13 weeks, Pictures and plee for help

Ok, so I went to see my dr. and NP today for my 3 month follow up, and they were surprised my my small numbers (30 lbs in 13 weeks). In fact I am their SLOWEST Loser. They said I must be doing something wrong...that is when I pulled out my printouts from myfitnesspal, including my work out logs. I begged for some help... I told them exactly what i was doing... 600-800 calories, fat and carbs both under 40 grams a day. Everything on my logs looked good to them, only thing they had to say was maybe I wasnt' getting ENOUGH calories??? WTH could that be true? I'm so scared to up them...I might only be losing 7 lbs a month but I work damn hard for every one of those lbs, I'd hate to see it slow even more, that might break my heart.

Then they were listening to my chest when the NP noticed a big clump of hair on my sweater, she says the one advantage to slow loss is small hair loss and less loose skin...Leave it to me to even break that! So right to the lab I went, they ordered every test they could think of including thyroid testing. They are committed to help me if I want the help, and I do more than anything. I am committed to this process and will do everything in my power to succeed. I have tunnel vision to get to my goal.

So advice guys... would you up your calories at the advice of the dr? I'm so nervous to do that, if my loss's get any slower they will stop all together, and I'm suposed to be in the honeymoon phase. At least I'm glad they thought I was doing everything right, but in the same breath it would have been kind of good for them to look at my journal's and say AH HA tweak this and add that and you'll be good to go. She said it just might be my poor genes and I may just be the one exception to the rule and lose just a few lbs a month with 20% of a stomach...and for that she apologized and at least vindicated me being bummed a bit.

Anyway here are some picutres and advice is very welcome...
and yes I now realize vertical stripes are a very bad idea! :)

I am a pokey one too it seems, it does slow down but I think you are doing fine. Sometimes when I do up my calories I do lose more. Read my message about September Sleevers, I just posted it and about the 6th post down from me, this is what someone said to me about being in starvation mode.

First, calm down. Your stripes are horizontal !!!

I am a "slow Loser" I have NEVER lost more than 5 pounds in a week. And my doctor was NEVER concerned that the pounds would not come off.

I lost 34 pounds pre-op in just under 6 months. I am 10 months post-op and have now lost 87 pounds.

THAT IS A TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS OF 121 POUNDS !!!!!

I am so proud of myself. I may not be the fastest loser, nor will I get to be super skinny; but those were not my goals. My goals were to get healthy, get to a healthy weight, improve my mobility, be eleigible for knee replacement surgery, buy and wear regular ladies clothing, fit in resturant booths, cross my legs, fit through turnstyles without having to turn sideways, go horseback riding in the National Parks (wt limit 225 with riding hat and boots on).

I HAVE MET EVERYONE OF MY GOALS. YOU WILL TOO. Yes, it's good to get the labs checked out. You should. But you shouldn't be disappointed with slow weight loss. When you start adding it all up, you will be very surprised how much weight it all is !!!

Stay the course, up your calories through eating high protein, healthy meals, and you will lose. Also throw in there some exercise and you WILL do great !!!

But 5lbs in a week is very different than 7lbs in a month when she's in her first 3 months. And since weight loss does slow down the farther out you get being concerned is warranted.

I editted the original thats 7lbs a month in months 2 & 3...

Don't tell anyone I said this but try to up your calories and stay under 10 carbs. Do that for 2 weeks. Plus a protein shake a day as meal replacement.

Well, cat's out of the bag! HOW in the world do you do less than 10 carbs a day? I BREATHE in more than that before I put anything in my mouth even!

First of all how in the HELL 30 Lbs in 3 mos can be considered "slow" is beyond me. I Lost 19 lbs in 8 mos before the Sleeve. THAT was slow. My Surgeon likes to see an average of 50-200 Lbs a year loss with the SLeeve depending on a myriad of things. And who gives a rats ass if you are the slowest loser in his entire practice. I'd have ***** slapped him right there for saying that crap to me.

Okay rant over.

All of that said, I can COMPLETELY understand your frustration. It sucks to be a slow loser - MAJOR SUCKAGE.

Suggestions:
*Get your metabolism checked. It's a simple 10-15 test.
*Yes, try upping your calories by 100-200, but do it right AFTER your period or you will hate me for suggesting it.
*Try lowering your calories, by 100 for a few days.
*Try to get your protein over 80 for a few days.
*Try getting your carbs under 30 for a few days.
*Try uppng your water/fluids to 80oz a day (10 glasses).

It took months on a high protein-low carb diet to figure some things out about how I lose weight. I think you might be similar to me in that your body likes to stay in a comfort zone. That means that you have to change things up. The key to it is to not go crazy with the changes. Try one thing at a time and then give yourself a few days and try something else. Never too extreme or you could actually make it worse. The goal is to make little ("little" being the operative word here) tweaks to your current diet and see if that helps.

Honestly, I am shocked to be losing a avg of 3 lbs a week so far. I had prepared myself for being a slow loser and I'm glad I did because when/if things start to slow down for me, I'll be ready to try some different things.

Good luck.

I'm pretty sure i told you before that i just did all of this at my third month 1 month ago.  i had every test known to man there was nothing wrong.  the advice was the same as you got.  i upped my calories.  i lost 12lbs in November, and i ate for Thanksgiving.  It's not the greatest loss in the world but it was over 100% more weight than i lost in any month previous.  I had to go back to shakes for the extra cls and protein but gradually over the month i managed to get it from food.  i just added a meal.  I'm going to do it for another month and then switch it back and see if playing with it helps.  one thing i know I can't keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same result.

Perfect example of my comment below. You really do have to find that magic calorie/carb/protein/liquid range that works for your body.

Great job, btw!