Ok, I've put this post off but I'm open to hear answers

Thanks for the compliment.  My secret to being a good speller -- I actually check the spelling if I'm not sure and I usually reread the post before I click "submit."   I know what you mean when you're not happy about the notion of reducing your grain servings.  I love grain products.  Unfortunately, I've found that they don't love me.  If I'm up two or three pounds overnight it's usually due to too many carbs and/or not enough fluids.  I don't think carbs are evil, I just know that I have a very carb sensitive body.  I happen to be hypothyroid.  Studies have shown that hypothyroid people lose and maintain weight best on reduced carb eating plans.  That's my problem with Weigh****chers.  At a high weight, you get lots of points and I had to eat a bunch of carbs to get in all my points.  That tended to stall my weight loss and cause me to eat more carbs.  I'm not suggesting that you reduce your grain servings forever.  You may not need to.  You may find that if you do it for a week or so, you end your plateau.  Whatever you decide, hang in there.  You know you're the last person that any of us expect to fall off the deep end. 

Hi Krista!  I see you have gotten tons of responses to this already, and I don't have a THING to add!  But I did want you to know that I care, and I want to add my support.  You are such a ROCK when it comes to this thing, there's not a single doubt in my mind that you are going to be one of the really great successes!  I'm not even going to say "don't give up" because I already know you won't.  This too shall pass, and you'll be on to better days!! Connie

Thank you Connie ~ I feel blessed that all of you took the time to reply/.

WOW Krista, Is this a record Number of replies? I know I am still preop but I have had alot of success in losing, just not keeping it off and didn't see this idea.  Build some muscle.  If you have more muscle, you burn more calories at rest.  and it increases your metabolism.................   

It sucks to be stuck.  I haven't weighed since I had surgery because I knew I'd lose a lot with the liquids and then be disappointed.  It has been hard, but I'm not weighing again until I have my fill on 9/11. I know I've slowed down on loss and I need to kick it up a notch with exercise.  I had a dr. tell me that after a certain age you can only lose so much by reducing calories and the rest is exercise.

When you first start cutting your caloric intake your body burns the glycogen in your muscles first.  For every gram of Glycogen you burn you lose 4 grams of water.  Essentially that means that 80% is water and 20% is Glycogen.  After the Glycogen has been burned off you start burning fat.  As you burn fat you regain the water.  So right now you are losing fat and regaining water. It's all good.

Ok Krista, pull up  a chair.  I'll put the boys on my lap so you don't hit me. It's because you're healing.... That's over with now.  So seriously, I can't believe you haven't heard me say this a million times.  I've gone to a weight management clinic for several years now.  They study this stuff.  From what I've been taught...weight loss is NOT simple math.  Caloires IN - Calories OUT does NOT = weight loss.  There are at least a half dozen non-caloric factors I could list that can affect weight loss.  And to make matters worse, each person is affected by those factors to varying degrees.  The center I go to sees patients who are non-surgical, and post-surgical (both RNY and Lap-Band) so they have alot of experience.  There are well documented cases where folks exercise, eat right and they still dont' lose weight.  And in the reverse, there are folks who eat two and three times as much as we do and they struggle to keep the weight ON.  I don't think there's any better proof than that.  There just must be other factors. The doctor said these days there is alot of focus on hormones and how they work for us and against us.  The endocrine system is probably the most extensive and most unknown system of all and our bodies are ruled by our hormones.  There are several things going on right now in your body that would make your endocrine system go haywire.  The after affects of anesthesia is far reaching.  It a non-WLS case it may be weeks before all the changes in hormones completely clears.  But in the WLS cases, there are even more factors that complicate things.  Your body is confused as to why you're eating so few calories.  It doesn't understand the band is there and the body is very smart.  It kind of puts our bodies in a holding-pattern for a while as it figures out what we're doing differently and what it needs to do to compensate.  (example: how to better regulate body temperature, how to deal with increases/decreases in insulin, etc.)  Unfortunately our bodies don't make these changes very fast.  It takes weeks sometimes.  And this is often where weight loss comes to a halt.  Even a weight loss of 10lbs can affect how your body regulates itself.  And every so often it will have to "pause" and recalibrate itself.  That's just how it goes.  The stair analogy someone used earlier is very accurate.  The weight management team drills into our heads to expect that sort of thing to happen and to not freak out by it...because of course STRESS is one of those factors that mix things up too.  Cortisol (stress hormone) is really bad for weight loss.  It's kind of like in the movie when they're in the woods and they hear a weird sound and everyone freezes...doesn't move a muscle until they access the situation.  Well our bodies do that in a biological manner as well. So enough of my disertation.  LOL....I conclude this by saying this is what I've been taught by medical professionals but it doesn't make it FACT.  It makes sense to me and it helps me understand this process a little better.  I'm glad to share this with ya.  Hope it helps! P.S.  The "any loss before restriction is bonus" is valid too, but that's another lecture about effective vs some restriction.  Remember I lost ONE pound between week 3 and week 8, then only 7 more pounds 5 weeks later.  Don't beat yourself up!

Thank you Pam - the statement about freezing in the woods and assessing the situation before moving on makes a lot of sense to me. You're a keeper :)