3 years out and can't lose a pound.

[TheresAGround 4]

I had surgery years ago and lost a good amount of weight and then totally fell off the wagon. I've gained weight back, but not a whole lot. I'm trying to get down to my goal weight now, but i'm losing nothing. I can't lose a pound to save my life. i'm sticking to the high Protein diet that i was suppose to have followed post surgery. cut out all junk and processed foods. not snacking. i just can't lose anything at all.

I've been told two different things...

first is that the surgery may have ruined my metabolism. i find that hard to believe, but i've been told it a few times.

and

that i'm eating to few calories. if this is the case and i need to up my cals, i would be eating all day long to get up to where people say i should be around 1800 cals a day.

i don't know what to do at this point. i'm eating right and not losing a thing and its discouraging. has anyone tried to lose weight again years after their surgery and if so, did you have issues?

[catwoman7 11,215]

sounds like you might need to CUT calories, not increase them. How many are you eating in an average day now? I can maintain on 1500-1700 a day - but some people maintain on less than that - some even on 1000-1200. That range is going to be different for everyone. Start logging your food in an online tracker and after a week or two see what your average is. Then cut it by like 100 calories for a couple of weeks. If that's still not doing it, cut another 100. Rinse and repeat. You'll eventually find the spot where you're starting to lose weight again.

p.s. There are definitely people who can maintain on 1800 calories, but that is pretty high. Even my 1500-1700 range is on the higher end for bariatric patients - a lot of people can't eat that many and maintain, unfortunately.

[catwoman7 11,215]

P.S. it does get way harder to lose the farther out you are, but people do it, so it can be done...

[TheresAGround 4]

I don't track everyday, because I tend to eat the same thing almost everyday, but i'm in between 1250 and 1500.

will try cutting a calories where i can. i know one place to start is my nuts. i have some almonds every day and I know those are calorie packed, so I will start cutting those back for sure and see what happens.

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

@TheresAGround please update your profile. Give an example of what you eat in a day - Protein, carbs, etc.

And intermittent fasting might be valuable to get the scale moving, it's slower but moving.

[ms.sss 15,664]

9 hours ago, TheresAGround said:

I don't track everyday, because I tend to eat the same thing almost everyday, but i'm in between 1250 and 1500.

Depending on how tall you are and much you weigh right now, 1200-1500 cals may be your maintenance calories (and could be why you are not losing weight)....

[catwoman7 11,215]

2 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

Depending on how tall you are and much you weigh right now, 1200-1500 cals may be your maintenance calories (and could be why you are not losing weight)....

I agree. There are a lot of women for whom 1200-1500 is their maintenance level. In fact, that seems to be pretty common...

[Wickedwinner 140]

There are scales you can buy that will tell you approximately what your “maintenance” calories are, or your dr office should be able to tell you. For instance, I’m 5’8 and mine is 1530. I never eat that many calories and still have 16 pounds to my goal weight. My surgery was 13 months ago. I average 1200 calories a day and I lose about 2 pounds every 3-4 weeks. The weight loss has tapered off, but I’ve never gained.


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[AZhiker 2,252]

You can also try some tricks like:

Front loading your daily calories - eat the most early in the day, have a lighter supper, and nothing after 6 pm.

Add more raw veggies - celery, peppers, jicama, radishes, some carrot slices, cauliflower, broccoli - I make up bags of these colorful little friends and eat a pound every day.

Eat a salad or Soup before each meal. Preloading with less caloric, healthy filler food cuts down on overall calories.

Drink 2 cups of cold Water half an hour before eating.

Intermittent Fasting (IF) - eat your calories in a pre-timed window each day ( 6, 8, or 10 hours).

Exercise. Exercise does not cause much actual weight loss, but it can increase your metabolism and build lean muscle mass which has a much higher metabolic rate than fat. Exercising during a fasting state (before breakfast) is even more effective for fat burning, as the muscle glycogen is already used up, which forces the body into fat burning mode.

Make sure you are getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night.

Change up your meals. Maybe you need more variety. Really take a hard look at what you are eating - is each bite nutritionally dense? Can you switch out some foods for some legumes, a few nuts, more veggies? Look at your dairy, especially cheese. If you are eating basically the same thing every day, it is obviously not working for you.

Are you getting at least 64 oz of water each day?

Stop snacking. Each time you eat, you get an insulin burst which drives calories into fat storage, rather than fat burning.

Just some ideas to try. Each one of these tips is backed by evidence based research.