I always joke that whenever I buy new clothes I seem to jinx myself- I inevitably stop losing. Even though it's a joke, it is rooted in truth. I have had a couple of stalls since my surgery, but they never lasted for more than a week or 2. Awhile back, I was feeling saucy, and since I hadn't bought any new clothes since before my surgery (just "shopped" my closet), I went out and bought a few lovely Fall pieces at a store that never had my size before. One shirt I liked so much, but they only had a size up and a size below, so feeling optimistic, I naturally bought the size below thinking that I would be wearing it comfortably in a few weeks. A friend (my sister in weight struggles) also gave me heaps of her old clothes that are too big for her now that she has dropped a few pounds. A lot fit, but a lot didn't, and once again the optimist in me chirped I'll be in them by Fall/ Winter.

Then, it hit... the dreaded stall. My scale did not budge for, count them, OVER SIX weeks.

At first I thought, "Pfft, no big deal, all I have is time. I'll start losing again, I always do..."
Then after the 3rd week that became, "Well... what the heck?"
Then by the 5th week..........

"HULK WANT SMASH SCALE!!"

I talked it over with my husband who always gives gentle sage advice, you know the kind that you already know and don't really want to hear, but need to. "You always say that when that happens it's time to change something up." was his response. Curse him and his logic! I didn't want to hear that! I had been losing without putting forth the diehard effort that I had in the past before I got my surgery, and I wanted it to last, I STILL want it to last! I LOVE working out when I feel the need to workout and not working out an hour every... single...dreaded... day. I love eating the occasional sweet or mini bag of Sun Chips instead of eating nothing but salad.

I lovvvvve iiiiiiiiiiit.

"I'm not ready to start kicking it up a notch, and I don't want to!", I thought. Then I realized I sounded like a spoiled brat at bedtime.

Shuttin' up & ownin' up and taking your own advice isn't always easy to swallow, is it? The hardest part is squelching the all-or-nothing mantra I've had all my life. I (like so many with life-long body struggles, hyper-critical family issues, and a strict religious upbringing) am a die-hard perfectionist. But I am working on changing that (yes, volume-eating isn't the only bad habit that surgery can help you break). I don't have to workout an hour every single day to reap benefits, I don't have to eat nothing but salad with vinegar & oil (in fact it's not even optimum nutrition), I don't have to beat myself up... EVER. None of us do.

I am an adult with a lifetime of experience and no one to answer to but myself. Damn that felt good to say.

Anyway... I stopped eating the here-and-there bits of Halloween candy I had been, started tracking my food, and started getting off the couch more by marking some big projects off my to-do list (had a garage sale, overhauled our junky patio, re-potted lots of plants, swept out the garage) and thankfully, my scale moved a few days ago.

This is for the rest of you, if you don't mind sharing I would appreciate it...

Two questions:
1) How long was your longest stall?
2) Did it resolve itself with time or did you do something to kick-start the loss again, and what did you do?