Stalls happen.
The first 6-12 months after WLS is considered the “honeymoon” phase, where your tool is capable of doing most of the work on it’s own. It’s the time you need to build the habits that carry you through for the rest of your life.
Personally, I’ve seen some pretty dramatic loss. I’m just short of 5 months post-op and I’ll be at least 100 pounds lost when that milestone hits next week. That’s an average of 20 pounds a month… but I stress average. There have been weeks where I lost 10 pounds, and weeks where I didn’t lose any.
In other words, I stalled.
And when I see discussion on stalls on the various forums, I see a lot of people focusing on that number on the scale, the pounds lost… or in the case of a stall, not lost.
If you’re coming in to this, I can’t stress enough, stalls happen. And if you find yourself dreading them, getting upset or even depressed when they happen, I can only recommend one thing.
Get rid of your scale.
I’m serious. Get rid of it. Give it away, sell it, or just plain throw it in the trash.
I’ll admit, while I never really wanted to know what I weighed when I was 370+, once I made up my mind last fall, I wanted to know where I was at. I wanted to keep track. I even ordered a “fat dude” scale from Casual Male so while I was still 350+ I could weigh myself at home. And yea, it’s been really kewl watching that number drop over the last nine months. And there was a period, especially after surgery that I was weighing myself every day. That rush of seeing pound after pound melt away was huge! No pun intended. (ok, maybe it was intended)
But you know what, there were sooooo many other changes that have hit me during this process, that even without knowing the numbers, I would still have been just thrilled. A lot of people out there call these Non-Scale Victories, or NSVs. So if you find yourself getting bummed out cause of a stall, here’s some things you can try and focus on other than your weight that may help you get through them.
Measurements. Measure yourself, maybe once or twice a month. Neck, chest, bicep, gut (round the belly button), hips, thighs, calves. I’m a bit over due, but I’ve lost over three feet between my neck, chest, gut, hips and thighs. Probably four feet or more if you add the arms in there at this point.
Clothes. This one seems kind of obvious, for chicks. For dudes… well, most dudes, clothes are an afterthought at best. Let me tell ya, it’s been an odd mix of joy and frustration when it comes to clothes. Going from a 48 jeans down to 34.. close to a 32 now… it’s… wow. I was kinda thrilled when I hit 38. I think that’s where I was in high school. Two weeks later they were baggy on me and I got a pair of 36s. Maybe a week or so later… I bought a 34. I actually had to sit down for a minute when it hit me. Shirts, I’m down from 3-4X to larges.
I’m going to a wedding tomorrow and I did something last week I hadn’t really planned on. I bought a suit. I probably wouldn’t recommend doing so for folks just 5 months out, but I think I’m pretty close to where I’ll end up weight wise, or at least close enough in my overall body shape that I should only need some minor alterations to the suit for it to last me a while.
Activity. Yea, I had WLS to lose weight, but not just for the sake of losing weight. I missed being active. I missed playing paintball. This year, I’ve been out once or twice a month since March, playing more in the last six months than I played in the last 2 years combined. I go walking… which I used to do but had to stop when I topped out cause my back would start hurting. I’m biking… did 21 miles one day last week. During those inevitable stalls, think about those things you just plain couldn’t have done before.
Sleep. Yes, sleep. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, but I could never tolerate those stupid CPAP masks so I never used it. So I slept like crud. I probably rarely really hit any deep REM sleep. A few months ago I would wake up in the morning with the realization that I had a dream. I still rarely remember the details, but I do remember dreaming…. something I know wasn’t happening a year ago.
Overall Health/Well Being. There are some direct results you can see here. Were you on meds for blood pressure or diabetes that you are no longer taking? I was given some BP meds just after surgery, but since then my BP has been better than it was pre-op when I was on my meds. How about joint pain? I bet that’s getting better too. And a bit more indirectly, just how are you feeling overall? Odds are, you’re feeling better because of things like being more active, having energy, getting good sleep, doing things you couldn’t before, etc.
There’s something about human nature where we seem to want to dwell on the negative. Maybe it’s part of the poor self-image thing so many of us former-fat dudes have lived with for so long. I dunno, and I know I’m not immune from this either, but when I find myself getting a bit frustrated or down, I make myself go back and look at all the positives that have come about because of my WLS. So even if you have to make yourself a list of things you keep in your wallet, do it, and hopefully your next stall will just be just a mole-hill instead of a mountain for ya.
