THE SLOW LOSERS CLUB SUPPORT THREAD

[Fatboyslim1 204]

8 hours ago, Serengirl said:

we can agree to disagree and this is a place for those who dont lose in a typical fashion I am losing slowly I NEVER said i haven't lost any weight at all but I can indeed go weeks and weeks without losing and since all of my food is premeasured by the containers i buy them in- eg. premiere shakes- i know their exact calorie counts. In fact except for having sushi maybe once a week all of my food (greek yogurt, cottage cheese, premiere shakes) comes in pre measured packets for that very reason so I CANNOT underestimate or overestimate my food amounts. So feel free to hit up another thread if you dont agree. Also please dont tell ME WHAT TO DO or not to do. Its my G-d given right to have my opinion and last i checked I live in a free country where speech is a constitutional right.... I am entitled to be frustrated and feel overwhelmed. I am HUMAN. Hence this thread is a Support thread - not a "please dont type something I don't want to read because Im a snowflake thread" Feel free to not visit this thread at all if it offends you so much.

Of course you are free to say anything you want, so say it. Post your stats and timeline. Post what you ate per day for the past 5 days so we can see how our diets compare, to help us all be more successful.

my diet is pretty easy and does not deviate

morning: 100 calories of egg beaters with a little grated cheese.

snack: 30 gram protien shake 120 cal

lunch : tuna or chicken with Tomato 120 cal's+/- (If I am out, I usually get half a sub with no roll or dressings)

dinner : 4oz fish or chicken with a few veg - 150 cal's+/-

snack : 30 gram protien shake 120 cals

one Apple per day : 100 cals.

basically 700-800 calories per day, and rather boring.

Losing a pound a day, priceless!

Edited January 8, 2020 by Fatboyslim1
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[CapyCapybara 107]

On 01/07/2020 at 23:52, Serengirl said:

we can agree to disagree and this is a place for those who dont lose in a typical fashion I am losing slowly I NEVER said i haven't lost any weight at all but I can indeed go weeks and weeks without losing and since all of my food is premeasured by the containers i buy them in- eg. premiere shakes- i know their exact calorie counts. In fact except for having sushi maybe once a week all of my food (greek yogurt, cottage cheese, premiere shakes) comes in pre measured packets for that very reason so I CANNOT underestimate or overestimate my food amounts. So feel free to hit up another thread if you dont agree. Also please dont tell ME WHAT TO DO or not to do. Its my G-d given right to have my opinion and last i checked I live in a free country where speech is a constitutional right.... I am entitled to be frustrated and feel overwhelmed. I am HUMAN. Hence this thread is a Support thread - not a "please dont type something I don't want to read because Im a snowflake thread" Feel free to not visit this thread at all if it offends you so much.

Thank you for saying this. I saw this thread and wanted to post because I feel like I am starting out as a slow loser/ may be one. But then I saw the last page or so and was scared to...

Anyways, I am 3 weeks out and I’ve lost 5lbs. I track everything. I weigh everything. I started walking 2 miles at 4% incline at 3.5.(I’m cleared to walk 2miles) Not an oz has budge. I don’t take any medications. I do not have any health problems.

[JessLess 1,163]

I've beat every stall by INCREASING my calories and my surgeon has been very pleased with my progress, so YMMV. One person's experience may differ from another's.

[darcyjae 106]

I do also feel like a slow loser (66 lbs in 5.5 months) compared to many, but that average (~11 lbs a month) is pretty normal, according to my nutritionist. I’m comfortable with it because I feel like that pace of losing is easier on my body and skin, and being under 200# I expect it to slow even more, but still eventually get me there.

[KarenLR75 515]

42 minutes ago, Fatboyslim1 said:

basically 700-800 calories per day, and rather boring.

Losing a pound a day, priceless!

Congrats on the weight loss! You are what..roughly a 6 days past your 1 month 'surgery anniversary' date? 1 lb a day is still much faster than what I was losing in my first month and my first week my calories didn't even hit 300. My 2nd week I hit 400. I didn't reach 700-800 calories until I was 2 months out - everyone is different and my doctor has some very very strict food phases and lengths.

I actually lost more in my pre-op phase than in my 1st month post op but I lost weight and was glad. I have surgery siblings who were roughly close to my age (those who were in their 20's and 30's lost vastly more which was no surprise to me) and starting weight that lost double what I did. 1 person I knew was busting out the exercise so I knew or felt that this helped her dramatically as she was, like myself, a relentless food/intake and Water intake tracker. I have torn the meniscus on both sides of my right knee so when I took up hiking I found that once I hit 2 miles my knee balloons up and I struggle to walk for 2 days. Working with my orthos on alternatives. I was swimming before it got cold here. They are waiting for my BMI to be under 40 for a full knee replacement but I'm trying to do whatever I can to postpone that type of surgery if possible. After seeing the scans of the bone spurs and arthritis in my knee, I'm not sure how long postponing it will work in the long run.

I think it is in one of either Dr. Weiner's videos or the other guy that ppl watch on this forum (I know, so helpful with that description) who instead of looking at the initial rates of weight loss in the first 6 months and even overall in a year...and then they look @ the 2 year+ outcomes and for those that stick with their plans and work it...and exercise...the outcomes start to be very very similar. Am trying to remember though if they were talking about results from VSG vs. bypass or results from people who lose more slowly, etc. I was purposefully seeking more bariatric surgeon input on metabolic resistance and set points so I'm hoping I'm recalling the fact that their 'overall outcome' charts were addressing this.

I don't believe that for the most part that all or at least the majority on this thread think that if we dropped our calories down to let's say...300 calories a day and did NOTHING else except achieve the estimated calorie deficit that just getting up and going about your daily tasks can burn....I've read ranges from 300 to 500 or more?? (I'm NOT talking about lying in bed day and night and not moving)....that we would NOT lose weight. We know that, yes, at some point our bodies despite any metabolic issues, health issues, medication issues, setpoints, etc. WILL continue to lose weight with a large net calorie deprivation/deficit for sure. I don't know about anyone else but when my calories drop consistently below 500, I am always very dizzy. My first 2 months were spent feeling very dizzy.

[Fatboyslim1 204]

Karen - well said, but unfortunately there are people on this thread and elsewhere who constantly push the completely absurd narrative that a significant caloric deficit is not directly resultant in weight loss. It is ridiculous and quite frankly harmful to the hundreds of thousands of people who could be greatly helped by WLS but are reluctant because they read fake news.

People can rant to themselves that somehow they are not directly responsible for their failures but I take extreme exception to shouting a false narrative to the world as some BS attempt to hide their own guilt. Even worse than that is the self fulfilling prophesy cycle that the fake narrative creates.

Sorry, but I simply can't stand by silently in the face of nonsense .

As for sticking to a plan in the long term for sustained health weight, that's going to be a struggle for us all. However that has absolutely nothing to do with losing weight do to CICO.

Luck!

[Chardonnay40 153]

Hey SL's

off scale victory. I started the elliptical yesterday (after 6 yrs). My goal was 10 mins and then I would walk for 30. Well I was ABLE to do 30 mins!

[Serengirl 176]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:33 PM, summerset said:

I doubt that since all of these TDEE calculators and resting metabolism calculators neither take body fat/lean body mass ratio into the equation nor interpersonal differences aside from gender and maybe age.

For obese individuals these calculator usually spit out values that are overestimating energy expenditure since body fat to LBM ratio is usually different than in a normal weight individual.

right but Im not in a coma. I have an apple watch and they have been proven to underestimate what you burn in a day. Its not hard to calculate how many calories you burn all day long between apps and the watch. You can get a pretty accurate sense of what your full burn is for the day and per workout in addition to steps etc. My resting ,metabolic rate - if i laid down all day is around 1900 (lowballing) add in my workouts and my daily activities and its really easy to burn another 2100 ontop of the 1900. burning 3500 calories (which includes the 1900 -ish) over the course of a day is super easy especially if you aren't sitting around all day. And again, I am lowballing numbers.

[KarenLR75 515]

1 minute ago, Serengirl said:

right but Im not in a coma.

lol..you made me almost spit my coffee out through my nose!

[FluffyChix 17,415]

So look, it's an awesome esoteric notion to debate.

But here's the bottom line. Your body will only allow you to lose weight at X speed at any point in time. It's based on MANY variables and it's highly individual.

You can spew TDEE and CICO stuff out the watoosie. Seriously. And you can rationalize which side of the fence you sit upon. And argue it all day. (ty confirmation bias) But all you're doing is waste energy doing it that could be spent in a better way--like loggin your food so you ACTUALLY have data to help you see where and how you need to trim the sail.

But. And it's a big BUT! The bottom line is...if you are not consistently losing weight week in and week out--ESPECIALLY in the early days then you have a problem and it MOST LIKELY resides in how much you are eating or what the "mix" of macros is, OR WHEN or HOW OFTEN you are eating. And that is based on so many personal factors: health, medications, age, hormone status, activity, how much LBM you have to burn, the rate of your metabolism prior to surgery and how much you were eating before surgery versus now PO, allergies, metabolic flexability, etc! So. MANY. Variables!

And that is in the absence of stalls...cuz they are a real thing and last as long as they last.

We are all unique. Wonderfully so. And the average weight loss post surgery is 2-4lbs per week early on.

BUT, usually when the scale isn't moving, then the measuring tape is! So, it truly is ONLY a stall if there has been no movement of the scale or measuring tape. Some docs say it's only a stall if you meet that criterion PLUS it lasts longer than 3 weeks. Otherwise it's not a stall.

After losing almost 160lbs...I will honestly tell you, the times I "stalled"=slowed down were the times I wasn't behaving or logging my food accurately--or--OR, I was in the last 20lbs of weight loss. Those pounds were infinitely difficult to lose.

Edited January 8, 2020 by FluffyChix

[KarenLR75 515]

Serengirl - out of curiosity, as you mentioned you have set amounts/portioned out/weighed, etc. of what you eat every day so you know your caloric intake and all the macros that everything falls into....i'm only asking as I DO track what I eat but at month 6, mine is not so disciplined which I think actually would be helpful for me to do.

I do weight/measure everything as when I have 'fallen off the tracking wagon' for a week or 2, I know I have no hard concrete data to work with when I see a slow down or even more shockingly...an unexpected weight loss amount (lol..rarely happens but I get so MAD at myself for not having the data at hand to review).

I'm an analyst in my day job and am very very data driven. I did find out that I have to be careful when using apps like Fitness Pal (not for calorie burning...am talking tracking). I have this crockpot low carb/low fat shredded chicken dish that I make. I found an entry for crockpot shredded chicken that only counted the chicken...I hand calculated how much 'per serving' the other things I put in the crockpot should come out to = (i.e. salsa, a bit of low fat cream cheese, chicken broth, taco seasoning)....but recently realized that there are 2 DIFFERENT entries for Crockpot shredded chicken) and the calorie difference when I selected one over the other...with BOTH of them tracking by ounces..and I WEIGH all my servings...bottom line is based on what I logged I thought I was at 800 or less per day but on days where I chose the wrong entry.....if I had chosen correct one, I was hitting 900 to 950.

What I have to do now is I'm going to enter my entire recipe in my fitness pal so I can account for all ingredients per serving in ONE entry instead of the 4 I'm doing now. I'm mainly mentioning this as something maybe to check for others who may be logging dutifully in my fitness pal to be careful about using 'canned' entries for some things.

I've also noticed 2 other things that slow my weight loss that are in my control...not getting enough Water EVERY day...in my twisted mind I have adopted the thought that 'if I only hit 48 ounces yesterday, but I drink almost 90 ounces today'...then I'm good. Well, am pretty sure that is not how it works...just old habits kicking in. I think I read that you drink PLENTY of water though....just mentioning in case it helps others.

OH - another bad habit I've brought back into my life about 50% of the time (WAY too much) is I eat so little calories in the AM...that I am still 'calorie heavy' in the PM which I know is not good/ideal.

The other BIG issue for me is...well..constipation. Er....um...ok..embarrassing..but when I have a BM and it is a few hard 'nuggets' if you will...I can feel in my gut...literally....that there is still more that needs to come out. I am HORRENDOUS at getting Fiber in and I need to supplement AS well as plan for getting more natural fiber into my body.

Just some things that came to mind.........

[summerset 5,265]

30 minutes ago, Serengirl said:

right but Im not in a coma.

This has nothing to do with "being in a coma" or not. Do you e. g. know how much LBM you have compared to fat mass?

Quote

My resting ,metabolic rate - if i laid down all day is around 1900 (lowballing)

"...balling". That's the important word here.

Quote

Its not hard to calculate how many calories you burn all day long between apps and the watch. You can get a pretty accurate sense of what your full burn is for the day and per workout in addition to steps etc.

There is no way to really calculate how many calories your body needs in a day. All of these supposed calculations are really estimations.

If you're not losing weight at the rate you're expecting to lose it's because your body is

1) not in a high enough energy deficit and that's that.

2) not a machine but a living organism.

[KarenLR75 515]

On 1/4/2020 at 9:34 PM, Serengirl said:

I think the holiday were tough for most but for the first time in my life I ended them down in weight vs up so I consider that a huge success

@Serengirl - by the way, CONGRATS on this!!! I went on a Christmas cruise....and on some days I stuck to my plan and on a few, I did not..just being honest.

I was terrified when I got back that the scale would show at least a minimum 5 lb gain but more likely 10 lbs...my ankles and calves were so swollen, I think there must have been way too much sodium in the foods I was eating.

What I didn't factor in though is the WALKING! ALL OF THE WALKING! Whether down the long boat ramp, back and forth across the ship (on purpose and sometimes on accident when I got lost..lol)...getting to excursions, going on mainly snorkeling excursions and I am a very very active swimmer despite my weight so I was not slowly snorkeling along...I was on hyperspeed!. Ended up walking almost 4 miles each day at least....only reason my knee held up when it cannot hold up past 2.3 to 2.5 miles when hiking is because the walking was divided out across the entire day AND night (yes, we stayed up late..lol).

I came back to a total of a 1 pound gain and within 2 days, that was gone. This has been so unlike my annual holiday gain of at least 10 lbs EVERY SINGLE year for the past decade or more (Thanksgiving, Xmas and New Year's). If I had not been on the cruise or RATHER, if I had stuck just even a tiny bit more to my plan (not like there is not enough variety on the ship to be able to do so), I would have come back to a loss but I'm not getting to fret over it.

I'm taking the 'win' of just the change of being ABLE to do all of the activity I did! I would NOT have been able to do it without the weight I lost before and after surgery. Even if I go down to only losing 5 lbs a month...I would NOT trade what I've done for anything...and as I find new ways to be active that don't blow up my knee, I plan on aiming for 7-8 lbs a month...but doing what others have said and watching for the non scale victories.

[KarenLR75 515]

OK, I feel compelled to be honest....I did try drinking on the cruise...and honestly..it gave me no issues (pouch-wise, i mean)..however in hindsight..and I had determined this by day 3 or 4 of the 7 day cruise, it just doesn't do anything for me that makes it worth the calories.

No soda means no 'keto/low carb' drinks with just diet coke. Honestly, not a big deal in my mind to eliminate soda from my life anyways - never was a huge soda drinker.

I DID try drinks that had VERY high calories as they were mainly fruit juice based (Hurricanes, Rum Punch). HONESTLY, NOT WORTH IT for me. If I had not done this, I feel I likely would have shown a weight loss when I got back. Not interested in switching addictions around...no plans to go back to even my..what was maybe a once monthly drink or glass of wine.

All I generally felt in the end when I drank was feeling tired, draggy...and a bit disappointed that I had had the drink..I'm sure my blood sugar had to be through the roof (no am not diabetic but am not interested in retaining anything that is high in sugar in my life so this includes 'fruity drinks').

In the end, I got more of a "buzz" out of being able to WALK! To fit in ONE AIRPLANE SEAT! NOT NEEDING A SEATBELT EXTENDER!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited January 8, 2020 by KarenLR75

[JB1 37]

Great Thread. Appreciate the insight and feedback from y'all. IMHO, I dont think my program is all that great because the Nut only provides general guidelines and no specific goals for Water, Protein, etc. Im an analyst and need data to make things make sense trackable, and for me to be accountable.

I was sleeved 12/23 and at 3 weeks out am down a total of 11lbs. (Post surgery I gained 7lbs in fluid). I have 2 p shakes a day, 1-2 17oz protein water drinks a day, plain water in between those and a tiny meat and veggie meal for dinner. What are your programs or your guides for getting in the protein, water and losing weight? Am I supposed to have carbs or stay strictly ketone so my body burns fat and lose weight? Sorry for the long post but feel like I'm floundering most days. Thanks.