Question:
I'm 8 monts out from gastric bypass surgery and have only lost 97 lbs, I seem to be
stuck at this 97 lbs i work out at least for days a week is that I'm gaining muscle or eating too much..everything is full of carbs and i have a hard time finding healthy and good snack choices, mmy goal is to lose 22 more lbs. please help.i also can nor get my meals in i often just still drink my protein please help!!! — minkii68 (posted on June 23, 2008)
June 23, 2008
97 lbs in 8 months? You should be very proud! that is an average of 12 lbs
per month. Overall, that is wonderfull.
If you stoped loosing, the problem maybe be in you not eating enough, not
eating enough protein. There are a lot of healty, protein loaded snacks.
Just look for them. Staring at protein bars, protein snacks, etc. It is
no excuse not to eat your meals. That how I gained my weight before
surgery. Go back to basics. Exersice more, and the pound will melt away.
— H.A.L.A B.
June 23, 2008
First off, weight loss is not always a straight line loss. Some times there
are plateaus. Some times there are gains. There are a few possibilities
that you need to consider. The first is: Are you retaining water? The
second is: Are you getting enough protein and exercise. In the FIRST
scenario: The issue will probably resolve itself given time. In a few days
or a week or so, you will lose the water and lose the weight. The SECOND is
actually a GOOD thing if it is occurring! If the SECOND scenario is the
case, what is happening is that the protein that you consume is being
turned into lean muscle mass on your body by the exercise. Lean muscle
weighs more than FAT per cubic inch so you can't measure your progress by
the SCALE at this stage of your weight loss but you CAN with a MEASURING
TAPE! If you are NOT dropping pounds but ARE dropping INCHES, you are
GAINING Muscle! MORE MUSCLE means LESS FAT! The lean muscle mass will help
to ACCELERATE your weight loss! There is the possibility of a THIRD option
that I did NOT mention before. If one of the FIRST two are not your problem
then the THIRD option is likely.
The THIRD option is that your body's Metabolism SET Point could have
readjusted itself to starvation mode. This IS possible. Give it some time.
If things don't start working in a week or so you may want to contact your
physician and get PROFESSIONAL advice or go to a nutritionist. A
nutritionist will be able to set you up with a dietary lifestyle that will
meet your nutritional needs and your dietary preferences so that you are
likely to STICK with it. You will also be able to LOSE your weight because
he or she will be able to CALCULATE the calories that you need to consume
to lose the weight at the maximum rate that your body will allow without
triggering your body's metabolism set point. This is probably the problem
you are having now. You need to eat a certain number of calories a day or
your body starts holding on to all the FAT that it has stored and actually
starts robbing your body of it's own PROTEIN instead. What your body takes
instead of the fat is MUSCLE. You do NOT want it to do that. Muscle BURNS
fat! Your body does not discriminate from WHAT muscle it robs the protein
FROM either. It will take it from your HEART muscle as readily as it will
from your LEG muscle. You need to eat a certain amount of both PROTEIN and
CARBOHYDRATE a day and for each person that amount will be different
depending upon what their GOAL is. If your goal is to lose weight, and you
are a SMALL WOMAN, the requirements will be different than if you were a
large MAN who wants to MAINTAIN your weight. This is why you cannot use
someone ELSE'S dietary program to optimize your weight loss.
Your best bet is to talk to a nutritionist and have him or her outline a
PERSONAL diet plan JUST FOR YOU. In order for you to MAXIMIZE your weight
loss, you need to eat the proper amount of both protein AND carbohydrates.
For ME, that ratio is about 20 grams of protein per meal to 20 to 40 grams
of carbohydrates per meal. I eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. I am a 6 foot 3
inch tall MALE, so my needs are going to be different than YOURS. I also
have a severely restrictive diet due to MANY severe allergies. Add to that,
the fact that there are some foods that I will not eat for religious
reasons and OTHERS that I will not eat because I dislike them, and my
nutritionist had her work cut out for her. Each person should have a diet
plan worked up PERSONALLY by a nutritionist instead of using someone ELSE'S
information because the other person's information may not hold true for
YOU. YOU may be smaller or larger than the other person, and that
difference will throw off the calculations needed for your optimal weight
loss. They may also have different GOALS or be somewhere ELSE on the
journey. If you are trying to LOSE weight, and they are trying to MAINTAIN
it, you are going to be very FRUSTRATED if you try to use their diet to
lose weight. The GOOD news is that you do NOT have to give up bread and
pasta unless you find that it causes problems for you after your surgery.
Of course, If you INSIST on eating bread or pasta, It would not HURT to
make the change from WHITE bread to WHOLE WHEAT bread. The same goes for
PASTA. As long as you are going to CONSUME these things, let's TRY to make
them HEALTHY. We can only eat SO MUCH FOOD now. We need to make sure that
it is QUALITY food and NOT JUNK. Whole Wheat products can count as a
protein as WELL as a carbohydrate. The nutritionist will be able to assist
you to figure out EXACTLY how much you can have of what item without
causing yourself to derail from your weight loss goal. If your weight loss
surgeon provides a nutritionist as part of his services, then you are set!
If NOT, I would HIGHLY recommend that you look into getting one for
yourself. The nutritionist will save you a great deal of headache and
heartache in the future, and will serve to make your weight loss a much
more productive experience.
I hope this helps,
Hugh
— hubarlow
June 23, 2008
It's great you still have restriction and that's why you can't get in all
your meals. I have to eat severl small meals a day myself (even 4.5 years
later) Protein drinks are a great supplement, but you are literally
drinking your calories and not gettig enough dense protein. You need to
try to eat more meat, fish, pork, chicken, beans, soy if you can handle it.
You will stay fuller much longer on dense protein with much less calories
that a protein drink meal replacement. Try it...You can eat moist meats
til you can handle more dense meat such as canned or crockpot meats...try
eating meat with a little broth or well cooked veggies...Carrots help
chcken go down easier until you can handle it better...Applesauce and
porkchops... a little mashed potatoes and beef...Or try ground beef for a
softer easier meat...ground tuurkey makes great chili with beans or taco
type meal in a low carb roll up....Boiled eggs...great snack...lunch meat
and string cheese...soy nuts, almonds, jerky turkey chicken, beef) Put
protein powder in SF pudding...or mix a packet of sf instant pudding in
ricotta cheese and whip it smooth...or try it in cottage cheese (whip the
lumps out of the cottage cheese first (it tastes better) I use greek
yogurt for it's low sugar, high protein content...I use it like a sourcream
or with fresh pureed fruit and SF sweetener of my choice...Soy chips and
hummus or greek yogurt make a great chip and dip...celery and peanut
butter. I'm hungry now...try more dense meats even though you can't get
much down...It stays with you MUCH longer than protein shakes!
Good luck
— .Anita R.
June 24, 2008
You're doing great so far. The further out you get, the more difficult it
will probably be to see consistent loss. On the other hand, you already
see yourself going in the wrong direction with foods. You must get back on
track with eating healthy, appropriately proportioned foods. I don't think
you want to drink protein supplements for the rest of your life. Find a
local support group and keep coming here for help. See out a nutritionist
if you don't already have one. As tough as it is, you have to get
disciplined and make healthy eating your new habit. Trust that you can do
it!
— gonnadoit
June 24, 2008
Well, first, give yourself a pat on the back for loosing so much weight and
for working out 4 days week!!! Great job! The other responses about lean
muscle mass weight lsee and to gauge your success by the measuring tape are
on the right track. I know exactly what you are going through. My wieght
stays at a point for weeks and yet my clothes are getting baggy. So I know
I am loosing weight, or fat, so I TRY not to get frustrated, but I know it
is difficult. HEre's some advice. 1. Yes, use a measuring tape and the fit
of your clothes to see how you are doing. Also check out your BMI to see
how much you have improved. 2. Toss the scale. You don't need it. Use the
one at the gym and only weight yourself one time a week. That will help
with the frustration. 3. You wrote about it being hard to find things to
eat - ordering in, etc. I find that most places don't think anything about
me ordering a side of chicken or a small salad with a side fo meat (Like
Rubio's, Green Burrito, El Torito, Applebee's, etc.) Or I order a kid's
meal to go and eat a bit. I haven't had any problem at all with this. I
also get friends to share a meal with me at times, but that is not as easy.
Or I order a sandwich and eat the meats and skip the bread. Subway lets
you order sanwiches as a salad - you get the meat, cheese and then any
other things and there you go. The real key though, is being organized and
to always have a meal and a few snacks with you at all times. I bought a
small thermal lunch bag & ice packs and always bring a protein shake,
and a few meat & chees rll ups, cottage cheese, tuna, etc., with me to
work. So, good luck, toss the scale, and pack some eats every day.
Vickie
— vippie
June 24, 2008
I've been trying out different snacks to carry with me, my blood sugar gets
low late afternoon or if don't get home for dinner on time. Nuts are good
if you can handle the fat, i get the 1 oz bags because i have problems with
portion control (hard to believe, right?). beef & turkey jerky are
good & lofat and most varieties lo carb, there are nitrite free brands
at whole foods and online. a lot of the protein bars are junk food, lately
i've been eating the kashi crunch bars, they're lo carb and have lots of
protein and whole grains, luna bars are good too, even an occasional zone
bar. with the protein bars i check the labels, and often eat half a bar,
that can tide me over for a couple hours. plateus are frustrating, but
keep up the good work
— Susan C.
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