"The Dreaded Stall" explanation

[rora 24]

I think I figured out the reason for the stall and knowing this makes me feel better.

During the liquid diet and the weeks following surgery, there is a huge shift of eating "normally" or even overeating to barely eating. Of course there's going to be a huge weight drop in the beginning. You lose all the Fluid from hospitalization, you're eating next to nothing, and the most important factor, you're losing muscle mass because you're recovering from surgery and not moving a lot.

About 3 weeks following surgery you begin to gain that muscle back. You're able to eat more Protein,, and most importantly, you're much more active. This explains why the weight doesn't melt off, while many report that they are still losing inches. You're trading fat-weight for muscle-weight, which is actually heavier.

In time you're muscle mass will plateau and more fat will burn off, thus ending the stall.

The next stall may occur as your fitness is taken to the next level and more muscle is gained while fat is being lost.

It's best to concentrate on inches lost, and how you feel and look...weighing once a week or if you can stand it, every two weeks might be better.

We all need to remember this and not get discouraged.

[fromsleevedtome 50]

Thanks for this. I lost my first 30 in the first 3 weeks from surgery and I haven't lost very much since. Although I have been staying pretty positive and not overthinking everything, I am a bit disappointed because I know that I am following my plan very closely and exercising. This post just encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing and things will get better. I really appreciate it.

[rora 24]

Yep! And try measuring yourself! I bet you'll see a difference!

[shancanssleevejourney 74]

I wholeheartedly agree, that is an excellent description of stalls, especially the dreaded 3 week one. I had one then and another at 6 weeks when I upped my exercising. Super surprised I never even thought of that one but makes perfect sense. I just broke my stall after finding I was also not eating enough calories. I thought I was doing great until I started tracking and found out I actually was under.