not sure what I'm doing wrong?

tomorrow will be 2 weeks in surgery. I was on clear liquids for 4 days. I lost 20 pounds since the week before surgery. I have been on full liquids for 5 days and gained backed 2 pounds???? ( full liquids include one 40g. protein shake, fat free sugar free popsicle and pudding, water, and some heart healthy cream soup)

You're not doing anything wrong, from what you told us :)

For one thing, you undoubtedly have a lot of internal swelling right now.  I remember being about two weeks out and posting a thread called "When will I stop looking pregnant?" or something to that effect.  We all go through it, and in the first month (at the very least) it can really mess with the scale.

Also, many of us have weeks where we lose more than other weeks.  This is probably not going to be a perfectly linear process.  As we lose weight, we go through cycles of building up and releasing something called glycogen.  Glycogen makes us retain water, and when you lose weight, some of it is water and glycogen; it's not all fat.  So, you lose some fat and some glycogen, then your body builds its glycogen stores back up and causes you to retain a little water in the meantime, and then you'll release that extra water and the extra glycogen along with some fat and the cycle will continue.  This water retention can go on for several days, even a couple of weeks in some cases, but when it's over you'll generally see a bigger drop on the scale and then things will return to normal for a little while.  It can be frustrating, but don't let it get to you; it happens to just about all of us.

Sounds like you're doing great!  Keep up the great work :)

Try to resist the temptation to weigh before your first postop appt. It is possible to gain 10 lbs or more during surgery and hospitalization because they pump so much fluid in and your body has to have time to equilibrate. Stay on plan and you will be fine. Congratulations on your surgery. I know you will do great.

you are not the only one.  i am 3.5 weeks post op, lost 10 lbs on opti fast, and have been going up and down 2 lbs ever since.  in essence,  i haven't lost a thing post-op.

it's upsetting, confusing, etc..  i don't know what to make of it either.  it really is demoralizing.

I am 3 1/2 weeks post-op and had a stall until last Friday.  I didn't lose anything for almost 2 weeks.  Friday morning I got up and the scale went down 3 lbs.  It's gone down about 1 lb a day since.  I was desperate and starting think I'd made a mistake by doing this drastic surgery to find out that I'm one of the people who can lose weight with a WLS.  I posted something similar to your post and received many reassuring comments that many people experience this stall.

Whew!!!!  It sure helped me feel much better about it.  I hope it helps you also.

I want to share with you my biggest piece of advice for long term success. Weigh yourself every day but do not worry about what the number says. You want to know where you are every day but you only care about what the scale says over time. You want to make sure from week to week (less importantly) and month to month (more importantly) that the scale is headed in the direction you intend, particularly if you are doing all the right things which right now you don't have a whole lot of choice.

You are healing right now, all bets are off as to what the scale says until you return to full foods, so keep weighing yourself and keep logging it but don't worry about what it says right now. Yes it is very motivating to see that number going down, but try to get some other motivators like logging your food every day and getting some exercise every day and hitting your water and protein numbers. There are lots of things you need to do so use your successes there to help with the motivation as well.

So to specifically address the weight gain, you are still healing and your body will bloat and retain water during that process. Also take a look at the sodium level of that heart healthy soup, it probably has quite a lot of sodium in it compared to soup you could make from a recipe. Pudding also can be high in sodium as well. Excess sodium will cause water retention. Water is very heavy so retaining just a little bit will show up on the scale in a big way, like 2 lbs (1 quart of water which isn't that much).

So take it easy and relax, you are way to early out to be worried about the scale just yet. It will come just stick to your plan and you will see the results you want to see.

I 2nd what Keith wrote.

Day to day measurements serve only one purpose, that's to establish a pattern over time.  Day to day fluctuations are practically meaningless.  When you see a day that doesn't do what you like, look back to the same day of the week for the past 4-6 weeks and you'll usually find that pattern very interesting.  Take heart in the weekly/monthly patterns and move on.

Yes, daily weight-ins feel great in the early days.  After all, isn't it fabulous to watch excess weight you've carried for years literally melt off?  However, IMAO, in the end you're going to learn that all that really matters in this game is body fat percentage and that your actual weight is really a secondary number.

What daily measurements can't do for you is perfectly measure changes in body fat percentage.  Only focusing on weight will often overlook the fact that body fat continues to drop while weight stays the same for any of a variety of reasons.  Even the fancy scales that measure body fat can fluctuation from day to day.

Yes, it's our job to deliver the (kind of) bad news.  That is, as soon as you learn to take the daily weigh-ins in stride, the happier you'll be.  I offer all of this because in my own OCD way I had to make this same evolution so I know how it feels.  Now I'm much more capable to dealing with whatever the scale says in the morning (and I still weight daily).

 

You've gotten some good advice. I will tell you that I lost a little weight right after surgery, then gained 2 pounds a week after surgery. And then I maintained for like another week. I ended up losing 18 lbs at the end of my first month. I was doing everything I was supposed to be doing, and yes, it was frustrating to actually gain a week after surgery. But I can tell you that after that first month, my losses regulated a bit, and I fell into my own personal pattern of weight loss (which ended up being lose, gain, maintain, repeat, repeat, repeat). Your body is healing and it might do funny things this first month. Just keep to your plan, try to have patience through the stalls and you will start losing again. Best wishes!

at the moment it would be just fluid retention, try cutting down on sodium and see how that goes.

Regards

Thanks all. I truly appreciate everyone's insight and help.