Giving Up

I feel like giving up on believing I can lose more weight.  
I had surgery December 12, 2011, I was 246 lbs and now I'm 188.  No matter what I do, I'm still on a stall like FOREVER.  This is very upsetting and it makes me depressed.

 Are you venting or asking for help getting through the stall?  

You've been at this long enough to know that only time breaks stalls.  They suck and we have all been there!

If you think you've gone off track and want some help getting back on track, we are hear for you.

can you give us an idea of how long you have been in a stall?  Also, what are your labs like?  What are you eating?  Are you consuming foods you shouldn't?  Have you let things back in to your diet that shouldn't be there?  Are you drinking enough fluids?  Are you getting your vitamins?  Are you exercising? Are you attending support group meetings?  These are all things that can help. 

You've lost 58 pounds in 8 months, which is really good.  Don't beat yourself up, that only causes more stress which ups your cortisol levels.  Hang in there and give us some more information so we can help.

Don't give up! You have done awesome losing so much in only 8 months. I'm sure your body is just taking a break to adjust. You haven't gained right? Maybe it's time to do something to shock your body out of the stall. These are things that I have read about others that had mananged to break a stall.

 - Do something totally different for exercising than you have been...something that uses a totally different set of muscles.
- increase your water intake
- tallk to your nutritionist and about adjustments to your diet
- reboot...meaning go back to a liquid protein diet for several days like you did when you first got your sleeve, work back up slowly
- some have actually INCREASED their calorie intake if they have been really low... just for a few days and that did the trick
- if you are getting more than 30 carbs a day, try cutting that back to 20 carbs a day for a while.

I don't know if that helps to give you ideas. I just don't want to see you give up. It's too soon to think that you can't lose more weight. You were not a heavy weight to begin with. Those last 40 lbs are going be much slower than the first 40 lbs were.

Okay now can you save this so 8 months from now when I'm frustrated by an endless stall you can remind me of what I said here?  :)

Something that might help is, tracking your food intake and the type of activities you are doing each day. I know when I reached a stall, I started looking at what I might have been doing wrong to try and correct it. Try and go back to the basics and see where it takes you. Make sure you are getting all the protein and fluid you need daily and take all your vitamins. Good luck with your journey and remember, NEVER GIVE UP, YOU CAN DO THIS.

Look at my last few months weight loss, I was stalled for almost two months at your stage I lost four near the beginning of eight months then near the end of nine months I finally lose another four. Yes I was ticked off with all the hard work, still not a fast loser. I haven't given up. It will probably be slower for you because you are nearing your goal plus you were what I would call a lightweight starting at below 250, it is slower for you guys.

I am sure you are not going to give up, you probably will notice inches drop like crazy soon. Hang in there, vent and continue on your journey. As we get closer to goal we have to fight harder, the sleeve helps us but we still need to do all the hard work and make the right choices.

 I find that when I hit a wall i swim laps and its ecercise that I can do for a longer periord of time and help to shed the fat...

I would invest in a waterproof MP3 Player if your interested, it makes one hour of laps in the pool go much much faster! 

Hi Sincereone,

I feel your pain on stalls - but they do pass!  Unfortunately this far out they don't pass as spectacularly as early out - it may just be a pound or 1/2 lb.  We are at the babystep loss stage - but that is ok - it's still a loss!!!!

I had a stall that lasted about 1 1/2 months.  It was PAINFULL!  But I did not give up - and won't!  The ways I got back to losing were:  patience (most important), tracking to eliminate what I was "slipping" in, upping exercise slightly, and keeping up on water.  I'm now back to losing a little each week.  I'm not speeding to goal, more like crawling - but I know I will get there!

You can do this!   

 It gets tougher this far out.  My surgery was just a couple of week after yours and my weight loss has been crawling this summer, as in I lose maybe 1 week out of 4.  I totally understand wanting to give up.  I have in fact, based on my behaviour given up at least twice so far, and then I gave up giving up and got back to it.

For me at this point I can eat pretty much anything, none of the bad choices slow me down, and in fact I know I can eat a lot of evil carb slider foods.  When it comes to chips it feels like I never had surgery.  That is really dangerous because it means that the food I can eat a lot of are the very worst foods for me to eat, while the healthy stuff seems tough to fit.  I knew that it would be this way going in because I did my research here on OH.  

And then on the flip side, when I am good and on track and busting my butt at the gym the payoff on the scale just isn't there like it used to be.  I knew that I would eventually have to deal with that in maintenance because if you have read much here most people have to keep on doing what they have been doing in order to maintain, just with a few more calories.

This is when the fact that your sleeve is only a tool - a great one - becomes a reality.  What do you want for your one year surgiversary?  Do you want to post "I quit at 8 months out and then put weight back on", or "I did my best"?  I'm planning on doing MY best, which believe me is not perfect.

Thank you all for your input, it's very well appreciated.  I am eating six times a day with LOTS of fluids.  I go to the rest room so much though out and at times I feel I will not make it...lol.

I walk 3-4 times in the day, I enjoy walking in the neighborhood not on my treadmill.  I do arm excercises and at times workout with my husband and do a little weight training.  I wish I can do aqua aerobics but in 3 days after being exposed to the chlorine I breakout in a small rash.  

It is VERY frustrating to have gone through what I have and not losing like many of you are.  I know I am a "light weight" but there's others that are too and they are losing rapidly.  I've been the same weight for 3 months!!!!  Thank you Lord that I have not gained any weight.