Tag: <span>Plateau</span>

Another weight loss plateau
Published Thu, 13th May 2021

Another weight loss plateau

I’ve been hovering around the same weight – give or take a kilo – for the last 6 weeks. And, more worryingly, for the last 4 weeks my weight has actually been creeping up!

I had been making good progress, and in first 7 months after my gastric bypass surgery I managed to lose 40 kg (over 6 stone) in weight. But since then my progress has stalled. And I kind-of know why.

Too much snacking and bad snacking

My main meals have pretty much stayed the same. I’m eating the same breakfast, lunch and dinner as I usually would – with an emphasis on protein rather than carbs.

However, I’ve got into the really bad habit of snacking on sweets between meals – which means I’m consuming a fair amount of sugar and empty calories. My particular undoing at the moment are mints, which I often eat unconsciously while at my desk, and they’re almost pure sugar.

If I can reduce the amount of snacking between meals, or at least make my snacks more healthy, then hopefully start to lose a bit of weight again. The key to this is to not have unhealthy snacks in the house, because I’m only picking at them because they’re handy.

I might also start tracking all my foods again in MyFitnessPal, which is a pain the hole to do, but it really useful in helping to keep track of my daily calories and macro-nutrients.

A lack of upper body strength

I’m pretty good at doing exercise that builds strength in my lower body. I walk and/or cycle pretty much every day, which helps build strength and muscles in my legs. But I do pretty much no training that helps build muscles in my upper body.

I’ve been told that people losing weight after bariatric surgery are prone to losing muscle mass as well as body fat. And to counteract this muscle loss, it’s important to eat lots of protein, but also to do strength and resistance training.

I went to see an Exercise Physiologist a couple of weeks ago, and he gave me an exercise plan to help with building my upper body, but I haven’t actually started doing it. I tell myself that it’s because I’m still waiting for my dumbbells to arrive – but it’s probably more related to laziness!

My Story Surgery

Diet Muscles Plateau Snacking

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Feeling a bit frustratedPeople 2568886 1920
Published Mon, 9th Nov 2020

Feeling a bit frustrated

There are good days, and there are bad days, and today if definitely one of the latter! I’m feeling frustrated that my weight loss has plateaued, and also that I’ve got an injured knee so I can’t exercise properly.

In the last week or so I’ve not lost any weight, which is disappointing because up until now the weight has fallen off me really quickly. Some weeks I was losing 2 kg and was delighted with my progress. But the last couple of weeks that’s stopped, and my rate of loss has slowed considerably.

I’m not too upset by it, because I know in my head that the weight loss will come… eventually. But at the same time, I don’t feel I’m seeing the reward in the scales for my efforts.

Then there’s my knee. It’s painful when I bend it and it’s a bit swollen. I’d love to take an anti-inflammatory painkiller, but NSAIDs are not allowed because of my weight loss surgery.

I’m OK to walk on as long as I don’t try to walk very fast, but with a slow pace I don’t get my heart rate up, and I don’t benefit as much from the exercise.

So all-in-all I’m feeling pretty fed up. It’s the kind of feeling that would have derailed me in the past. I would have probably gone out and bought a load of rubbish food, and (temporarily) drowned out my feelings by eating. But of course – with my tiny new stomach – I can’t do that anymore, so I guess I’ll just embrace how I feel and live with it. And also try to remember that:

It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon!

Although at the moment – with my dodgy knee – I’m not capable of running a marathon or a sprint!

My Story Surgery

Exercise Feelings Frustration Injury Plateau

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I’ve hit a weight loss plateauWaterfall 5428467 1920
Published Tue, 27th Oct 2020

I’ve hit a weight loss plateau

It’s around 2 months since my Gastric Bypass, and for most of the time the weight has fallen off me. However over the last week or more I’ve hit a plateau and not lost any weight!

I’ve not made any major changes to my diet or exercise. I log everything I eat in MyFitnessPal and all my activity in FitBit, and things like my daily calories intake is the same as previous weeks. My protein intake is the same. And my exercise is the same. I’m just not seeing and weight loss on the scales.

Up until now my progress has been good, and I’ve lost an average of over 2 kg a week, which has been amazing. So my recent stall or plateau was not expected.

It can be easy to feel down and frustrated when a weight loss hits a plateau – especially when you know you’ve been doing everything right. These negative emotions don’t help the weight loss process, and can often derail someone that was doing well.

However it helps that I’ve encountered this kind of thing before when losing weight. My body, for no apparent reason, just decides to retain the fat or fluid it would normally have shed. And there’s no reward shown on the scales for all the good work done.

The good news is that the plateau is almost always only temporary, and the weight loss will eventually show on the scales. The important thing it to try not to get too disheartened in the meantime, and to stick with it.

Some things I try to remember:

  • This is a marathon, not a sprint. I need to look at my progress over the longer term, rather than day by day. It’s natural for the body weight to vary from day to day, and having a very regular weigh-in, such as daily, can give a false impression of progress. Instead I need to take a long term view, and look at my progress over the last month.
  • Not all victories show on the scales. It is all too easy to fixate on the number of kilograms or pounds lost, but at the end of the day, I’m not on this weight loss journey to be a certain weight. I’m doing this to be healthier and have a better quality of life. So I should concentrate on the positive improvements that have already been made to my life. The clothes that I can now fit into, and the activities that are now much easier to do.
  • The best things worth achieving in life are not easy. Nobody becomes a concert pianist the first time they sit down at a piano. Nobody becomes a leading brain surgeon on their first day at medical school. And nobody can shift a lot of weight without hard work, sacrifice, and sometimes disappointment and pain. So I try to concentrate on the investment I’m making in myself to reach the goal of being healthier in the future.

Of course, if my current plateau continues for an extended period of time, or indeed if I start gaining weight, then it might be time to take my weight-loss journey back to first principals. I would need to consult the dietician, maybe keep a more detailed food diary, and try and pinpoint where I’m going wrong.

Surgery Weight

Plateau Progress Weight Loss

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