Sleeve Failure??

[Sara6224]

I had the gastric sleeve Dec 18th and it's now one month. Everyone talks about losing all this mega weight their first month and I lost a whole 3lbs!!! I am keeping my calorie intake below a 1,000 a day eating mostly protein and veggies with a few carbs mixed in time to time from protein bars. I go to the gym 6 days a week and walk 3-5 miles a day and run 2. I then do a ab circuit and aerobic/weights mixed circut for 30 mins.
I was 298 as of 6 months ago and now 232. I lost all but the 3lbs on my own with no gym time and following the same diet. I was averaging 8-10lbs a month doing great until the sleeve. Now it seems to have stalled my weight loss and no matter how much time I put in the gym, my scale is not moving. I feel like this surgery's forat failure. Any suggestions??

[Brandonf150]

Water intake is 96oz a day? You could also be in starvation mode with all the exercise. All we really need to do is 30 minutes a day walking just getting the heart rate up a little bit into the fat burn zone. Anything harder than that can be counter productive.

Do you wait an hour to,drink fluids after you eat? If no, you need to. Do,you drink,while eating? If yes, stop.

[CMG214]

I would be worried that a month in that you're eating almost 1000 calories a day. When I went for my 6 month appointment, I finally made my nutritionist give me a calorie number to use as a guideline and she said between 1000-1100. At 1 month out, you shouldn't be able to eat that much. What is it that you're eating? Are you still following the guidelines that the nutritionist gave you to go by for the first 4-6 weeks? The reason people usually end up losing so much the first few months is because they can't eat that much. Usually soft foods, yogurt, oatmeal, mashed potatoes. Eventually you can eat more but I don't remember it being anywhere close to 1000 calories a day at only 1 month post-op.

[Brandonf150]

CMG is right on as well.

Also many people do not lose the first month. Some of it is because once you shift from liquid to soft foods the body starts storing again.

Fluids
Protein
Light exercise

Stay away from carbs! 2/3 of your meals should be protein.

[Kindle]

I'm very confused by what you are able to eat at just one month. Veggies? Protein bars? Most people aren't eating solids at that point. I was just starting pureed food. And 1000 calories was completely out of the question. It was 6 months before I could get that much in. And going to the gym and lifting weights? Again, most people are put on activity restrictions for 6-8 weeks until the sleeve incision is healed. I've never heard of this kind of ultra rapid recovery pace.

So to compare your rate of loss to a "typical" VSG patient that is still sipping on fluids, eating small teaspoons of mushy food and struggling to get 64oz fluid and barely getting 400-500 calories at one month out is like apples and oranges (which, BTW I wasn't allowed to eat until 3 months postop)

[Sara6224]

I have never drank enough water so I need to do that more.

[Sara6224]

My doctor/surgeon removed me from liquids the first week on day 5 and told me go to purée because I was starving and healed super fast he said. Since then I've been eating 1,000 calories a day which is a protein shake in the morning (1 scoop is 110 calories and I'm on two), for lunch I have a half tuna fish sandwich or something that has protein and carbs because of me being in the gym and hypoglycemic I need carbs for the sugar in my body or I faint. For dinner I will have something like baked chicken with beans or like last night I had shrimp and Brocolli. I was taken off purée food and set to chopped 3 days later and now I'm able to eat whatever I want. If I get hungry or weak between meals, I eat protein bars or cottage cheese. Some days I eat tomato soup if I'm feeling sick.

[Keltia98]

I am on board with everyone else. I was on a faster track recovery-wise than most, at four days post-op I was cleared to eat tuna salad (mayo only), low fat cheese or a scrambled egg (all servings no larger than a golf ball and split into quarters to eat over an hour). But I was not cleared for any fruits or veggies or carbs until month three. The only exercise I was allowed was walking, as much as I wanted. I had the typical stalls as my system adjusted, but mostly because I was in starvation mode not able to get in any more than about 400-500 calories a day. I just have made it to 1000 calories at 4 months out, and that’s only because I admittedly eat more cheese and nuts than I probably should. I just had my first actual sandwich last week.

Sounds to me like you did too much too soon. Eating carbs to keep your sugar up because of the strenuous exercising, you really can’t expect to lose weight as fast as the “typical VSG person”. But keep this in mind. Just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should.
Other than that, I would say, congrats to you on the 3 lbs and keep on keeping on. A 3 lb loss isn’t a gain.

[Kindle]

I've never said this before, but I am inclined to agree with you that your surgery is a failure. And I mean that in the sense that you are getting gypped out of a honeymoon period. That period when your sleeve restriction provides significant portion control and gives you the time to learn how to eat healthy and purge bad habits while you lose a bunch of weight. But sounds like you don't have much restriction. What you describe in terms of volume of food you can easily consume took me 8-10 months to get to. You are basically starting where I was when I started maintenance.

Since you are exercising so much, you may want to check out some body building/fitness forums. I know there are ways to incorporate the timing of your protein and carbs and workouts to maximize fat burning and muscle building.

And 2 very important things I learned were 1)just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should and 2) being hungry isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's no reason to eat to fullness or to eat every time you feel hungry.

Good luck

[Mbenson5]

I am not sure I agree with the word failure because that denotes a final verdict, which you are far from. My guess is that you have loss quite a large amount of weight already, and your body is taking the time to get to it's new normal. (it is called homeostasis) That happens to a lot of people, me included, at around 3 weeks. I was freaking out at that point when I saw everyone else losing so much faster. Since then, it's been 3.5 years now, I lost at a steady rate. Still working on that last 18 lbs, but have found that I cannot lose if I eat more than 35-40 carbs a day. I don't do that for more than 2 weeks, because your body will adjust to that and it won't be effective anymore. But that is a long way off for you. My advice at this point is to ditch the protein bars, and shakes if you are doings them, and eat real food. That is the only way you will learn what your body needs and how much. I wish you all the best! Melissa

[GELDED]

64 ounces water daily. No liquids 1 hour before or after meals.

[December 7]

Hi I had my surgery on December 7 2015 and I know exactly how you feel but we can't compare ourselves to others we are all different. .. I had the lap band 10 years ago and I was comparing myself to everyone who had the surgery done at my job. I would work out and watch what I was eating; ; but everyone was losing weight and they didn't exercise. ..turns out I had a leak in my port , had it replaced and still didn't work so let's fast forward 10 years to 2015 I had my lap band removed and had the gastric sleeve. Then I started doing it again comparing myself to everyone here and what helped was reading about others struggle and getting some advice. I especially love the one who said to stop looking at scale and I won't be worried about what I lost .We have had a major life changing experience. It seems you are pushing yourself too hard and (we should be eating the same) see what I just did compare myself to u ...that's a no no.. we have to give time for us to be able to use the sleeve as a tool to help. Now that I have read your post I'm here and hope we can go thru this journey together and we have to remember the advice on this site is advice that has helped them lose weight. You didn't gain your weight over nite or a month so it will take time to lose... I would take a deep breath and relax ...You got this and best of luck.just remember you are not alone. Stay positive. ( I might one day need your advice or just need to know it will get better )
Celia

[Ladycat]

First of all, you can't fail as long as you don't quit. As long as you keep trying, you're moving forward.
I haven't had my surgery yet, and I'm already trying to compare myself *laughs* I'm not sure to what though.

The point is ask questions, use the information as it pertains to YOU not someone else.

Hugs,
Kitty

[TDEHERRERA]

don't worry you will start losing, everybody is different, you also will stall several times in the next year, don't freak out it happens to everybody and the stall could last a week a month or a little longer, just keep in contact with your nutritionist she can help you through it or anyone in this forum