Well it has been 3 weeks and the scale hasn’t budged. You know how it feels. You feel discouraged and frustrated and upset and you don’t know what you are doing wrong.
First things first – Relax!
Having the scale stall and sit at the same weight for a few weeks is completely normal.
Next – let’s place the focus on the long journey and not just the short destination.
Of course we have surgery to lose weight but wasn’t the real reason your health ? Didn’t you see your health improving and having higher energy levels and feeling more comfortable in your skin and seeing a big decrease in the medications that you take. Those need to be the primary goals and the weight loss then follows. It takes time.
Everybody loses weight at different rates.
You need to remember that you are not going to lose weight at the exact same time as your surgery buddies. We need to consider levels of exercise and gender and age and different hormones and different starting points. Focus on you – on your journey – on your health. This is your time to shine and don’t ruin it by looking over your shoulder.
Overnight success doesn’t exist.
Remember how long it took to gain the weight? Well that is exactly how long it will take to lose the weight also. This is not a race to the finish line – it is a journey to long term health.
Now here are some things you can do to stay on track:
- Take your measurements so that when the scale gets stuck, you can see how your measurements are still changing.
- Are you keeping a food log? This is very helpful to see if there is an over consumption of macros or calories.
- Are you eating insufficient calories ?
- Are you eating up to 60 grams of protein each day ?
- Are you eating too many crappy carbohydrates like crackers or sugar or rice or flour?
- Are you into the habit of grazing ? Where you eat non stop small little portions ?
- Are you preparing your own meals at home so that you know what goes into your food?
- Are you getting a bit of exercise each day?
- Are you taking your bariatric vitamins and supplements ?
- How are your stress levels ?
- How is your sleep quality?
It is important to make an honest evaluation of where you are today and what areas require improvement. Focus on how far you have come and on what changes you will make going forward.
If you need additional support please do reach out to me. I am here for you throughout your entire journey and we can work though this stall together.
Reach out with any questions you have and if you want any of our bariatric nutritional plan, you can grab them HERE Bariatric Food Expert
About the Author: Sheri Burke is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Bariatric Surgery Coordinator at International Patient Facilitators in Tijuana and Cancun, Mexico. She has worked with bariatric surgery clients for over 10 years and especially enjoys providing nutritional guidance to pre and post bariatric clients. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two teens and cooking up a nutritional storm in the kitchen.
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