so frustrated
Before my surgery i could watch what i ate and exercised and i could see the scale move some not big but you know a pound or two here and there. After my surgery ive lost quit a bit but have come not really what i would call a stall but the scale wont move and then all of a sudden BOOM 5 lbs. i dont understand why just since the surgery does my body this. Just seeing if anyone else can relate or tell me why
They tell me it's like stairs...you go down some, then you level off, you go down some more, and level off. Your body has to adjust to each of those steps... It fights it... Your body does not want to lose any weight. That is messing with it's natural way of survival... So it levels off, and sees that it needs to burn more, lose more, whatever to be efficient, to survive... That's one of the reasons why it's so important to take in lots of protein, and exercise regularly, cause your body would rather lose the muscle than the fat.
I would tell you that its probably not just since surgery that this happens. The surgery just makes it more noticeable because you are spending more time in ketosis than beofre surgery. You are not taking in nearly as much food as before surgery and probably a drastically different quality of food.
Your body burns fuel in a specific order. It will burn easily accessible fuels in the form of simple sugars first. Theses come from the carbs we eat - sugars, starchest, etc. After that is gone, our body goes after its reserves; first in the form of glycogen that is stored in our tissues. Glycogen is stored for short term bursts of energy when we cant stop and eat the simple sugars.
Once all of that is gone and we don't have the sugars, our body turns to fat stores. Fat is not easily accessible to the body. It has to be broken down by the liver into compounds called ketones. Several changes have to happen to the body to use these ketones - this is the process we call ketosis. This is the "sweet spot" where we spend months after surgery to lose massive amounts of weight.
So why the stair stepping and not the constant small losses? This process is radically complicated. First, you are spending all of your time in ketosis. This puts a lot of stress on the body, especially the liver - which is doing all the work (thats why most of us see elevated liver enzymes on our first few labs). The liver needs water to drive the ketosis process. Water is heavy.
Our body is constantly hitting that glycogen and then replacing it from fat. That causes a lot of water weight changes. 32 ounces of water weighs about 2 lbs. Replacing glycogen from a single exercise session can take an average of 4 lbs of water.
As we are losing, you will notice that you don't lose weight evenly. You will lose some from your thighs, then some from your hips. Its different for everyone. Your body will do a lot of rearranging of the fat furniture. During these times you may not see the scale move that much, but what you will see is your body changing. You will be losing inches in different areas. Again, you have a lot of water moving around in this time. Your body doesn't actually release a fat cell and say - go here. After these processes are done you often see a big drop in weight that stays off.
at the end of the day, if the scale causes you stress, maybe talk to your surgeon about weighing less frequently. Try not to focus on the scale as much as on what you can control directly - your diet, exercise, and logging. Your body will lose weight in its own way and in its own time. All you can really do is work your program.
Your body burns fuel in a specific order. It will burn easily accessible fuels in the form of simple sugars first. Theses come from the carbs we eat - sugars, starchest, etc. After that is gone, our body goes after its reserves; first in the form of glycogen that is stored in our tissues. Glycogen is stored for short term bursts of energy when we cant stop and eat the simple sugars.
Once all of that is gone and we don't have the sugars, our body turns to fat stores. Fat is not easily accessible to the body. It has to be broken down by the liver into compounds called ketones. Several changes have to happen to the body to use these ketones - this is the process we call ketosis. This is the "sweet spot" where we spend months after surgery to lose massive amounts of weight.
So why the stair stepping and not the constant small losses? This process is radically complicated. First, you are spending all of your time in ketosis. This puts a lot of stress on the body, especially the liver - which is doing all the work (thats why most of us see elevated liver enzymes on our first few labs). The liver needs water to drive the ketosis process. Water is heavy.
Our body is constantly hitting that glycogen and then replacing it from fat. That causes a lot of water weight changes. 32 ounces of water weighs about 2 lbs. Replacing glycogen from a single exercise session can take an average of 4 lbs of water.
As we are losing, you will notice that you don't lose weight evenly. You will lose some from your thighs, then some from your hips. Its different for everyone. Your body will do a lot of rearranging of the fat furniture. During these times you may not see the scale move that much, but what you will see is your body changing. You will be losing inches in different areas. Again, you have a lot of water moving around in this time. Your body doesn't actually release a fat cell and say - go here. After these processes are done you often see a big drop in weight that stays off.
at the end of the day, if the scale causes you stress, maybe talk to your surgeon about weighing less frequently. Try not to focus on the scale as much as on what you can control directly - your diet, exercise, and logging. Your body will lose weight in its own way and in its own time. All you can really do is work your program.
_____________________________________________________________________
160 lbs lost. Surgeons Goal Reached in 33 weeks. My Goal in 37 Weeks.
VSG: 11/2/2011; LBL+Thigh Lift+BL: 10/3/2012; Brach+Mastopexy: 7/22/2013
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