How Quickly Can You Plateau? Only 3 Weeks Out?!!!

Hi folks,

I had my laparoscopic RNY on 12/29/17 and the weight starting fall off rapidly. I know I tend to carry a lot of water weight and I lost quickly what seemed to be about 30 pounds from my surgery weight of 360. BUT...I've had very low appetite. Not going to lie, I've been a bit lazy about taking my vitamins. I only drink one protein shake a day because my formerly beloved Premier Protein is too sweet and artificial tasting. I'm about to start on mushy foods so I am thinking I will go for protein heavy choices like my favorite, Breakstone's 2% Cottage Cheese (so creamy and tight curd, not slimy and a good flavor with a dash of salt and pepper on top!) and I guess soon I will be allowed to have hummus and refried beans. I want to ease into these soft foods very slowly so I can maximize my weight loss. I don't FEEL like eating since I'm not hungry! Though I must say I do feel tired and sometimes dizzy when getting up to walk around. Have done some bed exercises and late night hall walking a few times. Need to increase this. I just feel bummed because I though the weight would continue pouring off quickly if I eat little. The scale said 334.8 today so looks like a stall already!!!

yes, it is the " three week stall", right on schedule. Do an OH search for " three week stall" and you will get hundreds of posts.

Esting less wont necessarily cause more weight loss. It will cause you to have the symptoms you have mentioned.

not eating, especially protein, can cause your body to break down your muscles for protein if you aren't eating enough.

Drink your shakes , all of them, every day until you move to soft food then eat that like you are supposed to.

the weight loss will pick up again when your body is ready. Stay on plan till it does and you will be fine

I'm going to guess you are not getting enough in to you. Yes there's the three week stall but if you don't get enough protein/water/nutrition it's hard for your body to function!

Right now, hungry or not, you NEED to be getting in your liquids and protein. 64 ounces of liquid a day is minimum and then at least 60 grams of protein.

I could like this a hundred times.

Oh NatureLover I am almost 8 weeks out and man oh man do I hear you! The weight is starting to come off again but it does get a bit weird when you stall so soon out and you say what the heck did I do that for if I am not going to lose any more weight.

So, this is what I did finally did at about five weeks.

1.Put away the scale. It was only reinforcing what I was thinking was a failure. I am now taking it out every Sunday and weighing myself.

2.Measure your water. You have GOT to get tha****er in or things(ahem, you know, the poopy things) will not be moving. Don't guess at how much, get yourself a bottle with a wide mouth and markings for cups.

PS sodium eats up your water so stay away from high sodium foods you should be under 1500 mg a day otherwise you are turning yourself into a salt lick BONUS low sodium is good for your BP!

3.Track your food. I use MyFitnessPal but there are tons of trackers. Don't use pen and paper use yr phone it is always with you.

4.Forget about eating anything else besides protein until you can get in at least 60 gms a day(I don't know what that is in American! lol) Shakes-you can make them with unflavoured greek yogurt and protein powder and you can get tons of protein in that way, pureed meats, fish etc etc You cannot lose weight is you are not eating good healthy food in proper quantities

The stall is real so Stay Calm and Play Along!

Hi Rosie....I'm 7 weeks out. I sure wish I had come across this site sooner! I stalled at 3 weeks and was besides myself with grief and totally felt like a failure! I did find out from my surgeon that you stall around this time and it takes about 3 weeks or longer to start losing again.

Are you in BC? Where did you get your surgery done?

3rd week stall. pretty much everyone gets it. carry on, get your fluids and protein in and wait it out...that should pretty much be your strategy on every stall. this will not be your last.

Thank you all for the support and advice! Yes, I had read about early stalls since I've been wanting this RNY for over 14 years now! I will power through. I can't stand the nasty protein shakes anymore, they make me nauseous. Good news is my diet according to my surgeon and nutritionist is to switch to soft mushy protein foods like cottage cheese now.

My passive aggressive husband 'forgot' the one thing I really needed, but he DID bring home some cans of refried beans. I am a bit nervous about those as they have carbs and can cause gas. I am pretty nauseated so focusing on water now. I will choke down my nasty Premier Protein Bananas n Cream. And YES I did like them pre-op! haha

Hi Nature lover, I had my surgery Nov 9, 2017. At 3 weeks I stopped losing weight. I went into panic mode...thinking I was a failure. I found out from my surgeon that this "stall" is normal....and that it takes about 3 weeks or longer before you start losing again. It's been about 4 weeks for me. I too was feeling dizzy and very tired. You must not miss meals...a hard thing to do...and water is extremely important. I also became obsessed with weighing myself every day. I'm trying to wean off doing this.

I know it's very exciting when losing weight quickly...but it's short term. My surgeon told me I will slow down to about 10lbs per month...and I'm very happy with that. There's a better chance of the weight staying off when the loss is slow.

Like you, I could hardly wait to get to eat my cottage cheese! I had an upset stomach though and had to wait another couple of weeks to eat it. Now I'm fine with it. I have the 1%, large curd. It's called Artisan style and I LOVE it!!!