Question:
plateau it's been three months since my gastric bypass.. has anyone hit a plateau 2 m
april 2008 i had loss 70 lbs prior to surgery and only 30 lbs since. Do I need more to eat? — jesamadad (posted on June 20, 2008)
June 20, 2008
You're doing fine, seriously, with 30 pounds since April...
I have hit a one plateau (so far), since my surgery in February. It lasted
3 weeks. I read that *not* eating the same amount of calories everyday can
help break it, so I ate very little one day, (but drank plenty of fluids
and took my vitamins) then for a few days I increased my intake of food.
That seemed to break the plateau, but I am not sure. Anyway, they do
happen, and they will definitely pass, so hang in there :O)
— Gina S.
June 20, 2008
Congratulations, you are doing well. I too hit a plateau after the first
month. I lost 30 pounds the first month, the second lost nothing and then
New Years day, it started coming off again, so be patient and stick with
it, it will get better.
— PAWLLA L.
June 20, 2008
Your body is catching up to your loss....You have lost 100 lbs all
together...take you measurements and you will se that you are still losing
inches. Then one day you'll hop on the scale and you'll have a huge loss.
This is normal. You are doing WONDERFUL! Eat til you are satisfied and not
more...You must not eat more unles you are hungry....and then you must
listen to your tummy and not your head...
Congrats give yourself a year....You're losing faster than you can imagine
even though it doesn't seem like it now...
Good luck!
— .Anita R.
June 20, 2008
I have hit 2 plateaus since my surgery March 12 ... they suck!!! In the
middle of one right now. I have lost 72 pounds but I can not see it ...
yes my clothes or not fitting anymore ... but for me to look in the mirror
... I see the same thing ... no or very little change. I know it is very
discouraging ... I get discouraged that is for sure. I guess plateaus are
just part of the journey that we have to deal with ... funny how I never
heard about them before surgery. Also never heard about the
"honeymoon" period with loosing weight ... the first 6 months to
1 year ... then the weight slows greatly and or stops ... then you have to
really work out to loose more.
— Tammy Cardwell
June 21, 2008
Make sure your getting in all your protein. That is very important. It
keeps your metabolisim going. There fore you loose weight.
— nachocheese
June 21, 2008
I began at 417 and lost 104 lbs before my gastric bypass surgery 2/11/08.
I have now lost 143 (currently 274) ONLY lost 39 lbs total since
surgery... and YES, stuck in what I am calling a plateau. Been making tons
of changes, adding cardio to my workouts, but have been told by tons of
great people to concentrate on Water, Protein and Exercise. So I am
following their suggestions. Would love to know how you do. I have not
seen anyone like myself that had lost so much weight before the surgery.
Please keep in touch, you can find me in Yahoo under kristacastle, or
anyone else that has further suggestions, please any knowledge would be
much appreciated. Thanks for your time. Have A Great Day. Krista
— kristaaxline
June 22, 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 probably 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
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