Dex...I NEED A REPOST!!!

Dex, Sorry to bother, but I wasn't sure if you would get my message I sent you. If you would send me a message so I can get you my email addy...PLEASE I need some information that you posted a few weeks ago and for the life of me cannot find in the older posts, or even off your last 100. I would be forever in your gratitude! Troy

Troy, Hopefully this is the post you meant?------------ SLOW LOSS?? --------------------------------------------------------- This is a Re-Post, So skip it unless you're curious. Since writing this I've Gone on below my Goal weight By 6 or 5 pounds, depending on the day of the week, But it was a way of thinking of my loss along the way That kept me from "worrying" about my progress. Hope it helps some one- So Often we see the Posted Question- "AM I STILL LOSING?" Or- "My Weight Loss has Slowed to nearly Nothing!" Well, for those who are nervous about Missing out on the window of opportunity Afforded by their "Honeymoon Period," Think of it as proportions or ratios. For me, I was at 385 pounds to start. My Ultimate Goal was to lose 200 pounds. The first two weeks I lost 20 pounds! 10 pounds a week! Yahoo! Who could be happier? That was a loss rate of 5% of my Goal Loss - Each week. So that left me with 180 pounds left to lose. By the 6th month, I had lost 90 pounds And had only 110 pounds left to lose. During the 7th month I was losing at a rate of approx. 5 pounds each week, some weeks 6. I "thought" I had slowed so much. Until I thought of it in ratios. With only 110 pounds left to lose, 5 pounds a week was roughly the same percentage. 5.5 pounds per week would be 5% of 110 each week. Once I had lost down to only 50 pounds left to lose, At around 11 months, I was losing about a pound a week on the average. Which once again "Seemed" incredibly slow Compared to my previous rate of loss. But having only 50 pounds to lose, I was still dropping at approximately 5% Of the Goal weight each week. Yes? At One Pound from Goal at about 14 months out. It once again "Seemed" that I'd stopped losing. But 5% of 1 pound is less than one ounce each week. At my Triumphant rate of 5% each week- (I had been so thrilled about in the first month,) It should take me nearly 20 weeks to lose this pound. So Why should I expect to lose faster at 16 months than I Did in the first 2 weeks? The Tool was still working, I'm still following the Plan, And the weight loss, In proportion to the amount of Weight left to lose, Is still as fast as ever. It's not really any harder now than it was before, And as long as I keep in mind, the long term goal Of a healthy life, I'm not disappointed. Whenever you find yourself worried that your Weight loss has slowed too much, Think of the ratios and proportions. Your probably Right on Schedule! Just a thought! Stay the course, and don't be impatient with The natural order of things. Nature, Even the seemingly Un-Natural Nature of WLS Follows a schedule That may not adhere to your wishes and desires. You can't Push the River! Best Wishes- Dx ----------------------------------------------or this? Slow Loss? Explanation... Pull back from your 'daily' charting, and look at a weekly or even monthly. There are up and down spikes each day/week, But if you 'graph' the highest to the lowest, I'd bet there is still A downward slope over the course of the month. There's an 8 to 10lb. volume of "wiggle room" due to water alone. And it comes into play a lot. This has to do with our bodies using glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, But it is stored in our muscles for quick energy - One pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, And the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, (Like when you drop down to your calorie intake) Your body turns first to stored glycogen, Which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, You also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it Voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of any diet. As you stay in caloric deficit, however, Your body starts to 'realize' that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue And burning fat for energy. But your body also 'realizes'---- (by way of your liver releasing hormones signaling low Cal intake) ---That fat can't be used for short bursts of energy - Like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, And rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, (Thus showing negative Calorie load overall) Your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while As you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored. Yes? The whole 'weight-loss' process is not a straight "Slide" down the scale. More like "Stair-Steps," (Down then forward, then down, then forward, etc... As your body cycles fat out of "deep storage" and through the Liver Into the muscles as Glycogen. The muscles and Liver can hold about a 3 weeks supply. This is why many people find that their "Stall" or "Plateau" Breaks when adding a bit of exercise And upping their water intake, or in the case of an "extreme exerciser," The total Calorie or Protein Intake, To signal the liver to let go of more Glycogen. Fear not, many people who are now enjoying life at a normal BMI Once had a few weeks or so of thinking- "...my weight loss has been awfully slow, has it stopped..."? Chris and CF are the "Exercise" Hounds here. I'd say they have a bit more insight into that angle From personal experiences. Keep up the Exercise, but maybe change up and add more protein Without adding Too many Calories. And, keep the water intake high. Hope this helps some. You are doing Great! Keep it Up! Best Wishes- Dx

Dx, Thank you so very much! The first post was the one I was looking for. I want to use that formula of roughly 5% of expected weight loss each week to chart how I "should" be doing, and see if I am at or near that 5% mark. In your studies, how close do most come to that 5% mark, and is it greater for someone who weighs a lot more. I'm going to be starting somewhere around the 485-490 mark. So that makes my excess body weight 317 pounds. RNY patients average losing 70-75% of that excess weight, so my 75% would be 238 pounds. 5% of that would be about 12 pounds a week to start. Am I doing this right? Like I said, I just wanna chart some of this to see how I'm doing. Thaks for reposting that for me. I am much abliged my friend. Troy