I need help! (plateau breakers)

[myturn0421 0]

What are some of your ideas to help break a plateau?

I have been going back and forth between 224-228 for three months now, I don't know what else to do. I got a fill, lost down to 224 (again) then went back up to 228. I'll lose 0.4 one week, then gain 0.6 then next. I have changed up my exercise some. I just don't know.

Breakfast: 1 egg scrambled, sometimes a piece of bacon and a cup of hot tea

snack: small V8 (5.5 oz)

Lunch: most of the time a Lean Cuisine or something like that.

Snack: a yogurt or sugar free fruit cup

Dinner: isn't always then best, but my serving is around 1 cup. (last night was 1/2 hamburger patty with pickles and 1 slice of whole wheat bread toasted [my 'bun'], night before was about a cup of hambuger helper)

Late night snack if I need it: 1 cup of 1% milk

I drink about 40 oz of Water day, I'm trying to get more in.

Sorry this post is long, I'm just frustrated.:thumbdown:

Edited June 12, 2009 by myturn0421

[annjones 3]

Oh I am so with you right now. I've been teatering between 250 and 246 for, it seems like, forever.

I just got a fill (.5cc) yesterday and I feel restriction. I've heard that the 5 day pouch test works. There is also a Protein Train that is suppose to work.

Drink lots of Water - that I've heard help. Good Luck!

5 Day Pouch Test

Days 1 & 2: liquid Protein

Low-carb Protein shakes, broth, clear or cream Soups, sugar-free Gelatin and pudding.

The first two days are all liquids. You can have as many low-carb Protein Shakes as you like to satisfy hunger or cravings. In addition drink at least six 8-ounce glasses of Water each day. The purpose of all liquids is to break any snacking, grazing or processed carbohydrate habits. In addition the liquids will work to cleanse your system and prepare you for the following three days.

Try to reduce your caffeine intake as well, but do not stop caffeine cold turkey or you will feel sick and frustrated potentially losing the desire to continue with the pouch test.

It is very important to drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water each day. This will prevent dehydration, will help curb cravings and will flush your body of toxins and fat. Sufficient water intake improves kidney function and cell processes.

If you notice symptoms of carbohydrate withdrawal you can eat a small piece of melon or an orange. You can also try a dose of Emergen-C which should reduce headache, dizziness or cramping from carbohydrate withdrawal.

Feed the Carb Monster: recipes for Days 1 & 2

Feeling nauseated? Try sipping some freshly brewed warm green tea. You can add fresh ginger juice to further ease the symptoms of stomach distress and nausea. The nauesea may be the result of a switch from carbohydrate slider foods to richer Proteins and the ingredients in the Protein shakes.

When we fought to get the surgery we were personally empowered. We had to be, there aren't many advocates out there fighting on the behalf of the morbidly obese.

Yet somehow, if we get to comfortable in our post weight loss surgery life there is a tendency to lose that hell-bent determination. Perhaps we take it for granted. Maybe we just get bored or distracted. Maybe we get discouraged because life after surgery has not been without struggle. Any of these things can cause us to lose hope or feel like failures. I have gone through periods of sadness and suffered feelings of failure since my weight loss surgery. Don't we all? This despair only festers if we regain some weight or sit on a plateau for an extended length of time.

But just like we can work a plan to test the pouch and get back on track, we can mentally train our mind to get back to being hell-bent determined to take personal control of our health. LivingAfterWLS is here to champion you in the cause, we are advocates who believe you deserve to be healthy, you deserve to be kind to yourself and you deserve to achieve the greatest level of success with weight loss surgery when you harness your inner resources.

Day 3: Soft Proteins

The next three days you get to eat as much as you want as often as you want! Ahhh, but there's a catch: it has to be solid protein and you only get 15 minutes each time you sit down to eat. No drinking 30 minutes before or after meals and no drinking with your food. A dry pouch will hold your soft protein longer helping your to feel full and fed longer.

Protein Recommendations: canned fish (tuna or salmon) mixed with lemon and seasoned with salt and pepper, eggs cooked as desired seasoned with salt pepper and/or salsa, fresh soft fish (tilapia, sole, orange roughy), baked or grilled, and lightly seasoned.

This starts your program with "soft" protein. Measure your portion (1 cup volume or 4-6 ounces weight) and eat only until you feel full, not overfull. Remember, no water for 30 minutes before or after you meal, and no fluids with your meal. We are going back to the beginning and fluids will prevent you from feeling the pouch. If you need to add a moist condiment ( Miracle Whip or mayonnaise) to the canned fish I understand, but keep it to a minimum so the meat is not too moist. One reason we lose the sense of tightness in our pouch is that we eat "slider foods" - foods that are too moist and do not stay in the pouch very long, they slide right through the stoma.

Cottage cheese is a good protein to include on Day 3. It sometimes is considered a slider food, but to firm it up a bit add a chopped hard cooked egg.

Slider foods are foods that slide right through the pouch. Popular slider foods are graham crackers, pretzels, popcorn, milk shakes, cheese nips, mashed potatoes, ice cream/yogurt, etc.

Day 4: Firm Protein

Protein Recommendations: ground meat (beef, turkey, lamb) cooked dry and lightly seasoned, shellfish, scallops, lobster steamed and seasoned only with lemon, salmon or halibut steaks, grilled and lightly seasoned.

By now you should be experiencing that familiar tightness that will reassure you that your pouch is working. Remember to drink plenty of water between meals. Take some time to meditate and rediscover the wonder of your pouch. Often we don't like that uncomfortable tightness of the pouch, which is why we gradually move toward slider foods that don't make us uncomfortable. It is always my preference to eat moist protein so I don't get uncomfortable, but doing so allows me to consume more than I should. Rediscovering the pouch with this 5-day plan reminds me of how the tool really works. I hope by now you are rediscovering your tool and enjoying the hope and excitement because your pouch still works.

There are two things I know about human nature.

First, nobody ever wakes up and declares, "Today is the day I will relax my enthusiasm and get off track."

Second, nobody ever wakes up and gets back on track without first saying, "Today is the day I get back on track and I have a plan." Falling off track happens without a plan or script. Getting back on track requires a conscious decision, a carefully designed plan and the determination to make it happen.

Why do we fall off track? There are hundreds of reasons: stress, complacency, happiness, grief, celebrations, devastations, distractions and reactions. Nobody wants to fall of track, but life is full of twists and turns that disrupt our focus. It makes me sad when people talk about shame and failure when they have left the weight loss surgery track for a myriad of reasons. This is not a cause for shame or failure, this is a fact of humanity and indeed of living. But human nature is also resilient and powerful. We have the ability to recover from set backs time and time again.

While you are doing the 5 Day Pouch Test I encourage you to create an inner storm of enthusiasm and hope and energy. Go back to those pre-op and early post-op days and live that moment over again. Read motivational articles and visit the Neighborhood forum.

Talk to pre-ops and newbies. Look at your before and after pictures. You can go back and you can use this surgical tool to lose weight, become healthier and feel good about yourself.

Day 5: Solid Protein

Protein Recommendations: white meat poultry cooked dry and lightly seasoned, beef steak (if tolerated) grilled or broiled.

Remember to chew chew chew. Measure your portion (4-6 ounces) and eat only until you feel your pouch tighten. Remember, only 15 minutes per meal, so you'll have to work fast to chew your food completely. By now you should be out of any carb cycle you were in and perhaps you have lost a pound or two. You will have new confidence in your pouch and your ability to work the tool for your health and emotional well being.

Don't go hungry! Remember, you can eat as often as you want as long as it is solid protein, consumed without liquids and measured in 4-6 ounce portions.

[lola0806 0]

I had a similar problem too, I would fluctuate between a few pounds. I actually started using sparkpeople.com and according to this website I was not getting in enough calories. I increased my calories and I've been losing at about 2 lbs a week for the past 6 weeks. You might not be eating enough and your body is trying to tell you something.

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

There's a couple of things you might try changing to see if it makes a difference.

First, try freshly prepared foods instead of Lean Cuisine or Hamburger Helper. HH, in particular, has a pretty high load of sodium which isn't good for you and helps you to retain Water (like you need help with that, right??).

Trye writing down EVERY BITE you put in your mouth for a week. I think you might be as surprised as I was ... the couple of crackers I didn't think about added up to more than 100 calories a week; the spoonful of nuts in the late afternoon was more than 300 calories a week; the "smidge" of extra this or that, added up to as much as 200 calories in a week. Look even at the calories in Crystal Light and other flavored waters. Those little "stick" packets say to mix the contents of the package with about 16 oz. of Water BUT if you read the nutritional panel, a serving is ONE-HALF A PACKET so that 1 packet is 10 calories, not 5. Some people drink several of them a day because they don't like water very much. That adds up to more than 100 calories a week if you're drinking them steadily. Pretty soon you've got 1000 calories which is an extra day's worth of calories. It's the little things. I have a friend who was hooked on those Vitamin Water drink bottles -- until she realized that one bottle had more than 50 calories. She was focusing on the Vitamins but realized she was taking in more than 1000 calories extra a week JUST with those waters.

Try doing a different exercise. If you're going to the gym and working out on elliptical or whatever, try a few days of circuit training. If you're walking every day, try swimming every day We tend to settle into a comfortable rut and eat the same few selections of food, do the same exercise....shake it up!

And, let us know if it makes a difference.

[myturn0421 0]

Thank you so much for the comments - they all make sense.

I am really begining to think I'm not eating enough. I keep track off and on with sparkpeople too and going over the past few weeks I realized I'm not accurate. I'll log a 350 cal Lean Cuisine but I only ate half of it. There are days I stayed in my 1000-1250 cal range, but I probably only ate 2/3 of everything.

Thank you so much, sometimes you just need to hear things you already know, but from someone else.:thumbdown:

[CapitolChick 1]

Breakfast: 1 egg scrambled, sometimes a piece of bacon and a cup of hot tea

snack: small V8 (5.5 oz)

Lunch: most of the time a Lean Cuisine or something like that.

Snack: a yogurt or sugar free fruit cup

Dinner: isn't always then best, but my serving is around 1 cup. (last night was 1/2 hamburger patty with pickles and 1 slice of whole wheat bread toasted [my 'bun'], night before was about a cup of hambuger helper)

Late night snack if I need it: 1 cup of 1% milk

I drink about 40 oz of Water day, I'm trying to get more in.

Something that struck me reading your post (aside from the level of sodium), is your menu has a lot of slider foods in it which will not make you feel full and you may nibble more calories here and there.

For example: v8, yogurt, fruit cup. milk for a late night snack

Just something to evaluate.

also, it takes 3500 calories to make up 1 pound (apx)

so if you nail down a more solid food menu and are feeling full you could reduce your calories by 500 a day wich would be 1 pound a week wtloss.

There has got to be other calories your eating somewhere..or maybe you aren't eating enough?? which could put your bod in starvation mode.

did you tell us your fill level? are you happy with that?

[Alice0592 0]

I have been doing the exact same thing I am going between 211-209 I want the scale to move.I am having problems eating good food I tend to move toward sliders.HELP

[WyominGirl 1]

I have had success doing a week of low sodium to break through but it is REALLY hard to stick with!

A friend (not banded) is working with a trainer who has her do this before a weigh in (we are having a local BL competition).

Two meals of greens only.

One meal of a FRESHWATER fish.

I added a lower sodium Protein drink to reach my Protein goals each day...it's not for the faint of heart...just a warning! :tongue_smilie:)

[myturn0421 0]

did you tell us your fill level? are you happy with that?

I am at 5.5 in a 10 cc band. I'm happy with my level, I feel good restriction right now. I finally have the "full" feeling when I eat.

Thank you for all the suggestions! I really need to go home, evaluate what's in the fridge and pantry, then go to the store.