Plateaus

I've hit a bit of a plateau the past few weeks.  Meaning I've not had any significant weight loss, which is a real bummer!  Some say it's because I've hit the wall until the band fill "kicks in".  Some say it's my body building muscle while I amp up my cardio.  Hopefully after I get my body in better shape it will be more efficient at burning fat and it will just DRIP off of me!  LOL! 

One of the amazing fellas on my favorite forum - BARIATRICTV.COM said this:

Shannon what's happening to you is perfectly normal for post WLS patients - Your body has just gone through major surgery and needs time to adjust.

We like to call them WTF moments. Because basically that's what your body is doing.... it's taking a timeout and thus putting things on hold.

Every single patient gets the feeling that they're the one that this surgery won't work for. As long as you follow the rules YOU CAN NOT FAIL!

Here's some other info to digest regarding stalls:

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Pull back from your ‘daily’ charting, and look at a weekly or even monthly. There are up and down spikes each day, But if you ‘graph’ the highest to the lowest, I’d bet there is still A downward slope over the course of the month.

There’s an 8 to 10lb. volume of "wiggle room" due to water alone. And it comes into play a lot. This has to do with our bodies using glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, But it is stored in our muscles for quick energy – One pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, And the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs.

So, when you are not getting in enough food, (Like when you drop down to your calorie intake) Your body turns first to stored glycogen, Which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, You also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it Voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of any diet.

As you stay in caloric deficit, however, Your body starts to ‘realize’ that this is not a short term problem.

You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue And burning fat for energy. But your body also ‘realizes’---- (by way of your liver releasing hormones signaling low Cal intake) ---That fat can't be used for short bursts of energy – Like, to outrun a saber-tooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, And rebuilding the glycogen stores.

And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, (Thus showing negative Calorie load overall) Your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while As you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored. Yes? The whole ‘weight-loss’ process is not a straight "Slide" down the scale. More like "Stair-Steps," (Down then forward, then down, then forward, etc... As your body cycles fat out of "deep storage" and through the Liver Into the muscles as Glycogen.

The muscles and Liver can hold about a 3 weeks supply. This is why many people find that their "Stall" or "Plateau" Breaks when adding a bit of exercise And upping their water intake, or in the case of an "extreme exerciser," The total Calorie or Protein Intake, To signal the liver to let go of more Glycogen.

Hope this helps some. You are doing Great! Keep it Up
***

Ian


Fantastic eh?  The good news is that even thought I'm not loosing pounds right now, I've lost a total of 6 inches in the past month alone (I didn't take measurements in the beginning - yeah, kicking myself for that now), and I've lost 3% of my body fat!!!  Only 9,999 more to go!  :)

Thanks for all of your support!
Hope you will see less of me next time!