How much weight is normal to lose in your 8th moth after a sleeve surgery?

[Analy 1]

Hi friends!

I am 8th month after sleeve surgery and I am not really happy about how much weight I lose now :( what is normal to lose in the 8th month and up? I know we all different just want some advice please 🙏

[Stalled 32]

By the 8th month after my surgery, my weight loss drastically decreased. I would lose maybe 1-3 pounds each month after that, and sometimes I would gain weight. This isn't what is supposed to happen, yes the rate of weight loss is expected to lessen, but it isn't meant to stop altogether. I would encourage you to reevaluate what you are doing and see if you can do more or need to change something. You can also consult your surgeon to see what they suggest (new diet, more exercise, etc).

Additionally, If you would like support on your journey, I am putting together a small intimate online support group between bariatricpal members. I hope the encouragement and accountability found in this group will help us reach our weight loss goals. Let me know if you're interested

[Analy 1]

Thanks for your advice 🙏 yes I am interesting about it, can you please send me the information about that group 😀

[Arabesque 7,240]

The closer to your goal weight the more slowly you’ll lose. That’s because your portion sizes & therefore your caloric intake has been increasing & getting closer to that point of equilibrium. That is the number of calories you’re consuming is equal to or almost equal to what your body needs to function. That’s how we maintain our weight. Eat more calories than your body needs you’ll gain. Eat fewer, you’ll lose.

Not sure how much more you want to lose but you will continue to lose more & more slowly as you progress. Unfortunately we don’t keep losing at that same rate as we did in those first couple of heady & exciting months.

Stalls happen all through your weight loss @Stalled. Your body just gets stressed & decides it needs to take a breath & recover (shut the door, pull the covers over its head). The longest, & most frustrating, stall I had was just before I reached my goal. It was just there! I didn’t lose a gram for 2 1/2 weeks.

[Stalled 32]

13 minutes ago, Arabesque said:

The closer to your goal weight the more slowly you’ll lose. That’s because your portion sizes & therefore your caloric intake has been increasing & getting closer to that point of equilibrium. That is the number of calories you’re consuming is equal to or almost equal to what your body needs to function. That’s how we maintain our weight. Eat more calories than your body needs you’ll gain. Eat fewer, you’ll lose.

Not sure how much more you want to lose but you will continue to lose more & more slowly as you progress. Unfortunately we don’t keep losing at that same rate as we did in those first couple of heady & exciting months.

Stalls happen all through your weight loss @Stalled. Your body just gets stressed & decides it needs to take a breath & recover (shut the door, pull the covers over its head). The longest, & most frustrating, stall I had was just before I reached my goal. It was just there! I didn’t lose a gram for 2 1/2 weeks.

@Arabesque that's a great point about stress. I actually study and research stress physiology for a living (if you call the stipend we get as graduate students a living), particularly stress hormones (glucocorticoids) and in particular CRH, ACTH, and Cortisol. All of these hormones have a huge influence on metabolism and are actually activated to start gluconeogenesis (formation of glucose from stored tissue) when your body goes into starvation mode. Because of the surgery and the limited diet, your body produces more cortisol which burns more fat. When that state is maintained the cortisol and glucocorticoid receptors actually get acclimated and can become desensitized, which is one reason why the weight loss decreases.

I stalled for nearly 3 years now and have gained weight. But I'm glad your weight loss journey has been smoother and your stall was so short

[sleeveinthecity 18]

I’m in my 8 month now and have lost 6lbs this month - definitely slowing (I’m about 2lbs off goal) :)

[Tony B - NJ 642]

7 hours ago, sleeveinthecity said:

I’m in my 8 month now and have lost 6lbs this month - definitely slowing (I’m about 2lbs off goal)

How much exercise are you getting? That seems just a bit low.

[sleeveinthecity 18]

On 08/27/2021 at 01:09, Tony B - NJ said:

How much exercise are you getting? That seems just a bit low.

I workout fairly hard 3x a week and walk other days. What seems low?

[Tony B - NJ 642]

3 minutes ago, sleeveinthecity said:

I workout fairly hard 3x a week and walk other days. What seems low?

6 pounds a month seems a little slow, but I am not well versed. i am comparing to other posts I have seen.

[sleeveinthecity 18]

On 08/27/2021 at 05:28, Tony B - NJ said:

6 pounds a month seems a little slow, but I am not well versed. i am comparing to other posts I have seen.

Oh right yes it is this is the 8 month loss though so it’s slowing as I’m closer to goal. I was around 13-17lbs most months until the last month or two :)

[Tony B - NJ 642]

4 minutes ago, sleeveinthecity said:

Oh right yes it is this is the 8 month loss though so it’s slowing as I’m closer to goal. I was around 13-17lbs most months until the last month or two

Got it. 13-17 would be great for me

[ms.sss 15,581]

oopsies double post

Edited August 28, 2021 by ms.sss

[ms.sss 15,581]

On 8/25/2021 at 5:04 PM, Analy said:

Hi friends!

I am 8th month after sleeve surgery and I am not really happy about how much weight I lose now what is normal to lose in the 8th month and up? I know we all different just want some advice please 🙏

First: Yes, we are all different.

Second: looking solely (and comparing to others) at TOTAL weight loss at a certain point in time (i.e, at the 8th month mark), does not give the REAL picture of weight loss rate. It doesn't take into account a persons current weight, height, how close they are to goal, etc. Your 2lb weight loss in month eight could actually be statistically "better" than your 15lb weight loss in month 1, depending on what your current weight is, and how close you are to goal or baseline.

***

I'm about to get into MATH MODE, so for those whose eyes glaze over at numbers and formulas, the gist is the following, and you can skip the rest, lol:

To attain a more telling view of your rate of weight loss, look at weight loss as a percentage of excess weight lost during period x, instead of total weight lost.

***

Now for those of you who stuck around to read my schpiel, here goes:

Assumption: BMI 25 used as the baseline for goal and calculation of excess weight. I understand that using BMI as baseline is inherently flawed, as it doesn't take into account an individual's biological makeup like muscle mass, bone density, etc, etc., but its the best we can do at an elementary level. I mean, really, not all of us have calipers or full body scanners in our basements, lol.

To calculate rate of excess weight lost (rLoss) for a specified period:

total_weight_lost_during_time_period / excess_weight_at_start_of_time_period

notated as....

rLoss = ( x0 - x1 ) / ( x0 - G )

Where:
G = weight at BMI 25 for one's height.
x0 = weight at start of monitoring period
x1 = weight at end of monitoring period

Using my own numbers as an example, at 5'2", my BMI 25 weight is 135.

Month 1 (m1):

• 223 : weight at beginning of m1,
• 201 : weight at end of m1
• 25% : excess weight loss rate, calculated as: rLoss = ( 223 - 201 ) / ( 223 - 135 )

Month 6 (m6):

• 138 : weight at beginning of m6,
• 129 : weight at end of m6
• 300% : excess weight loss rate, calculated as: rLoss = ( 138 - 129 ) / ( 138 - 135 )

So really, in m6, although i lost less than 1/2 the total weight I lost in m1, i actually did much, much better (statistically) as I was much smaller in m6.

Now fast forward to Month 8, the month you are specifically asking about. I was below BMI 25 by this point so this formula would not apply since my excess weight was zero (I was 119). Despite this, by the end of the 8th month, I lost 2 lbs.

So yeah, the weight loss seems to have slowed down quite a bit if you only look at TOTAL weight lost (2 lbs vs the 22 in m1), but when you look at the lbs loss as compared to my actual body weight at the time, it was statistically a waaaaaaaay better rate.

Ta-da!

MATH, y'all.

P.S. I was 116 this morning.

P.P.S. Sorry this was so long.

Edited August 28, 2021 by ms.sss