Question:
Help!!!!Not losing ing but gaining

I have plateued again. I will be 3 months out on May 15th and i have only lost 40lbs. My first plateau was hard. I stayed the same weight for 3 weeks. It finally broke. Now i am plateauing again. I got ont he scale and i lost 3 pounds and i weighed again 2 days later and i gained the 3 pounds back. I just feel discouraged about this. I work out alot and a drink alot of water. I'm not sure what's happening now. Should I worry??? Please help    — charmaneg (posted on May 10, 2005)

May 10, 2005
First of all, 40 pounds in 3 months is great! I would recommend not weighing yourself so frequently. Weighing every 2 days will drive you NUTS. What do you mean by working out alot? The key here is consistency - at least 30 minutes 4 times per week. If you have recently modified your exercise program, your body could be adjusting. What do you mean by alot of water? Especially since you are exercising, you need 64 oz per day of pure water. You could even be retaining water if you are due for your period soon. Good luck.
   — Yolanda J.

May 10, 2005
i AM 4 MONTHS AND HAVE LOST 80LBS BUT CAN SAY THAT i DID HIT PLATEAU'S. i LOOKED AT WHAT i WAS EATING AND MADE SOME CHANGES TO IT.NOT SAYING THAT YOU ARNT EATING RIGHT CAUSE i CAN EAAT CORRECT AND STILL STAY THE SAME FOR A WEEK OR SO.
   — jaime

May 10, 2005
I am almost 3 months post op and have hit several plateus first being at 236 ( pre op weight 258) I was there for 2 weeks, but I didnt care cause I knw it was just my body trippin off the fast weight loss, I knew it would come off. then I got stuck at 223 for almost 3 weeks, so what still know its coming, now I am at 213 and have bben there for a week I have lost 45 lbs!!!!!!!!!!! I am exstatic and feel awesome, not to good on the protein thing since I can only eat a tablespoon of food, and live on soup. Dont focus on the platueas!!! Be more positive and know that it is going to come off!!!! Feel excited about the loss 40 lbs is great, and more to come off!!!! Be more positive, how else could you lose 40lbs so fast????? I weight my self everyday, and I fluctuate about 3 lbs during the day, wierd bu it is okay, cause we did it!!!!!! We did the hard part, now it is getting easier cause we have the tool to succeed. Hope this helps!! Christi
   — kaligirl1993

May 10, 2005
Charmane, from a long-term post-op, please keep up with your profile. It has nothing there since you scheduled your surgery. Some questions to ask concern what you are eating and how often, what your starting weight was, and how much you want to lose. You must keep up with food(lots of protein) and the water and the exercise to continue losing.Those with less to lose can lose slower. Dont get discouraged and dont weigh too often. Its a process, over which you will plateau for short periods (wait until you hit the 3 month long plateaus!! OIY!), and lose and gain in the same week. But you will continue to lose..
   — Cindy R.

May 10, 2005
I was 4 months out on 4/29 and had lost only 57lbs, I also had several plateaus lasting 1-2 weeks. At 3 months I had lost approximately 48lbs. There are so many people who lose 100 lbs in 4 months that I got very discouraged but then I started finding many, many profiles of people that were losing at the same rate as myself, like you and I saved their profiles to my favorite list and when I get discouraged I re-read their profiles. They all ended up losing their 100lbs and more but for most it took the whole year and some it took 18 months or 2 years even, but it came off, slow but steady. Yours will too, but I know how you feel because I was so afraid that somehow for me this wasn't going to work, but it will work. You will do fine and so will I.
   — pammatria

May 10, 2005
STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE!! Once per week, dear. That's it!<br>Now, please don't stress yourself, you need to be more patient. WLS allows you to lose weight super fast, but it's still not overnight. You are doing VERY well with your loss so far, just be patient. I can honestly say that I went on a two or three week plateau around 3-4 months out and then 'magically' lost 20lbs in a week. As you lose the weight in the first 6 months, it's not a steady loss, it's a crazy loss. If you are doing the right things, you will be fine. Just breathe and enjoy the ride, this is the fun part!
   — RebeccaP

May 10, 2005
Charmaine, I have made myself a promise that the only time that I will weigh myself is in a doctor's office. I have plenty that I go to, so I can weigh myself every 2 months or so. I have a tendency to be hard on myself and you seem to have the same tendency. Don't live by the scale. It's what we did before, but in the opposite direction. If you are doing what you are supposed to do and taking in the protein and water that you are supposed to be taking in and still having trouble seeing a change in your weight, consider that you may be converting fat to lean muscle mass and lean muscle mass weighs more than fat. See if yourdoctor can order an REE and Body Comp test and it will tell you exactly what your body is doing. I am really impressed with this test and the answers that it can give you. It will tell you where your metabolism is and how much protein you are absorbing and what you would need to jump start the lose again. My endocrinologist suggests something that sounds like theophylline or something like that and they back it up with caffiene to jump start the weight lose again. I had never heard of these things before and I haven't had the appointment that will tell me if this will push me further down the road I am heading. I remind myself that I gained all of this weight over a long period of time and that it is not going to come off over a short period of time, no matter how much I want it to. I must be patient, even though I don't want to be. One of the reasons that I got the way I am (obese) is because I wanted immediate gratification. Well, I am desperately trying to be patient with this process and when people say something about my progress, or even sometimes lack of progress, I tell them that I have a slow leak. Keep believing in yourself and the decision you made to make things better of yourself and be patient. Stress will play havoc on your progress. Take one step at a time and do as good of a job of staying on track as you can. We didn't get obese staying on track and it is a big step toward overcoming our problems now. Keep trying, don't be so hard on yourself or your body, turn to us to keep your spirits up and put your trust in the Lord to get you through the things that you don't think you can handle by yourself. If you need someone to hear you, email me and I will give you my phone number and we can talk. May God bless you and keep you plugging along. I, for one, think that you can do it. I am sure many others think so too.
   — imdebbie

May 10, 2005
Charmane, You are doing great. It sounds like you might lose weight the way I do. I lose for a week to a week and half out of the month and nothing for the rest of the month. Don't worry it still comes off :) I am six months out and down 71 lbs. Keep the faith!
   — tdickson

May 10, 2005
Something wonderful is happening to your body. Your body composition is changing. You said you are working out...well, keep it up! You are gaining muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. Muscle also burns fat, so don't worry! Although you are not seeing your weight go down in pounds on the scale, you are probably going to see it in inches and in the way your clothes fit (or don't fit) you. Don't get discouraged and keep up the good work!
   — csanchez1111

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