Not as much weightloss as expected

I had my surgery in March 2017 and 7 months later I've lost 55lbs. I actually stopped really losing weight at the 5 month mark . At the 6th month mark I came here to post and everyone that had surgery around the time I did had lost 100 lbs or more and was celebrating. Everywhere I went online to find out what was going on , I saw several posts from ppl who had the same experience ( didn't get nearly the results expected) but they were all being attacked and chastised for "failing the surgery" and not following the rules. People were blamed and shamed for being the reason the surgery didn't work for them. I decided to not post here because I became depressed and ashamed. then it occurred to me that a lot of people who experienced minimal weightloss probably felt like me and took their " failure" and went away.

Here's the thing. I'm eating the cleanest I've ever eaten in my life! I drink only water . I have a protein shake every morning for breakfast. I have minimal carbs. I eat 2-3 meals a day and 2 healthy snacks per my dietician. I'm eating 1200-1400 cals/ day per my surgeon. I work out 4 days a week with 40 mins of cardio each day. I practically run myself ragged between work, the hour commute, cooking all meals at home and meal prep , going to the gym and all this and not losing any weight. I even see the occasional rise in the scale. It's driving me crazy because I believe in any cir****tances even outside the surgery, a person should lose at least a pound a week with this lifestyle. My dietician is stumped and I'm going to make another appointment with her even though we couldn't get anywhere the last time.

Fun fact: 1 of my co workers that had an rny, practically lives in gym clothes, works out , brings all her prepped meals to work . Cautious about what she eats, told me the other day that she only lost 50lbs altogether from WLS 4 yrs ago.

Another co worker, never worked out a day since surgery ( according to him), and if you knew him , you'd agree. Went back to eating McDonalds ( that I saw myself), he eats a ton of fast food . Lost 200+ lbs from an RNY and 4 yrs later, kept it off. Looks like it's definitely not a 1 size fits all approach but I'm exhausted and don't know what to do to lose more weight, since clean eating and exercising is not seeming to work.

That sounds so frustrating. I'm sorry it's not turned out like you hoped.

What was your starting weight? Do you have any other health conditions?

Disclaimer: each program and center has their own rules.

The difference I noticed is that my NUT has recommended the calories to be lower than 600. In fact she told me that even in the future (while I am actively losing weight) I should never go above 800. You might wanna bring that up with your nutritionist.

The guy who has lost 200+ lbs and now eating McDonald will be right where he started in a little while. I think the whole purpose of this surgery is a ctrl+alt+delete to reset our priorities and get our lives back. If we go back to eating what we were doing before (chocolate in my case) then why do this?

Hang in there.

I don't know your height/weight but I maintain on 1250 average calories. I stayed under 800 during the weight loss period.

Thanks for your responses everyone. I'm 5"6 215lbs now. 273lbs right before surgery. I have PCOS and I was prediabetic before surgery . No other Co morbidities . I've been using the MyFitnessPal app and it's set to 1200 ( less than what my surgeon recommended) to lose 2lbd /week. Needless to say, that isn't working . I do struggle to eat 1200. I do get hungry! My stomach is definitely not the size of an egg. More like grapefruit. I'm thinking of requesting he get some sort of imaging to verify the size of the pouch . When I eat the very small portions I had 2-3 months out, I find myself hungry again with the hour and looking to eat again. So I eat a bit more protein dense foods . Chicken, fish , eggs . I have a small salad almost every day to help feel full.

PCOS will make everything harder. Have you checked out the PCOS board here? You might find some good advice for changes you can make that will help make this a bit easier.

Also, I'm newly out of my surgery--I just passed 11 weeks. But one of the first things I picked up around here was to IGNORE MFP's recommendations. It's not designed for post Bariatric surgery patients, and it's suggested calories are way too high for us. I use the Baritastic app, and it doesn't yell at me for not eating enough calories.

Does your NUT have a background in bariatrics, or just general nutrition?

How is your water consumption?

Hey! Thanks for your reply. I haven't checked out the PCOS group here. Will definitely do that. I drink a minimum of 24oz of water a day. It's really all I drink besides the occasional tea ( no sugar).

I'm going to create an entirely new eating plan . You guys have been a great help!

24 ounces? Does that count the liquid of your breakfast protein drink? Try to push that up. Get up to at least 64 ounces. Water is necessary for all the metabolic processes in your body, and if you aren't drinking enough everything will bog down and slow. I'd say getting your fluid consumption up to at least 64 ounces should be your first priority.

liquids should be more than 65 oz per day.

I'm another who's surgeon wanted me between 800-1000 during the losing phase, but circled 800 on the page as what he wanted me to aim for the majority of the time and I do. I was also told to eat 3 meals a day and no snacks, but I do plan for one snack or I'd never get all my protein in.

I'm down 108 overall and 91 since surgery in February. Makes mathematical sense that eating roughly 60% of your calories, I'd have lost about twice as much. (Plus I'm really tall which factors in)

You're not doing anything wrong by following your surgeon's recommendations, but your surgeon's recommendations just happen to be a lot higher than many of us and that makes loss slower. You can either continue to follow their guidance and be content with slow loss, or adjust your calories lower to speed things up. Neither is wrong, though there is some advantage to maximixing the losses in your first year. It gets harder after that apparently.

The McDonald's guy is a freak of nature. I'd throw his results out of your comparisons!