Becoming Frustrated

I will be 4 weeks post-op tomorrow and am feeling a little frustrated. I had been really optomistic and upbeat until today. I lost 26 pounds my first week post-op. I only lost 4 pounds over the next 2 weeks. Now for the past week and a half I've been stuck at the same weight. I am doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing including exercising everyday. To think that I've done all this just to lose 30 pounds is discouraging. We are planning a trip to see my family this summer. They have no idea I've had the surgery. I was hoping to really surprise them by showing up having lost a lot of weight, but now I'm scared that this is it. This is all I get. WLS was a last resort for me and now I'm scared what if my last resort fails. I know people are going to say that it's normal to hit a stall, but really so early on and for so long? It also frustrates me that I'm doing everything right and I'm stuck. I hate that it's out of my control. I could accept it better if I was not doing what I was supposed to or not exercising because then at least I could blame myself, but I really am doing everything I've been told. Okay, I guess I'm done venting. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

Hold on back the truck up.
My opinion is your body has had a major change and it seems it maybe in a resting state to catch up with what has happend to it.
Sometimes when we are only gettig say 1000 calories a day your body will go into starvation mode and holds on for dear life to any fat you may still have.
One thing that helps me is to be accountable for my food intake.
There are many programs that are online such as Spark people,and My Daily Plate.
Maybe a phone call to your Nut could help give you more insight.
No the show isnt over yet.
                                                    Annie

I was just like you I lost 23lbs the month I had surgery then when the next  month came around I lost nothing! Finally in Jan I started back losing weight and it's slowly but surely coming off. I go to the Dr tomorrow for my 3month check up and I am down a total of 40lbs and over 25inches lost!!!!  But, I had those same thoughts as you and I would come up here to this site and read what others had posted and it kept me going reading that others were going thru the same thing as I was.

CONGRATS on starting your new journey to the NEW YOU!!!
I would like to say "Welcome" to the dreaded 3 week stall!!! It is completely normal and it is something we all face around the 3 week to 4 week post op mark!! It may take a few weeks, but hang in there, because you will start to see the numbers fall again!!! Get ready for the ride of your life, this is only the beginning!! And do NOT get discouraged, because this is one of many stalls that you will encounter..you may go 2+ weeks of seeing no loss, but you will still be losing inches, then overnight, you may see a 5lb. drop!!! It is really crazy how this whole thing works, but in the end you will be successful!! Just keep doing what you are doing and success will come!!!

My experience, for the first 5 months I lost 20lbs. per month, then for the next 4 months it slowed down to 10lbs. per month, now I am lucky to hit 6-9lbs. per month, EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT!!! But in all, I am down -161lbs. and I have yet to hit my one year mark :)  

Best of Luck to you ~ Jami

I was saying about the same thing as you are saying when I was 4 weeks out. I have only lost 31 lbs and I am 7 weeks out. It is slow and I am frustrated because I lost weight at a faster rate before the surgery. I would be happy as a clam if I had lost 30 the first month. 26 lbs the first week, well I bet that was a lot of water weight loss. Then as you were still losing fat, you probably added some of tha****er back. 20lbs a month is about average for what I hear. I have stalls all the time. I lose 5 lbs and then stall for 2 weeks. It has been that way since the beginning.

I know that this is frustrating and frightening. I have to admit to having the same thing happen to me and to having the same fears and frustrations. Your weight loss pattern is a very common pattern. I wish that the Dr's and programs would prepare us a little better for this eventuality. It manifests itself somewhat differently for everyone, but in general you can expect to have your weight loss stairstep down instead of sliding down. That means that you are likely to drop some, then stop for a while, then drop some more. My Dr. said that no matter your weight loss method, surgery or not, this is common.

Sooooo....., keep with the program, be sure that you are doing what they have asked you to do and here's the hard part, be patient. The scale will start to move again. It has no choice, because to be honest, the amount of calories you are getting can in no way sustain the weight you are currently at... no matter what that weight is. You need to be sure that you are getting enough calories, protien and hydration. If you do that, you'll lose... even if you don't exercise. Exercising now won't really impact your weight loss, but it will go a long way towards setting up the lifestyle you need to be successful in the longterm. You need to be getting in the protien levels your program has suggested and should be getting in a caloric intake of about 800 to 1000 calories a day. If you don't, you can cause your body to move into something known as 'starvation mode' where it will hoard and hang onto your precious resources of fat... not something we are interested in doing. It also will cause your body to become even more efficient on a lower number of calories making it more difficult to maintain your lost weight once you lose it... Sooo... be sure to get in the recommended and requisite 800 to 1000 calories a day, your protien allotment and your fluids.

When your scales are being stingy, often, the tape measure is telling a different story. So, if you haven't done so yet, go to www.thinnerself.com and check out the 'chart weight and measures' feature. Chart your weight and  you will begin to see the positive impact of the weight loss with the tape measure.

Wishing you all the best as you continue this journey,

It's happened to most of us; don't worry or get discouraged.  Your body is in shock from the new plumbing and drastic diet changes.  Keep up with your surgeons program and the scales will start to move again very soon.  And, it won't be your only or last stall... they come along every few weeks...  keep the faith, you've made a great choice to have WLS and it will pay off.