Exercise and stalls

Well I am still in a stall.  Don't get me wrong, I am not in the least discouraged, I know that it is par for the course,  I am just a curious ******* and I always try to figure things out.  Right now I am trying to figure out if exercising has caused the stall.

Quick confession - the first 3 months post op I didn't exercise but MAYBE once a week.  Last week I bought a nice stationary bike and I ride it every day now and it is some pretty intense exercise.  I am loving the energy and the fact that I can do more exercise almost daily increasing the length or intensity - question I have is this - Can my stall be caused because I have STARTED to finally exercise daily and my body is ******g and moaning? Maybe I need to up my intake of protein or water? Any ideas on how I can best take advantage of my WLS tool and keep the weight coming off? Or do I just chalk it up to a 'standard' stall and it will correct itself without any intervention from myself?

Thanks all

Everyone's body is different but for me, the way I broke through the two major stalls in my journey post-op was to back off from the gym for at least a week.

You have to keep your metabolism guessing and once your body gets used to the reduced intake and the daily exercise routine, it basically figures out how much fat it's going to let go of and then it fights itself on hanging onto what it thinks it is going to need for emergency.

By easing off of the exercise for a little while and maybe even upping the calories a little, you get your body back into thinking it's going to be okay to let go of a little fat. And then BAM! You get right back on the bike and burn burn burn and you cut back on your diet again and jus****ch your body go into overdrive!

Of course, I'm not an expert on this, my advice is only based on what has happened to me.

I'm a gym rat and my weight does not go any lower.  If I don't go to the gym and eat more calories and by the time I go back to the gym, I do see a difference. 

I also increase my protein drinks and up my water intake....it does seem to work.  Also, don't forget to change your workout routine.

Good luck!

I wouldn't be surprised if you are not gaining in lean muscle mass and still losing fat.  Not all loss is good, so it may be positive that you are stalling while you rebuild your lean muscle (which weighs more than fat)

I am having the same problem.  I stalled 2.5 mos at 245lbs after a 38lb drop.  I work weights, and motion blowing off 600-650 cals per.  Using Daily Plate as my guide of 3 lbs off weekly, my cal intake is net minus daily.  Must be the fat gods striking again. Doc says I'll go down to my target weight just like he reads it from a script.  We're in with both feet in the water and agonizing over daily problems just seems pointless at times.  As my coach said and we hated it - jussuckitup take the pain he getitdone.  Besides, whats the alternative? A little bull at my age but its tried and true
GOOD LUCK

I was in a stall since the time change.  I didn't gain, but I didn't lose any.  I guess that is a victory.  I rode my bike after work all summer and fall until the time change.  Once that hit and it got cold and was dark right after I got off work I stopped.  For me exercise is what keeps me from stalling.  I finally joined a gym 2 weeks ago.  I have taken 4 spinning classes and am jogging/walking a couple of nights a week as well.  I have dropped 11 pounds since I started exercising again.  I know it won't continue at that rate, but I am going to be in great shape for when Summer hits and I can get outside on my bike again.

Gaining muscle is exactly what you are doing.  I know you will burn more calories and the stall will be gone before you know it as you ride more.

Good Luck!

Well I dropped 2 lbs overnight.  Hopefully the stall is over.  But maybe not for long as I hope to start packing more muscle on. I have been surfing craigslist for awhile for free weights/squat rack/etc

Finally got one purchased last night - now I have my bike and my weights at home for some intense workouts.  I love lifting and it has been years so I will be starting out with just the bar and adding weight each workout - Stronglifts.com has a good 5x5 workout that I will try for the first 3 months.

Funny fart with the stationary bike - I was watching TV with the wife and so we like the lights off.  I hopped on the bike to ride and I have been increasing the intensity of the workout. Originally started with 20 min workouts with resistance starting at 1 then peaking at 5 and ending at 1.  The first time I did that the 5 resistance for just a few minutes burned like fire in my thighs.  I had worked up to the 3rd workout routine and it was 30 mins long but same resistance.  I had planned to do the 3rd workout and thought I had pushed it but I noticed real quick that something was different.  The resistance was peaking and dropping quickly. So I reached up behind me and pulled the light cord on the ceiling fan to see what the hell was wrong

Turns out I had accidentally started the 4th workout and man it was phyically and mentally straining.  I am proud to say that I finished it and I was hotter and more tired than I have been in a long time.  It had a lot of peaks and valleys and it went up to a 8 resistance (10 is the highest on the bike) and I literally was talking to myself out loud "you can do it" over and over again.

I exercise  a lot also and my band has not worked.  I have spoken to the endrocrinologist about this after having a one shot post session with the psychologist. Both are in research at big research medical centers (so they are getting the latest data on this stuff constantly).  The psychologist told me that constant routine exercise actually has been found to hurt weight loss (good for lots of other reasons though). As someone else here said, the body learns to anticipate the work and compensates for it.  Then, when you don't exercise, the body absorbs what are now "extra" calories because it did not need to compensate.  The endocrinolgoist agreed saying that the data is clear:  exercise is great for many reasons and no one should not exercise, but it actually hurts in weight loss. 

They both said the same thing:  For the moment, it seems that constant routine exercise is not helpful.  However, breaking up when you exercise during the day, how much you exercise at any given time, and doing different types of exercise seems to keep the body guessing (at least for a while) and it can't get into the compensation mode.