Progress, but also a stall...

This is not sound advice.  Please do not resort to fad liquid diets for short term weight loss results.

It sounds like you absolutely need to increase your water intake.  I always notice a slow down if I'm not diligent on getting at least 80 ounces of fluids per day.  Stalls happen, but as has previously been mentioned, it's usually during this time you'll notice the most significant changes in your measurements.  Stay on program, keep tracking what you eat and DRINK MORE FLUIDS  

You've lost 200 pounds so I respect your opinion. However, the suggestion of a liquid diet for a couple of days couldn't possibly be a "fad" since doctors and dietitians require a liquid diet pre-op.

Do you understand the purpose of the liquid protein diet before surgery?  It's to shrink your liver in order for your surgeon to have room to operate and not damage your liver.

Maybe your surgeon's office doesn't have a comprehensive nutritional program to help you with the lifestyle changes that you'll need to make and that's why you're confused between a preop liquid diet and long term lifestyle changes after surgery.  Let me be more specific.  This is information I've gleaned from listening to veterans who have been successful maintaining their weight loss for several years.

Your life after WLS is not a sprint, but a marathon.  You need to change your eating habits and lifestyle in order to not only lose weight, but maintain permanent weight loss.  Reverting to fad diets such as an all liquid protein diet just to see a few pounds drop off the scale is not sustainable.  If you eat a dense protein forward diet, drink plenty of fluids, watch your intake of starchy carbs, increase your activity and exercise levels, the weight will come off and stay off.  Most of us have tried fad diets in the past, lost some weight, but gained it back with a vengeance.  

I'm sure your advice was well-meaning, but most surgeons and nutritionists would dispute your recommendation as again, not sustainable.  The goal is to get you eating a balance diet of healthy foods and not doing a liquid fast just to make the needle jump.  That's how eating disorders can be created.  If you don't believe me, I suggest that you ask your surgeon/nutritionist if they agree with your suggestion.  It's about changing the patterns of your eating habits, not looking for short term solutions.

The best advice is to follow the plan laid out by your surgeon/nutritionist, not listen to the advice of people with limited experience or knowledge on an internet forum.  You might read all the other responses on this thread again.  I don't see anyone advocating a return to a preop liquid diet, except you.

I wish you the very best of luck with your program.  

 A fad diet is defined as: a nutritional regimen, generally of an extreme nature, intended to produce results more quickly than a traditional diet-exercise combination; often meant for a short time period rather than long-term health.  (Medical Dictionary) 

The pre-op diet is meant to reduce a fatty liver to make surgery less risky.  If it were sustainable, it would be our long-term eating plan -- which it is not.  In fact, most post surgical plans emphasize the need for dense protein.  There is good reason for that: satiety.  Liquids nearly go straight through us and therefore cannot provide the feeling of fullness necessary for long term success.

I am certain that you meant to be helpful -- and I wanted to clarify that to you to help you avoid turning to fad dieting in the future when frustrating stalls come about.  Trust me, we all experience them in some form, and if we stay to our plan and find patience, we reach our goals.

The best advice I can give to the OP is to cultivate patience.  I know it's really hard when the scale doesn't move for a bit, but truly, this journey is an amazing one overall.  The truth is, in the long run, two weeks without a loss will hardly be rememberable once you're in maintenance.  Enjoy your trip down -- reli**** -- there's something to learn at every stage. 

What Geek said.  The purpose are completely different, both physiologically and psychologically.

The truth is that, from a psychological standpoint, going back to a liquid diet does nothing but reinforce the old, failed, diet-deprivation-regain mentality.  The inability to let go of that approach and to instead embracing the idea of a new, healthy-eating lifestyle will make this a very long and frustrating journey.  (And, yes, I am a doctor... of Psychology... Who works with WLS patients both before and after surgery.)

Lora

Please don't take this advice! The whole point of surgery is to work with the tool we have been given - and that means following a balanced diet, not depriving ourselves.

We all have times when we don't lose for a while. Just keep on eating as you are supposed to and the pounds will go. Liquid diets may make it look as if you have broken a " stall" but you may well put the pounds back on as soon as you eat properly agency.  This is a life time change, not a sprint. Going back to liquid diets risks going back to the ore-surgery cycle of extreme dieting. 

you do realize that fruits are carbs and most are full of sugar,right?

These were some really thoughtful (and very kind) replies, thank you all very much.  I hadn't thought about keeping a list of non-scale victories, but it makes a lot of sense.  I have been focused on the scale as the mark of success.  A few victories off hand that come to mind are the fact that I'm taking about 1/2 the medications I used to take, and that I've moved down 2 pants sizes.  Something I also noticed the other day - I think my relationship with food has dramatically changed as well.  I'm simply not as interested in food as I used to be.  I know that this could change down the road, but I think I'm letting other things take the place of food now, and it feels a lot healthier.

On the topic of the actual scale moving, I will take the advice given here to increase my liquids back to the levels they should be, and to keep a sharper eye on my intake.  

Thank you again for the positivity and reinforcement.  I think we all suffer at times from simply getting by without the feedback we need to help us feel that we're appreciated :-)

You're doing well and looking good. One of the things I had to realize was that my weight loss pattern was like stairsteps. The step pattern was never really consistent and the rate of loss slowed down over time. It may help to look at your loss graph over the longer term view. I have linked my graph from start to goal below so you can see what I mean. You will see it starts to level out quite a bit as time goes on. Oh, and please don't revert back to liquid diets! The others have given good reasons. I found that increasing water, decreasing carbs, and increasing/changing up exercise made the biggest difference.

Good luck to you!

Laurie

I am on a 2 week stall and it is so frustrating!!! I keep saying I knew this would happen after reading about it on this site so I am trying not to stress but it is already my 2nd stall in 6 weeks (the other went a whole week). We will get there!  You seem very level headed and already have gad so much success!