So i had vsg surgery in september 2013 and so far have lost 68 pounds. December 11th will be the 3 month mark. I have consistently lost almost every single day for the three months. For the past three weeks my scale has bounce up and down the same pound over and over and over. I have tried lowering calories, upping calories, low carb, high protein, more exercise, more water. I cant get it to budge. Dont get me wrong. The scale hasnt moved but the inches have a lot. I dont know if this has to do with the serious increase in exercise. Let me tell you a little bout that: Im training to become a lifeguard. My training schedule looks like this:

Monday Wednesday Friday and Saturday - Continuous lap swimming at 1:00 min/lap
According to mfp it =700 calories burned for the one hour i am in the pool.

Tuesday and Thursday- 1 hour of shallow/deep waterfit which combines water aerobics with dumbells in the water. After that i stay in the pool and swim 2 hours of laps at 1:00 min/lap continuous for a total of 3 hours in the pool.
According to MFP i burn almost 1300 calories just in the 2 hours of lap swimming. I still dont know how many i burn during waterfit.

Sunday is my rest day with no exercise

A daily food routine for me is:

B- individual greek yogurt cup 90 cals 9carbs 8 protein
L- 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with 90 cals 1 carb 4 protein
S- 3-4 oz of chicken breast with 1/2 tsp of light mayo and 1 tbsp of cranberry jelly
D- 3-4 oz of chicken OR 3 spanikopita Or 1 low carb egg crepe stuffed with goat cheese Or 1mini whole wheat tortilla baked with spinach leaves, crumbled goat cheese and pink salmon drozzled with balsamic reduction( 1/2 tsp) Or 3/4 cup of cream of tomato soup with 7 saltines.

So i eat pretty much almost the same every day and allow myself unlimmited flavoured water.

Any thoughts on what to change or do?

ok. take a DEEP breath. frankly, you're doing PHENOMENALLY well. Now, here are a few thoughts.

After losing so much weight in SUCH a short time, our bodies sometimes take a break. my pattern at first was to lose about 10 pounds in a week, then nothing for another week or so, then another 10 pounds. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.

As for your eating, i'd suggest more protein and more veggies. I'd also considering including more high quality carbs as well to help support your exercise regimen. Things like chick peas, low-carb veggies [green beans, leafy greens, broccoli, etc], and perhaps some low GI fruit.

You might want to consult a really good nutritionist/sports person as well. I suspect a few more calories might help - it's possible that you're exercising off everything you put in your mouth, leaving nothing for your metabolism. and you're doing this while you're increasing your metabolism.

trust me, i'm no expert, but you sound high-energy, high-exercise, and low food to me.

I agree with jiffypop.

Also, take a look at this: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...iet-break.html

Thanks sparklybunny for the live link. I skimmed the article but will return to read it at a later time. Thanks jiffypop for the added nutritional information. If I have learned anything is that you have to give your body the best possible fuel to run at its peak.

Pam

I agree, maybe your body thinks it wont get enough food for all the excercise and is holding on ....... but your story is very inspirational and appreciate the insite....good luck you are awesome

Hmm. At your weight I would expect more of a loss until you naturally stall out with muscle gain. I have definitely stalled now. I eat tons and work out a lot but I lost all the way down to the 170s.

You are taller so will stall out at a higher weight but I wouldn't think this would be where you are now. More like in the 200-220 range.

My hunch is to look at your diet. Either skip the snack or reduce the dinner.

And are you really busting it in the pool? I run 10k a day which is about 800 calories and I am a sweaty, exhausted wreck after doing that. I am sore all the time. Are you?

If inches are still moving you are still losing!!! Don't stress it and just keep going, the scale will cooperate eventually.

Yeah, I'm going to say if you are losing inches, throw away the scale for a while.

My scale hasn't moved much in the last oh... year? Yet I put on a pair of pants yesterday that I bought this summer (for $1... how can I pass on that) that didn't fit. Now they they do. Muscle retains water in order to heal and as you know, women's hormones can also retain water which may be why the scale isn't moving. When I had my initial weight loss at around 280 lbs, I had a period of 3 months that the scale didn't move but then all of a sudden I had a big whoosh and weight fell off like crazy. Granted, I didn't have WLS so I wouldn't expect such a long plateau in your case.

Hugs porthardygirl!

I have not had surgery, but I saw your post title and had to check in.

First, you are probably not doing anything wrong. 68 pounds in three months is a lot. I've lost 50 pounds in five months and my body decided to ramp way down in November. I was freaking too, but then I noticed that my skin tone was improving and I was still losing inches. So I think my body just needed a break, and yours may too.

You may also consider increasing your calories temporarily. If your body thinks it is starving, it may slow your metabolism ... but a couple of days at maintenance may cause it to settle down and return to normal ... at which point you can cut them again. This is what I am going to do since I am traveling this month, I'm upping my intake by 500 calories so that I stay in control but I give my body a break.

Seriously, my weight has barely budged this month but my body looks a lot better ... and when I went to the mall I was actually trying on size 12s because some of the 14s were getting a little baggy.

Sometimes the scale lets us down, but clothing size, photographs, stamina, and the tape measurer can show us the truth.

This has always worked for me in the past, and everyone else I know regardless of what type of eating plan they are on. Also, a few months ago I was in your situation, nothing happening at all. I only started dropping some weight when I did stick to more veggies and protien, upped the water, and then started really looking at what I was eating, any extra calories or fats in foods that I hadn't thought about, my extra cheese, or cream in coffee etc.

You are doing wonderfully well, I would love to see inches drop. It is a reminder that something is happening in your body. Good luck and remember to mentally congratulate yourself on all your hard work, every day.

Try not to let a few days on the scale hinder the progress you have made or make you obsess. I made this mistake several months ago after my surgery, I then began eating everything and am currently trying to take the pounds off again.