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8 pounds and then nothing

Anne23

Anne23

Member
Hi all - just venting. I really do know everyone looses at their own pace. But I have lost 8 pounds since my surgery last week (wed) and then for three days nothing. I’m walking around my block each day, taking my vitamins, I’m getting in 50 + grams protein and I’m meeting my fluid goals. I know it will pick up again it’s just hard - I feel the reward early on for surgery should be a bit more gratifying on the scale but my body clearly disagrees. I have had a very smooth recovery otherwise (and grateful for that) - maybe I just can’t have it all lol.
 
Your body is adjusting. My best advice is just to be patient and keep on doing what your doctor said. I have weeks that there's nothing and all of a sudden a big loss. Slow and steady is a good thing really, even though we all want it off yesterday! Hang in there!
 
I feel your frustration!! The first week home from surgery for me I didn't loose anything. The next week I lost 10 pounds then the third week I gained the 10 back due to being placed on a antibiotic for a sinus infection. After I got off the antibiotic I am happy to say I lost the 10 pounds and have been slowly loosing more since. I am averaging around 10 pounds a month. Yesterday was 2 months out from my surgery. Good Luck!
 
Anne23 said:
Hi all - just venting. I really do know everyone looses at their own pace. But I have lost 8 pounds since my surgery last week (wed) and then for three days nothing. I’m walking around my block each day, taking my vitamins, I’m getting in 50 + grams protein and I’m meeting my fluid goals. I know it will pick up again it’s just hard - I feel the reward early on for surgery should be a bit more gratifying on the scale but my body clearly disagrees. I have had a very smooth recovery otherwise (and grateful for that) - maybe I just can’t have it all lol.
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Totally normal, albeit frustrating. I GUARANTEE that your body is burning fat and changing composition during this time no matter what the scale reads. Most of the weight fluctuations on the scale for the first few weeks comes from both the release of fluids and subsequent retention of fluids in the body, which occurs based on several factors, but if you are following your program, staying hydrated and have a calorie deficit, your body will burn fat (and some muscle) and you will continue to make progress, again, regardless of what the scale reads.

Step away from the scale for a while and just concentrate on doing everything right. Move through your post op phases by following the guidelines as closely as possible. Once regular foods come back into play, focus on making good choices and building a new, healthy relationship with food that will last a lifetime. We have a wonderful opportunity for several months where we can really dedicate ourselves to establishing new habits without our bodies fighting too much against us. It's not always easy, that is for sure, but it's an opportunity to really make a change.
 
I absolutely recommend that you stop weighing yourself daily. If you had weighed on Monday, not looked at the scale and were down 8lbs next Monday, you would be like "Woo Hoo!! 8 lbs!!". But when you are looking every day, when you don't lose for a day, or three, you get discouraged. 8 lbs in one week is amazing!! If you stayed at that rate, you could potentially be down 24lbs in 3 weeks. A standard, non surgical weight loss goal is 1-2 lbs a week .. it would take you 12 to 24 weeks to lose that. It's all about perception. Which I know is super easy to say, when my own exact same freak out is months and months behind me. So from someone who experienced the same thing, take a step back from the scale. Your mental health will thank you.
 
Thank you Missy and Wazzu - both of you make excellent points. I’ll pick a weigh in day and stick to that. And Wazzu you are right, I need to consider the changing body composition - my husband says I look like I am loosing despite the scale.
 
Anne23 said:
Thank you Missy and Wazzu - both of you make excellent points. I’ll pick a weigh in day and stick to that. And Wazzu you are right, I need to consider the changing body composition - my husband says I look like I am loosing despite the scale.
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You are!! :) I don't even need to see you to know that. Stick to the plan and focus on building new habits as you start working in new foods. Good things will happen.
 
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