weight loss post op

I understand that it is common to not lose weight right off the bat after surgery.  I understand there's a level of inflammation, swelling, and water that was IV'd into you at the surgery.  But 2 weeks out...I just don't understand WHY the weight doesn't fly off?  I'm eating so few calories, and certainly the water from the surgery + the swelling is gone.  I'm not depressed or mad, just curious!  What dynamics make it such that I've lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks - when I'm eating so little?  It just doesn't add up to me.  I'm sure things will kick in, or maybe some people just lose more slowly.  But before the surgery I lost 8 pounds in a week on the pre-op diet - and I was eating way more than I'm eating now!  But now that I'm on liquids and taking is so many fewer calories...why wouldn't weight just drop off?  Anyone got an answer?  

I don't need encouragement.  I realize 5 pounds is still 5 pounds.  I am not discouraged.  I have a curiosity about why this phenomenon seems to exist.  

Thanks!

Redmond

Hi,  Congratulations on your sleeve. 

I think the whole issue of weight on the scale is that we want a way to measure the fat burned in our bodies as we diet, and the scale is our most common tool.  However, weight is affected by so many things other than the amount of fat burned.  It is abou****er retention due to diet, due to hormones, due to carb consumption, due to any number of factors.  Over the long run, the scale is a good measure of the amount of excess fat in our bodies, but in the short-run it isn't. 

My hubby who is an engineer, tells me that weight reading from the scale is a "noisy signal,"  something common in engineering.  He suggested computing a running average - I set up a spread sheet that computed the average weight over the past 5 days, and also the median weight over the past 5 days.  Although my weight went up and down on a daily basis, the average and median were consistently falling while I was in weight loss mode. 

You have to realize that:  assuming you are burning 2,000 calories a day, You would lose 4 pounds in a week if you ate NOTHING.  Guessing your pre-op diet was about 1,000 calories a day, you'd lose about 2 pounds.  So the fact that the scale went down by 8 pounds is great, but is not an accurate measure of fat burned.  Now depending how heavy you are, and what your metabolism is like, you may be burning more than 2000 calories a day,  but probably not more than double that.

My point is, don't put too much energy into the number on the scale.  Watch the long-term trends.  I drove myself crazy with the scale weight while I was in weight loss mode, and looking back, my view is so different.  I lost 225 pounds in 18 months.  That is AMAZING.  But my experience was often frustration  because I was watching the daily numbers on the scale rather than seeing the big picture.

Congratulations on your weight loss surgery.  I think you'll be very happy with the results in the long run.

Carol

Love, love, love this reply!! Best explanation I have EVER seen!!

Really great answer.

Just as weight doesn't "fly on," it will not "fly off."

Right - I totally get that.  However it IS weird that in the pre-op diet it's possible for it to literally 'fly off' as it has twice for me (this is my second surgery.)  One week on that diet and I have lost 8-10 pounds each time.  I agree with all the points above, and I get that it's kind of a complex mystery at best how and when weight comes off.  It is just still curious to me why it's so easy to lose in the pre-op diet, yet weight comes off so slowly these first few weeks.  I guess maybe surgery does something metabolically as well, that is hard to quantify. I've also heard that when calories are drastically reduced your body can begin to think it needs to hoard fat (which is part of that potential metabolic piece of the puzzle.)

Who knows.  I'm not obsessed with the scale, nor do I get depressed when things move too slow.  I just wi**** made a little more 'sense' to me.  It's pretty funny to me sometimes....I lose 10 pounds in a week in a total breeze prior to surgery.  Then it takes a month to lose 5 pounds after the surgery.  Just such an oxymoron.  

In the long run the weight comes off which is what matters, for sure.  I just long for 'logic' and there probably is none.  

:)

Redmond

Sometimes the change won't show on the scale, but in measurements, or how something fits.

Hi, I'm going through the same thing I had my surgery on 11/7/16, and lost 10 pounds in 1.5 wks post-op and then I had a stall for 21 days before I started to lose again. It was very frustrating for me, but I was told because we're eating so little calories that our bodies go into starvation mode and prevents us from losing, but it can only do that for so long and then you start to lose again. I've drop another 6 pounds this last week. Hopefully your stall will not last as long as mine, but everyone is different. Wishing you the best and happy losing : )

Hey, I was a slow loser, sometimes only 4 lbs a month and  my doctor predicted I would not get to goal. But I did. just kept at it and got a little more active once I had 50 pounds off.  Just keep at it and it will happen. Be patient. Worked for me.  7 years out and 131 lbs.   Diane S

I am in the same boat too. Lost 11 pounds right after surgery in the first week. But then nothing. Got on the sale this morning and I am down a pound. Just hope it keep going now. I am with you not discouraged so much but I did hear that your body does need to readjust and figure out what happened. Does seem like your body would just have ot give it up with so little calories going in.