If you have undergone weight loss surgery and have hit a weight loss stall, it can be challenging to determine the cause. However, there are steps you can take to try and break the stall and get your weight loss back on track.
Here we will help you find out what caused your stall so you can make the necessary changes to break it.
What is a Stall?
A weight loss “stall” occurs when your weight loss slows down or stops for a period of time. This is a especially common after bariatric surgery, where weight loss tends to be rapid at first and then slows down over time.
A natural stall should not last longer than a few weeks. If you have not seen any weight loss for an extended period of time, it may be helpful to read an article about possible reasons for this, such as “18 reasons your not losing weight after gastric sleeve surgery.”
What Caused My Weight Loss Stall?
Before you can break a stall after gastric sleeve or gastric bypass surgery, we need to figure out what caused your weight loss to stall in the first place.
Solution: Take some time to reflect on the period of time prior to your stall. Did anything change in your diet, activity, routine, stress, or lifestyle?
Try to pinpoint what may have changed by asking yourself these questions:
- Diet: Did your eating habits change? Did you stop tracking your food intake? Did you start eating more processed foods? Did you stop drinking water? Is your diet based on high-protein, healthy bariatric foods?
- Exercise: Did you start exercising? Did you stop exercising? Did you change the amount or intensity of exercise you were doing?
- Medication: Did you start or stop a medication?
- Other factors: Did something happen in your life that caused stress? Did anything change to your sleep routine?
What To Do If You Hit a Stall?
If you have determined what caused your stall, it will be easier for you to figure out how to break out of it. If you have not determined the cause, there are a few precautionary steps to take when you face a stall or weight loss plateau.
The good thing is that it generally doesn’t matter what procedure you have had – you can follow the same steps to break your stall after weight loss surgery.
1. Fix the Obvious
If you have identified a specific cause for your weight loss stall, start by addressing this issue. For example, if you have recently started consuming new foods or beverages that could be hindering your weight loss, try cutting these out of your diet. If you have recently started an intense exercise routine that may be contributing to the stall, try reducing the intensity or frequency of your workouts. Similarly, if you have been staying up late at night, try going to bed earlier to see if this helps to break the weight loss stall.
2. Track Your Daily Calorie Intake
If you are unable to identify the specific cause for your weight loss to stall, it is possible that there has been a change in your caloric intake. To address this, start by tracking your daily caloric intake using a tool like My Fitness Pal. It is essential to record EVERYTHING you eat and drink for at least three days to get an average of your daily intake. It is important to be thorough and record even small amounts of food or drink, as these can add up over time. By tracking your caloric intake, you’ll visually see the areas where you can make changes to help break your weight loss stall.
3. Refer to the Post-Op Diet
If your stall is in the first month after your surgery, it is likely your body is just adjusting to the new stomach and weight loss will catch up once you have established a healthy diet once healed. For suggestions during this first month compared to our post-op diet guidelines.
If you had gastric sleeve surgery or gastric bypass surgery and your stall has taken place after a month post-op, please take a look at our suggested guidelines after surgery, which gives a suggested calorie range as well as an ideal breakdown of bariatric protein, carbohydrates, fat, and sugar.
Make the necessary changes to your diet to mimic our 7 day meal plan.
4. Adjust Current Diet
Adjust as needed. You may discover that you need to increase calories or you may find that you need to decrease calories. Calories are the most important factor. Then you can fine-tune the macros.
Adjust your protein, carb, fat, and sugars to the suggestions listed. Keep in mind these suggestions on our meal plan are for the average bariatric patient with average height and low physical activity.
5. Change It Up
Switch it up. Our bodies get comfortable if we stick with one diet for a long period of time. If you have followed our recommendations and initially saw results but then the weight loss stopped for a week, it is time to switch it up.
There is no one “correct” diet that works for everyone because we are all different. If one diet does not work well for you, try a different one for a while! Here are some other diets to look into that are popular for a bariatric patient:
Keto Diet:
- High protein, low in carbohydrates
- Very low: 0-20 grams of carbs
- Moderate: 20-50 grams of carbs
Paleo Diet:
- Eat: Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, healthy fats, and oils.
- Avoid: processed foods, sugar, soft drinks, grains, dairy, legumes, artificial sweeteners, vegetable oils, margarine, and trans fats.
Calorie Cycling:
Alternating calories throughout the week so you have some higher calorie days and some lower calorie days. For example:
- Mon: 500 calories
- Tues: 1200 calories
- Wed: 800 calories
- Thurs: 1200 calories
- Fri: 800 calories
- Sat: 1200 calories
- Sun: 1600 calories
6. Drink Water and Take Bariatric Vitamins
Water intake and bariatric vitamins both play an important role in weight loss so your body can function at its full capacity.
If you have been slacking with either one of these, get back on track! Drink 64 ounces of water daily and take your daily bariatric vitamins that fulfill ASMBS guidelines.
The Bottom Line
Keep in mind it is normal for weight loss to slow as you get lower in weight. These recommendations are meant to help someone who has seen very little (less than a pound) to no weight loss in at least one weeks time.
Don’t give up! Losing weight is difficult but it is never impossible. There is always something that can be done to break a stall. We are confident that you will break your stall, whether you had gastric sleeve surgery (VSG) or gastric bypass surgery (RNY), if you follow the suggestions above.
If you feel you’ve tried everything to no avail, it may be beneficial to set an appointment with your doctor to determine if something else may be keeping you from losing weight.
