Is the Pouch Test really necessary to stop a two year stall?

[serenityjames81 31]

I'm at a stall and need to rework some things to get my weight loss working again, but is the pouch test really necessary and sure to work?

[Armygalbonnie 643]

How far out are you from surgery? How long has your stall lasted? How much weight have you lost?

[Armygalbonnie 643]

Sorry, I didn't see the 2 year stall part. I would definitely say try to reset your pouch. Lord knows the liquid diet and pureed diet aren't fun, but do you remember how great it felt to lose weight during that time? Use that as your motivation.

[RickM 1,747]

The short answers are no, and no. No, the "pouch test" isn't necessary, and no, it isn't sure to work. Beyond the matter that you don't have a pouch to test (assuming that you have a VSG, which is why you are posting to this forum,) these diets are premised on the idea that when we first started out and were on a liquid diet we lost weight like gangbusters, so if we need to get that loss started again, we should go back to that liquid diet. Newsflash - even those of us who never did a liquid diet lost weight like gangbusters those first 2-3 weeks, simply because the composition of the diet (liquids, mushies, solids, etc.) is irrelevant to our loss. That initial loss is a reaction to the dramatic reduction in the calories that we were consuming immediately after surgery (or maybe at starting a pre-op diet for those who did one.)

If you indeed have not lost anything for two years (or even several months at the two year mark,) that's not a stall - it's maintenance. The only way to really get things moving again is to dramatically cut your calorie consumption consistently (around 500 calories per day to make it noticable - about a pound a week rate) rather than some quickie fad diet for a few days. The long term "back to basics" approach would be going back to basic lean meat, veg and little else that's caloric. That will do all the "resetting" that needs to be done from whatever junk may have crept back into your life, and is a lot more sustainable than any liquid and mush diet will ever be.

Getting back to tracking your intake (assuming that you did once before and stopped, or never did,) with an app like My Fitness Pal or equivalent is a powerful tool to staying on track. Try diligently tracking your intake for a couple of weeks without doing any special "dieting" to get a baseline of what your current consumption is at, so you can tell where to go from here. Then look at where you can cut back on unnecessary calories.

You can do it, but it takes more than a quickie "pouch test" or reset to do the job.

[Armygalbonnie 643]

@@rickm Thank you for the great information! Very valid points.

[serenityjames81 31]

The short answers are no, and no. No, the "pouch test" isn't necessary, and no, it isn't sure to work. Beyond the matter that you don't have a pouch to test (assuming that you have a VSG, which is why you are posting to this forum,) these diets are premised on the idea that when we first started out and were on a liquid diet we lost weight like gangbusters, so if we need to get that loss started again, we should go back to that liquid diet. Newsflash - even those of us who never did a liquid diet lost weight like gangbusters those first 2-3 weeks, simply because the composition of the diet (liquids, mushies, solids, etc.) is irrelevant to our loss. That initial loss is a reaction to the dramatic reduction in the calories that we were consuming immediately after surgery (or maybe at starting a pre-op diet for those who did one.)

If you indeed have not lost anything for two years (or even several months at the two year mark,) that's not a stall - it's maintenance. The only way to really get things moving again is to dramatically cut your calorie consumption consistently (around 500 calories per day to make it noticable - about a pound a week rate) rather than some quickie fad diet for a few days. The long term "back to basics" approach would be going back to basic lean meat, veg and little else that's caloric. That will do all the "resetting" that needs to be done from whatever junk may have crept back into your life, and is a lot more sustainable than any liquid and mush diet will ever be.

Getting back to tracking your intake (assuming that you did once before and stopped, or never did,) with an app like My Fitness Pal or equivalent is a powerful tool to staying on track. Try diligently tracking your intake for a couple of weeks without doing any special "dieting" to get a baseline of what your current consumption is at, so you can tell where to go from here. Then look at where you can cut back on unnecessary calories.

You can do it, but it takes more than a quickie "pouch test" or reset to do the job.

This is everything! I've been searching online for weeks, came across this app/forum and have been reading other people's stories who were similar to mine but I decided to post to try and get a specific answer and this definitely helped. So thank you. I do have my fitness pal already and actively use it, I was just stuck on what is actually a good amount of calories to consume per day. It had me at 2200 due to my weight but it does not know about my sleeve. On average most ppl with the sleeve consume between 1000 to 1600 calories give or take but I didn't know where to fall in order to keep losing and stop "MAINTAINING" which makes perfect sense. I heard cutting many calories may cause your body to hold on to weight... and consuming too many can do the same so this all can make one crazy. I will try cutting down to 800 calories compared to my normal 1800? Is that good? Again, thanks .

[serenityjames81 31]

Also, my Protein Shake alone can be around 200 calories so how can I go a day on just 500 calories?

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

Also, my Protein Shake alone can be around 200 calories so how can I go a day on just 500 calories?

I think they meant cut your calories down by 500 a day. I'd say aim for 1000 calories a day to get back into losing.

[serenityjames81 31]

Also, my Protein shake alone can be around 200 calories so how can I go a day on just 500 calories?

I think they meant cut your calories down by 500 a day. I'd say aim for 1000 calories a day to get back into losing.

Oooooh okay makes sense lol. I will adjust my fitness pal to 1000 calories and continue working out 3-4 times a week, thank you !

[ladyslim2015 74]

If u been eating at 2200 cal. a day u should cut down 500 ur first week and then another 500 down the following week bc it's going to seem impossible to go from 2200 to 1000 just like that and the lowest u should actually go down to is 1200 cal. bc u go into starvation mode and will hold on to weight at first but it isnt sustainable.

Sent from my SM-G930T using the BariatricPal App

[serenityjames81 31]

If u been eating at 2200 cal. a day u should cut down 500 ur first week and then another 500 down the following week bc it's going to seem impossible to go from 2200 to 1000 just like that and the lowest u should actually go down to is 1200 cal. bc u go into starvation mode and will hold on to weight at first but it isnt sustainable.

Sent from my SM-G930T using the BariatricPal App

Makes sense, thank you !