-op weight loss how well they stuck to their pre-op diets. it seems the rest of my surgical crew is losing tons of weight - and NONE of them stuck to their diets (me, I stuck to it perfectly).

[newbeginning77 26]

a stall after losing 93 pounds is just totally not the same as losing 9 pounds the first 3 weeks after surgery.

laguerr13, what exactly are the positives of this? i'm a perfectly mentally healthy rational person and not a patient (i noted that you work "in a psych setting"). i assure you i do not belong in a mental ward. the scale tells me i'm still 100+ pounds overweight. there's nothing wrong in focusing on the fact that i'm not losing weight when i should be and that i have 100 pounds of fat that doesn't seem to be budging despite eating 500 calories a day. i'm not sure what's healthier about having surgery to remain on a liquid diet if the results are the same.

again, regarding recovery, i have not been in pain, tired, or nauseated. i don't care about eating. i have a FT job and a business and 3 children. i don't have time to worry about food. i drink my shake and move on with my day (it has the added bonus of giving me much more time!). yes, i walk on my treadmill. yes, i'm doing everything. yes, i'm on a timetable - the first six months are crucial and it appears that nothing is happening. i've blown through almost an entire month, and this is the "fast" weight loss portion. my body fat percentage hasn't changed either.

i'd be delighted to hear supportive comments from people that experienced the same issue - extremely slow loss during their first few weeks after surgery. did you end up losing weight? did you end up needing a DS? did you need to cut/increase carbs? i am looking for actionable advice (my doctor has none) that will actually help me tweak what i'm doing so i can lose weight. i am also interested to hear from others that had very little post-op weight loss how well they stuck to their pre-op diets. it seems the rest of my surgical crew is losing tons of weight - and NONE of them stuck to their diets (me, I stuck to it perfectly).

i completely feel your pain I lost 11 lbs the first 2 weeks and then the scale didn't move for 21 days. It was really getting to me because I couldn't understand it since the doctors say as long as you follow it will come off.finally yesterday it dropped 2 lbs. I really hope that this long stall is over.

[SlimJill 291]

Hey guys,

So I went to see my therapist 2 days ago and she told me an interesting perspective on stalls and plateau. She went to this health conference and one person was doing a demonstration on toxins in your body and how they can affect weight loss. She said that when your body has toxins, it actually tries to protect the fat by putting a protective Water "bubble" around each fat cell, which will not allow the fat to leave! To get rid of this toxic Water you can take a warm bath filled with Epsom salts and green algae tablets. She said this combination literally pulls the toxins and toxic water out of your body, and remineralizes you. She told me when they tested her she had a quart and a half of toxic water surrounding her fat, while her husband who is an auto mechanic had far more! And when you take the bath you can actually see a line of yellow bile lining the tub! Pretty freaking cool, and I'm going to try this sometime this week!

http://bodyecology.com/articles/top-5-sources-of-toxins.php

food - just think of how many sugar free products they encourage you to eat post-op! All filled with chemicals and additives!

Water- most of us struggle to get in our water which could result in us storing more of it!

Stress - every time we don't lose we get stressed which is probably contributing to our smaller losses or no losses!

I will post this as a new topic also but wanted to make sure you guys saw it too!

[EAS17 1]

I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am to see this original post. It was like I wrote most of it myself! I was in such a funk this morning because week 2 and now halfway into 3 are acting like nothing is going on in my body. I'm so upset and frustrated but seeing this post makes me feel like this too can be normal. Definitely need to continue to read the responses but I at least feel better knowing that I am not alone!

[miks 8]

Hey I have an update too, so 9 lbs lost the first week then no loss for 3 weeks!! 21 days of exercise and following plan and nada! Then I lost 1.5 lbs yesterday! So hopefully this will continue.

Did those 3 weeks when I thought I'd have a lot of weight drop that didn't suck? Yeah. A lot. It's hard to stay positive, i of all people understand. What worked for me is upping my cals on all whole foods. I only drink Water, and only eat real meat with no sodium canned peas or green Beans. I think that's what helped me!

Hope it picks up for everyone else too!

[bellabloom 2,467]

It's normal to stall in the first couple weeks

[NMJ 3]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who posted on here.

My journey began September 3, 2015 weighing in at 312.5 lbs. I had my gastric sleeve surgery on November 17, 2015, I weighed 288.6 the day of my surgery. (I lost 24 lbs before surgery) I went for my two week post op & weighed 274.0, I realize 14.6 lbs is far more than I could have lost on my own, but seriously... my friend who had the same surgery lost 22 lbs at his 2 week post op. Now, I am rounding into week 4 post op & I weigh 270.6. I cannot even express how discouraged I am feeling until I read this, and found that I am not alone. I have not been perfect on my diet & I have cheated & ate something I should not have, or ate to fast or took to big of a bite & I have paid for it...vomiting is not fun. I am struggling to get my fluids in & as a mom of 3, I only get to walk about 3 miles, 3 times a week. I am not hungry nor have I felt any hunger since surgery but I find that I want to eat... They call it head hunger. For myself, I thought I had spent these last few months breaking my "bad habits" only to find them return with full force after surgery... I think it is because I deprived myself so much trying to lose enough weight to get the surgery & started my liquid only diet a week before surgery... I am fighting myself daily to stay on track. I was self pay & I went in this knowing that this surgery is just a tool & it will not work unless I make it work... but it is still such a struggle. I still feel very discouraged, not only in the surgery...but in myself.