I'm about 10 days out from surgery, and I'm wondering if eating too little can cause no weight loss?   I had surgery on Tuesday May 22nd and then visited my doctor on Friday, May 25th before returning to Minnesota.  I lost 7 lbs in those three days, however, since being at home, I haven't lost anything at all.  I'm trying to get in my water and protien, but i'm finding it difficult, especially being back to work and the stress of my boss wanting a project completed two days ago.

Since I'm on full liquids for 2 more weeks, i'm living mainly on beef broth and cream of chicken soup. and I'm trying to drink my Slim Fast shakes but they don't settle with my sleeve these days, so I still haven't gotten one bottle down during the day.  I'm just not hungry - I usually discover that I need to eat when I get a little shakey and then realize what time it is.

Any suggestions to kick-start the weight loss?

Thanks,

Jane

Its your first stall.  Mine hit around the same time. Thought I was going to LOSE MY MIND!  It lasted almost 2 weeks. Your body is just adjusting.  I thought I was going to be the only person that didn't lose weight after surgery. Just keep doing what you are doing, but try to remember to eat a little something every few hours. I know its hard but its important. You need to heal and nourish yourself.  If you are getting shaky, you are waiting way too long to put some food in your system. I'm thinking the Slim Fast shakes are probably not your best bet when it comes to protein shakes.  Keep your fluids up too.  I promise the stall will pass when your body is ready to let it go.  You can't hurry it along at this point.

Gotta eat more.  Eat, eat, eat.  soup, yougurt, jello, juice, sugar free stuff though.  You will lose.

The first thing that jumped out at me is the Slim-fast shakes. Which ones are you using? Honestly, most of the ones I've seen are way too high in carbs and low in protein to be helpful for us (if you could post the nutrition info for the one you're using, we could tell you for sure).

My go-to for protein, especially early out, was the Premier premixed shakes. They are available at Sam's and Costco and have 30 grams of protein and only 5 carbs (or something like that).

Having said that, anything thicker like a protein drink is going to take longer to get down at your stage in the game. By then it was taking me about an hour and a half to drink a 11oz protein drink. Now I can get it down in about 30 minutes.

A few other things to keep in mind:

1) which scale did you weigh on to know you lost 7 pounds? If it's not the same one you're using now, they may not weighing exactly the same, so you may have actually lost a little more.

2) Your body has just been through major surgery and needs time to heal. You're still swollen (whether you feel like you are or not... your tummy is still swollen and will be for a while).

3) Make sure you are getting in all of your liquids, especially if soup is one of your go-to foods. Soups are notoriously high in sodium, which could be making you retain fluid. The only way to fix that is to take out the soup or to drink more fluid to flush out the sodium.

One more thing... I started my "three week stall" as everyone here calls it when I was exactly two weeks out. Yours may have just come extremely early. If that's the case, it's normal, and will pass. You just need to keep moving forward and meeting your goals for the day, and the scale will eventually behave again.

Hope that helps!

I was wondering how you were doing.  Your stomach is still swollen and needs to heal more.  I got so sick of chicken and beef broth.  I stayed on clear liquids for 2 weeks. The cream of chicken and slim fast might still be too heavy. One day my husband made some homemade pinto beans and I drank a couple oz's of just the warm juice and that helped. just hang in there, everyday will get easier.

 
Just make sure your fluids are up (64oz.) and as much protein drinks as you can tolerate.

The calorie part doesn't much matter quite yet.... 300 is fine that early out....

frisco

 I would stop with the slim fast shakes, they have way too many carbs. I would also stop,with the cream of chicken soup and stick with the broth only soups. You can also eat sugar free jello and sugar free Popsicles. You need to get more protein in, I would find a protein shake that you like, not slim fast.  Right now you solely need to focus on your fluid intake, I wouldn't worry so much about calories right now. For me, making sure that I get all my fluids everyday is the key to my weight 
loss. 

Slimfast shake is a no no thats not good for you I was told by my nut before I had surgery dont drink it it dont help and just made me more hungry

Creamed soups are great this stage, are you using enriched milk?  Have you tried Isopure protein?  I would definately not do the slim fast drinks as others have said.

As Frisco said, you shouldn't be worrying about calories right now!

I cannot believe you went back to work that quickly... aren't you tired..  Are you getting at least 60 grams of protein... You should try another shake if you dont like the Slim Fast.  I had surgery 2 weeks ago and I am not allowed to go back to wor****il 2 weeks from now when I am eating my post op diet and am able to plan meals to take with me to work.  Be careful here... you need to find a way to get that protein in and plenty of liquids.  Take care... sorry you are not doing so well.

Take your measurements, bet your losing inches...

My best,

Pattie

Slimfast does make a high protein Low Carb drink...20 grams of protein and 2 "net" Carbs for the vanilla cream - the calories are 180.
I have never tried them - but the numbers look right IF that is the Slimfast you have.
You will snap out of the stall, don't worry about that. I had my first stall at 6 months and it lasted a month. Take measurments as you may still be losing inches, just not pounds.

Good luck!

Jason

I'm using the high protein/low carb Slim-Fast with 20 g protein per shake.  My doctor uses these for the 2 week pre-op diet as well and that's the only protein shake I have found that I could tolerate.   Maybe I will try thinning it down a little.  I also thin out the cream of chicken soup about 3 to 1 with chicken broth so it is alot thinner than you would normally eat it.

  My doctor also allows ONLY liquids for 21 days - no jello, pudding, yogurt, mashed potatoes, or cream cereals - those are too thick at this stage.

Thanks for all your encouragement and advice.   I'll keep plugging away and pay more attention to my water intake and protein.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jane