Frustration

I’ve been playing with the same two pounds for at least a couple weeks. My weight goes down, then back up, then down, then back up again. I’m following my program, staying under or at my calorie guidelines, not eating a ton of carbs (which I don’t want anyway, unless I eat some and then I want ’em like mad), getting in protein and water. The one thing I could do more of is exercise.

I know stalls happen. I’ve posted tips for stalls in my newsletter and goodness knows I’ve been following my own advice (and the advice from others included in that little tidbit). I know everybody’s body is different. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others, but it’s difficult not to sometimes.  I know I even said I’m okay with being a slow loser as long as I’m losing but, sometimes, I’m not so okay with it. It’s hard to watch people who did not weigh more than me at the time of their surgeries having lost a lot more weight than I have, especially when they had their surgeries after me. It’s hard to see the people who had surgery around the same time as I did losing weight faster than I am. It’s frustrating to know you are doing everything right and STILL get stuck in a rut.

I know weight loss surgery isn’t magical fairy dust. It’s a tool and one that must be used properly. It takes work and dedication. At least nobody has told me I’ve taken the ‘easy way out’. If they did, I might be tempted to punch ’em in the nose. This is NOT easy though, I must admit, it’s a lot easier than doing this without weight loss surgery. It’s just frustrating. How in the world, when I’m getting less than 800 calories most days, am I not losing weight?

I’m sure some people will try to tell me my body has gone into starvation mode and is fighting to hold on to the weight so I don’t die or some such. Just google ‘starvation mode is a myth‘ to see why that just might not be so. One member from Obesity Help who had a sleeve gastrectomy (as I did) did some research on it (there are some excellent resources linked in that article). It is true that our metabolism slows down but, starvation? No, not really. Even the rate of slow down isn’t what people might expect.

Other than exercising more (next week starts the 100 push up challenge, maybe that will help), I’m at a loss as to what to do. Maybe I’ll give my nutritionist a call and see what she thinks.