WEIGHT-LOSS: Don’t Be Derailed by a Temporary Plateau

While it’s certainly frustrating, it’s important to understand this just temporary. The good news is it usually happens after you have lost a significant amount of weight—so congratulations!

During your post-op weight loss, the body will eventually need a ‘time out” to stabilize itself and adjust to your lower nutrition intake, smaller size and increased calorie burn due to exercise. It can happen at any time in your weight loss journey, but is particularly common 3-6 months after surgery.

Generally, stalls can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, even though you’re staying on track. Expect from one to three plateaus in the first year following surgery.

Why do weight loss stalls happen?

You can blame your body’s metabolism—

When you lose weight rapidly, you are losing lean body mass (muscle) and fat. Muscle plays a big part in the burning of calories by keeping your metabolic rate high, so you want to hold onto muscle and strive to build more! (This is one of the reasons we ask you to take in so much protein).

A weight-loss plateau usually occurs when your metabolism slows down. Now that you're thinner, the activities you're performing may not be resulting in as much caloric burning.

An increased metabolic rate is not the only reason for keeping muscle. You want to keep muscle so you can use them to exercise and burn even more calories. Weak muscles make exercise more difficult, so build muscle with strength training and cardio workouts.

Eight tips to overcome plateaus and boost metabolism

1. Increase the intensity of your exercise

2. Weigh yourself less often.

3. Keep food journaling to ensure there are no negative nutrition issues creeping in.

4. Eat all that protein to help retain muscle, even in shake form.

6. Drink 64 ounces every day.

7. Sleep eight hours nightly and keep a set schedule, even on weekends.

8. Talk to your IWL team during the plateau for support, tips and guidance.

Keep in mind…

If you are weight training, consider that muscle weighs more than fat; while you are building muscle, you are still losing inches (girth) even though if it isn’t reflected in pounds lost.

Remember there are several layers of people supporting you during your road back to good health—your IWL surgeon and nutrition team; family, friends, colleagues and support groups.

If a plateau lasts more than a few weeks, call us. Stay positive and celebrate how far you have come in a short time. This is a very brief traffic jam on your highway to success.

Ayotunde Adeyeri, MD, FASMBS, is a board-certified advanced laparoscopic, bariatric and general surgeon on staff at several central New Jersey hospitals. He is the medical director of Sterling Surgicare in Holmdel; medical director of the Institute for Weight Loss, Raritan Bay Medical Center; and co-medical director of Central Jersey Bariatrics in Freehold. Visit SterlingSurgicare.com or call 732-217-3897.