So, you think you are losing too slowly?

I have been trying to answer questions to common threads as I think of them (or keep reading about the same things).

Today's post, thoughts about "slow losing".

I was a 'relative' lightweight going into surgery at 205 (40 pounds lost pre-op). At my 3 week checkup I had lost 9 pounds. Geeezzzz!! I lost more than 3 pounds a week many weeks BEFORE I had surgery. At this appointment my surgeon told me to expect a 2-3 pound a week average weight loss. I almost cried . "I had surgery for THIS???"

Well, he was right.....and I reached my original goal of 140 in 5 months. If you go to my profile and click on my "Health Tracker" and then the tab that says "Body" there is a graph. I was pretty good about entering my weights. If you want to see actual dates and weights on those dates look at the upper right of the graph. You will see 08/11/2008 (the date I started this process) to 11/11/2009 (the last entry that I made), just above that click on the little box. That will show you every entry that I made.

In the first few weeks after surgery, you also have to lose all the pounds gained during surgery. They pump you full of fluids! I came home from the hospital weighing 11 pounds more than when I went in. I have always weighed myself every day, fat or not. I still do today and every day since surgery. I was OK with not losing every day or even every week because I knew that it was normal. Not that I liked not losing......but it didn't make me crazy. If you are going to freak out then don't weigh yourself every day!

As a final though (in this post, LOL) try to remember that this is a process, not a race. If you follow your plan then you WILL lose. I know that it is hard, especially right after surgery to remember this, but try. Many will lose much more per week on average if you start with a higher BMI or didn't have a large weight loss before surgery and others won't. Just remember, if you can, that it will happen.....HONEST!

Martha

Martha,

Thank you for your post. I am having this issue. But I just keep plugging along. LOL

As a pre-op it is great to read  your posts and all of the great advice from everyone post RNY because I feel I have some ideas of what to expect and the possibilities both good and bad for life after my WLS

thanks

Very well said, Martha! Thank you for this post!

Thank you for this. ItS great to see these kind of postings. Its these kind of posts that helped me out at the beggining.

I was considered a lightweight too by my surgery date. I was 234 on my surgery date and was surprised when I wasn't loosing what I expected to lose. I lost so fast before my surgery just following my doctors pre-diet plan.

So I was so glad when I stumbled accross the OH forum and read that this was normal. It settled me big time to know that I was loosing right on target. BUt at first I felt the same way. "Why did I do this to myself if I wasnt gonna lose faster?!" I'm glad I read stuff like this on here. made things much easier.

I also felt like I was losing slowly.  I did pretty good the first month losing 3-4 lbs per week.  Once I got to month 2, I've been losing 1-2 lbs a week....only lost 3 lbs twice.  BUT, I have not had a week that I lost nothing (knock on wood) and I'm 55.5 lbs lighter than I was before surgery!!  Plus I've lost a total of 37.15 inches off my body.  Being a diabetic on insulin, I've come to accept that this is pretty good!!

Thanks Martha!