Week 1 (well... 1.5) Results and 3 Week Stall Explanation from My Doctor

Can I just say WOOHOO and HOLY **** I’m down 15 lbs from my surgery weight in on 8/8. I’ll no longer be considered “obese" in another 15 pounds.   Wow - my mind is seriously blown.   My week 1 post-op appointment was fairly easy. The doctor looked at my incision sites, weighed me and let me ask questions. He says his goal for me is to lose 10% of my starting pre-op body weight in the first month, which means I only have another 8 pounds to go.    He did warn me about the 3 week stall and gave me a very thorough explanation as to why it occurs. He said that for the first 2 weeks or so after a surgery or any other bodily trauma (thin car accident), the body goes into a “Catabolic" state, which basically means that in an effort to repair itself, the body starts breaking down muscle. There’s a lot of water stored in muscle, which is also released during this time. He also assured me that no amount of protein supplements will change the Catabolic state - the body goes to muscle first to get the protein it needs to heal. Once week 3 or so hits, the body has made the necessary repairs and it now starts to rebuild the muscle it burned during the previous 2 weeks. Which means that while you don’t lose much (if any) weight, your body is now converting stored energy and supplemented protein into muscle (so you tend to lose quite a few inches during this time). My doctor joked that about 50% of his patients call him during week 3 freaked out because they haven’t lost weight and they think something is wrong. Anyway, I found the explanation very interesting!

Congratulations!! Good job! And thanks for the explanation. That actually makes some kind of sense to me!

Congrats on your loss so far!! Your doing great!

Dr. Mueller rocks! I am hoping to have him do my sleeve next month!

 Thanks for sharing!!!

Thanks so much for sharing this logical and scientific explanation for what I'm trying really hard not to be bothered by... I lost 15 pounds in two weeks, have since regained two and been holding at that for a week. So nice to know it's all about my body doing what it needs to do and not about anything I'm doing wrong...
Here's hoping in the next couple of weeks things get back on track.... really hoping to see those numbers starting to drop again.
Lynn

Oh thank you so much for this clear and concise explanation of the "three week stall". I lost 20lbs my first 2 weeks enter the 3rd week and the dreaded stall on into week 4. I return to my doctors office next week for my one month follow up and I'm really hoping to at least lee another 6 lbs by then, which will give me a 10% loss from my starting weight.

That is really interesting, thank you for sharing. I'm entering week number 3 now, and I've been feeling soreness, and stiffness, and I wonder if this has something to do with the muscle trying to build back up in a sort of way. I do find it really interesting, thank you!
Congrats on your surgery, and your weight loss thus far!! =)

Not looking foward to the stall. I am scared to go on the scale.

Thanks for sharing this information!  I am at 4.5 weeks out and had a stall for about 10 days.  I just started losing again yesterday...! 
Great job on your wt. loss!  I will be in the overwt. catagory in 11 lbs, too!  Yay!