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Average

There is no average weight loss. I just recently read at Penn Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Program that weight loss should be between 5 and 15 lb a week in the first month or two. No way! I did lose an average of 7 1/2 pounds a week for my first 8 weeks. And then I went down to about three and a half pounds a week for the next month and following that I hit a plateau and stopped losing weight at all. I lost 75 lb in 3 months and then nothing. And I wasn't even close to my goal. my plateau lasted for five or six months. Then I started hiking and canoeing and the weight just dropped off until I hit my goal a few months later.

If I believed in averages, I would have been a lot more freaked out about that long plateau than I was. Your body is going to lose as much weight as it can by burning calories from the fat stores in your body. It is going to do this at its own pace and you can certainly influence it by increasing your caloric expenditures by walking or biking or swimming, but even that might not work. If you're losing 1 to 2 pounds a week that's still fifty to a hundred pounds a year. Most overweight people would kill to do that.
 
Don't worry about it. Your rate is your rate. My loss rate for the last five weeks (I just hit my 9-week mark) has been 1 to 3 pounds per week. I have no problem with that. At some point, I'll lose zero pounds, and it could stay there for a while. I'm okay with that too.

Every oz of loss is a victory, and I'm going to fight to keep that weight off regardless if I lose another pound or not. I feel so much better than I did 9 weeks ago when I went into that operating room. I want to reach my ultimate goals, but if I don't, I have still succeeded greatly.

Likewise, you have succeeded greatly as well.

Move away from the scale and focus on making good food and exercise choices and positive changes will follow.
 
Girl, I swear, every time I calm myself down about how slowly I'm losing, it's your turn. I am literally LOL. Don't take offense to that, please. I find it very comforting that someone else is right where I am. I hope you do too. I just saw my surgeon on Wednesday. I'm down a whopping 1 lb., it's really like 8oz, from 2 WEEKS ago. So I started my whole "OMG, WTH?!?" thing. If I average out since surgery it's about 3lbs a week. I can't average just this last month cuz why freak myself out again?!? I really try to stay focused on the other positive stuff. I can SEE it. I can FEEL it. I am still losing, whether it's 4oz this week or 3lbs next week (here's hoping!). It doesn't matter what the average is. It doesn't even matter what you should or could be losing. The only thing that matters is that you ARE losing. You're following the program, making good choices and improving the quality of your life. Believe me, I know that is easy to say and it's hard to ignore slow weight loss. But that's what I told myself yesterday, so that's what you get today ;)
 
LOL!!! You are too funny!! I love that we seem to be taking turns LOL!. I just am always worried I'm not doing "the program" right. I have made the right decisions so I know I'm doing everything right. I don't know why my brain doesn't see that. I see it in all my non scale victories. Ill get there LOL
Maybe b/c I'm not hitting the high end of my water and protein but i am hitting the low end. Its so hard to get it all in especially when I don't feel hungry. That makes me feel like I'm failing. I know deep down I'm not but i have to relax and know I'm doing ok.
 
I know, I know. I am actually hitting the high end of water and protein, though. (trying to save my hair .. which just started to thin anyway.) I'm not very hungry but I don't seem to stay full either if that makes sense. So, I'm still eating at the scheduled times I had set for myself, 5-6 small meals a day. But since I can comfortably eat more, I feel like I might be messing up. Even though surgeon, nutritionist, Dr. WL app etc says I'm fine. I can't seem to believe I might be doing anything with food or my body in a healthy, positive manner. I know it's still going to be a lifelong attention to what and how much I eat. But I sure hope it becomes less overwhelmingly pervasive. I could live without the hyper-awareness of should I be eating this? How much of it? Did I lose a pound? It's getting better, I think. I don't worry obsessively about it every day. Of course, I'm still not confident enough in my mental stamina to get on the scale unless I have to, so .. maybe not LMAO

As a side note, how often is everyone having to see/speak to their surgeons, doctors and nutritionists? I feel like I am talking or visiting one or the other pretty much every week or two. It seems like many of you aren't seeing yours very often at all.
 
I had a sleeve. My doc told me most people lose between 10-15 a month for the first 6 months and then it slows down.

I had a crappy weekend as I was out of town and had very limited food choices. It also doesn't matter what I eat at this point; I don't like the taste/texture of almost all of it which makes it hard to continue to eat. I however still came home 1/2 pound down from before I left. To date, 3 weeks post I have lost 12 pounds.

I try to only weigh myself every Tuesday and even moved my scale to the basement as I can be an obsessive weight taker.
 
canecorso81 said:
What is the average weight loss expected monthly in the 2nd and 3rd month? I know everyone is different but just checking.
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Odd question - how often do you weigh yourself? When I first had surgery I could literally weigh myself when I got up in the morning and weigh myself at night before bed and be down several pounds. I refuse to become a victim of the scale. I had to weigh myself once a week in the beginning - but I refuse to become a "victim" of the scale. Your body can add muscle and that weighs more than fat. Your body can lose inches and the scale may remain the same. I only weigh myself every other week. You're doing an awesome job! Just follow your doctors suggestions/orders/recommendations and you'll be where you want to be sooner than you think.
 
Honestly I weigh myself like 6 times a day... I know that's not good. I try to not do it but i have no self control! LOL.
In the beginning everyday I was down in weight, then a stall then about a pound day. Now i have been stuck at the same weight for about 1.5 weeks.
I'm gonna try my hardest to do it once a week.
 
canecorso81 said:
Honestly I weigh myself like 6 times a day... I know that's not good. I try to not do it but i have no self control! LOL.
In the beginning everyday I was down in weight, then a stall then about a pound day. Now i have been stuck at the same weight for about 1.5 weeks.
I'm gonna try my hardest to do it once a week.
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I can totally understand your compulsion to keep weighing yourself, it's very hard to resist, especially in the beginning when most of us see big losses. From the very beginning, I promised myself not to do it more often than weekly. I weigh myself every Friday morning, then put the scale up on a shelf in the closet until the next Friday morning. I just find that the results are more accurate than doing it any more often. Otherwise you could be seeing losses that are dehydration or gains that are just water, among many other factors that play a part every day. Waiting a week, I saw a good loss 99% of the time so it kept my positivity up. :)
 
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