Darn stall and afraid to eat

Well, that damn stall got me. I've been working my butt off with the exercise. Faithfully riding my bike every night. Very proud that I can now do 30 min and not be out of breath and dying. Well my legs feel like limp noodles when I go to walk afterwards. Sticking with my eating plan.

I'm starting week 4 and have the ok to start some solid food. My first 2 oz of chicken went down pretty good. I do however have it in my mind, especially with this stall that maybe I should wait longer or just go back to full liquids so I don't gain. I'm staying around 300-400 calories a day right now.

Anyone else out there get scared of eating? I don't want to be paranoid about eating and I am sticking to this thing. I'm just worried about gaining weight.

Tink

You are not in a "stall until your weight has not moved for at least a month.  You are only 4 weeks out from surgery.  Are you saying that you have lost no weight in those four weeks?

Weight fluctuations happen.  It's completely normal.  You will not lose weight every week.  We lose weight in a stair-step fashion.  Lose a little, stay the same, lose a little more.  Not losing for a few days is not the same as  stall.

Tough love coming:  

Just keep following your program and stop obsessing over the scale and eating.  If the scale is stressing you out, throw the damned thing away and rely on body measurements to measure your success. If you are only eating 300 to 400 calories per day there is NO WAY you are going to gain weight.  It's physically IMPOSSIBLE, and you KNOW THIS.  You need to stop obsessing and start taking good care of yourself by learning new habits and how to feed your body properly.

YOU CAN DO THIS!

I think you are wrong. It is a stall. There are numerous posts on this site regarding a 3rd week stall.

Yes I've lost since surgery but I have not had a loss in the past two weeks. I know I won't lose weight every week and the body does strange things when going through this type of weight loss to adjust.

I don't plan on going off my program not really obsessing just making a statement that the 3 week stall got me. I weigh once a week, not daily. I've not stopped my working out, or cheated or given up. I am taking good care of myself. That's why I had the surgery and have made this lifestyle change.

They call it the three week "stall", but it is really not a stall as described by a dietitian.  It's very normal to have pauses while you are in weight loss mode.  It is completely normal for the body to lose and then stay the same for a week or two.  Your body takes time to adjust.  I lost all my weight in a stair-step fashion.  I never had a true "stall".

I was not trying to **** you off.  You said you were afraid to eat and that you were afraid you were going to gain weight if you ate more than 300 calories.  That sounded a bit obsessive to me.  You also KNOW, logically, that it is impossible to gain weight eating so little. If you are following your program to the letter, you will be successful.  I'm glad you are taking good care of yourself.  Part of taking good care is to not worry about things that aren't really issues.

You are the one that posted the question.  I simply answered.  I have 29 years of WLS experience. I've been through every complication out there, and I have maintained my weight.  

Appreciate the feedback

Calories are calories.  It doesn't matter if they're liquid, puréed or solid in form. They all count. Same with whether they're protein, fat or carbs. We weigh and measure everything to ensure we eat the right amount of calories so that's all within our control. 

Tink Tink Tink, my sister from another mister. :P I would have to disagree with the other poster, a stall is anytime your weight doesn't fluctuate either up or down. I had one around week 3 and it lasted 8-9 days and then poof, 4 pounds dropped over night. You have to remember, your body is still pissed off over what you had done to it. I wouldn't worry about it. If you do a forum search for the word 'stall', you will get page after page, everyone practically had one somewhere in week 3-5 or so. Even my surgeon told me about this ahead of time, so I wouldn't worry about it, you are still healing and your body is still figuring out it's new signals. If you are staying at 300-400 calories, you are probably taking in too few, plus all the exercise you are doing, I was on 5 protein shakes a day on my liquid diet, it was a total of 800 calories and 150 grams of protein, as I started eating other things I would drop a shake for a bit of crab or chicken salad, etc. I know some have said there is no such thing but I would disagree with them when I say I think your body is in starvation mode, you should increase your calorie count to at least 600-800 calories. I know it has worked well for me. Week 5 in on this upcoming Tuesday and as of this morning I have lost 68 pounds including the 12 days of liquid diet I was on prior to surgery. I would increase the protein and calories. You really need the protein while your healing even more so than once you get to maintenance.

This advice is based on your 5 weeks' experience?

She's 3 weeks out of surgery. She doesn't need 800 calories. Morbidly obese folks carry more than enough excess calories around, they don't need to eat more. She's doing a bit of activity on a stationary bike, not running the Pacific Crest Trail. Starvation mode IS utter nonsense. 

In part based on my 5 weeks of experience, my own research, and my discussions with my brother who has been post op for over 13 years. Your starvation mode is utter nonsense is based on what? Your gut instinct? No pun intended btw.

I thought I would share something with you that I found on the website from the Mayo Clinic.

"A healthy approach to weight loss does not mean going on a strict, severe restricting diet geared toward rapid weight loss, according to the American Dietetic Association. In fact, severe calorie restriction and/or and eliminating whole food groups, such as carbohydrates, from a diet is a set up for problems. Weight loss diets that profess these types of eating patterns can deprive a dieter of nutrients and restrict calories to the point of putting the body into starvation mode. This can result in a slower metabolism and rebound weight gain. This can also lead to ketoacidosis, dangerously high levels of acids called ketones that build up in the blood and can poison the body. Severely carbohydrate-restrictive and high protein diets can also result in kidney damage. 

 I find it for lack of a better word funny that you called starvation mode a myth when a very well recognized and respected medical institution states otherwise. I'll take their opinion over yours.