OH! MY! I DON'T UNDERSTAND

I weigh myself on Monday every week. This week I had gained two pounds over what I weighed last week, so I put off my weigh in until this morning thinking it is water wt. OMG! I am still up. I don't get it. Is this normal? It's not like I increased my eating.

Why is weight loss still hard after surgery? My gyn is decreasing my Premarin. Could this be it? I don't want to have hot flashes and feel like a failure.

Any suggestions???

No magic answers here. But if I read your "ticker" correctly you're down 50 lbs in 4.5 months? Let's see. . . when in the past many years have you lost an average of 10 lbs per month?

Focus on your accomplishments. Check and make sure that you are eating enough protein. Sometimes when my weight loss slowed down I wasn't getting enough calories or protein. I know that sounds strange but as soon as I increased my protein and added a few more calories the weight loss started again.

Salty foods really cause me to retain fluid. Medications can really affect fluid retention also. How about exercise?

I know it's hard to stay off the scale, but it's good that you just weigh once a week. I'm sure by next week you'll see a loss and probably a good one.

You're doing really well. Give yourself a hug, get busy living life and let the weight come off as it's going to. Not a whole lot you can do about it as long as you are following your program! Take care,

Honey, stay off the scale, it doesn't tell the whole story. You are doing wonderful.

...now why let a scale dictate your mood?? How did you feel before you step on that stupid scale? Were you happy? Were you expecting a weight drop?
If you are doing everything right the weight will come off. Weight goes up even when the calorie intake decreases just by water-weight alone. Salt?

Remember this is not a race, it's for lifetime. You will be doing this the rest of your life...hence the term lifestyle change. Yep, eventually we increase our calories to stabilize our weight along with exercise. Our body is like a garden, we are always tending to it. We are never "finished".
We are constantly a work in process.

Are you a failure? Nope my friend, you are a success. Now go and do something special just for you like a mani/pedicure or a bubble-bath. Oh yeah...you are normal!!

The two women before me gave you some good stuff, but let me share another piece in this roller coaster ride. . .  you, my dear are considered a lightweight in the world of WLS patients.  I know where you started did not seem lightweight to you, but these are the very same things I heard, as the day of surgery I weighed in at 236 and my weightloss was slow and sometimes it seemed as though I was never going to get anywhere near goal.   Well I'm here to share that at almost 2 years post-op, I am within 15 lbs. of my original goal and 10 of my adjusted goal, which is more realistic for my age and size, according to my surgeon. 

You are doing a terrific job, take your measurements monthly, as I took that suggestion and it helped me a lot, as I lost inches many times where the weight seemed to be at a standstill.  Also, don't get into a rut of eating the same foods day in and day out, as your body will adjust to that and sit in stall mode.  There is one woman in my support circle, she has lost more weight than I weighed at my heaviest and she is a great advocate of tricking the body and it has worked well for her and I can say it works for me.  Some days I spiked my caloric intake, not by a lot, maybe 200 calories and then things moved.  Be sure you are tracking your food intake, Sparkpeople, Fitday.com, any of those, though Sparkpeople is a great site for tracking and gives lots of helpful suggestions too. . .  eat at the high end of your protein, stay within the guidelines of your surgeons program and you will get where you want to, but also remember WLS is not a magic bullet, but a built in tool that used properly will get you where you need to go and keep you there providing you use the tool the way it was intended.  Remember that our surgery takes care of the physical portion control, but not the mental love affair we have had with food most of our lives, hopefully, you are incorporating support as a means of dealing with all the mind stuff, because support is one of the key components to sustained and success after WLS.

So do as the girls suggested, give yourself a big hug, get a pedicure/manicure and just follow your program.  You are successing (a coined phrase, which is to say that once we succeed, we think the job is done, whereas successing implies that it is a lifelong journey).

Hugs, Laureen

Hi...You are doing fantastic with your weight loss.  I, too, am considerate a Light Weight and am almost 0ne year out but have lost 6 pounds below my target weight.  As mentioned by another poster, take your measurements and you will be surprised.  I am one of those that can't stay off the scale  and weigh myself at least once a day but have not had a gain since starting.  I must be  a miracle loser, huh?  haha  I kept thinking I was done losing when I reached my surgeon's goal but am still losing so I wonder what I will weigh next month when I have my one year checkup. Good luck to you and keep doing what you're doing.  This is a good place to come for advice and suggestions.

Hugs,
Sandy