A “stall” is when weight loss stops for a period of time, at least a week if not more. I’m in a couple of Facebook groups for people who’ve had weight loss surgery, and by far, the most common post is a panicked or frustrated post from someone who’s stalled. It can be 2 weeks after surgery, 6 months after surgery, or even a year after surgery. Invariably it’s something like “The scale hasn’t moved at all in <some time period>. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong! I’m doing just what I was doing before, getting in exercise, water, and protein, but nothing. What can I do to break this stall?”
The advice people give runs the gamut, including…
- Eat more
- Eat less
- Eat more carbs
- Eat less carbs
- Eat more protein
- Eat less protein
- Exercise more
- Exercise less
- Don’t do weight work, only do cardio
- Cut back on cardio, start some weight work
You get the point.
Almost always someone says they did one or more of these and the stall broke the next week/day. However the other option is to just stay the course; keep doing what you’re doing and your body will kick in again. The problem is that we just don’t know what stopped the stall: doing one or more of the above, or just waiting.
I’ve been in many stalls since my surgery, which was just 5 months ago. Mostly I’ve just continued doing the same thing. I’ve increased my carbs and calories a little bit to see what will happen. We’ll see…
