If you have recently had gastric sleeve surgery and you have noticed that your weight loss has stopped, you may be feeling frustrated. If you aren’t seeing the results you want, you may be asking yourself why am I not losing weight after gastric sleeve. You may feel like you’ve hit a wall, or even second-guessing yourself.
Most of the time, you won’t see significant weight loss right after their surgery completion. That’s because the body is adapting to and healing from the procedure. The transition to protein shakes and soft proteins will also take some time for your body to get used to.
At a certain point along the weight loss journey, however, it’s less about the amount of weight you’re losing and more about maintaining your weight. The surgical procedure is designed to help you get rid of excess weight. We all have a healthy target weight – losing much more than that isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Gastric sleeve weight loss surgery or gastric bypass surgery is just the first step. Learning how to eat a balanced diet and increasing physical activity is the overall goal. We feel this holistic approach gives you a better chance of reaching your fat loss goals as well as leading an overall healthier lifestyle.
Not Losing Weight After Gastric Sleeve: How it works
After bariatric surgery, your body starts burning glycogen, which means you’ll lose a lot of water weight. Then, the body will start turning to fat and muscle mass to burn. Once this happens and muscle is being burned, the metabolism slows.
Slowed metabolisms sometimes lead to something called weight loss plateaus and you may not see much weight loss happening. Often our patients will see these plateaus at six weeks, three months, six months, and nine months after post-operative surgery. This is your body readjusting to a new “normal.”
In other words, if you have a high metabolism, you will burn more calories. If you don’t, then you won’t burn as much. Your metabolism naturally slows as you get older – it’s one of the reasons it’s more difficult to lose weight like when we were younger.
Stay The Course
There may be other reasons why you’re not losing weight after gastric sleeve or other bariatric procedures, including a few you may not have control of. However, you may need to look at your lifestyle and if you’ve committed to the necessary changes. A small number of patients stop losing weight–or even gain weight–because they aren’t able to follow post-op care.
Dietary Habits
After gastric sleeve surgery, the stomach’s size is reduced, which means it can hold less food. Unhealthy foods often pack a lot of empty calories into small servings, and with a smaller stomach, there’s less space for food. So choosing high-calorie items can lead to consuming more calories than your body needs, slowing weight loss.
Unhealthy foods are often low in essential nutrients, too. With limited stomach capacity post-surgery, it’s crucial to prioritize nutrient-dense foods and supplements to meet your body’s needs. Lack of nutrients can impact energy levels and overall health, potentially affecting weight loss efforts.
Consuming high-calorie foods can contribute to weight regain over time, as they can stretch the stomach pouch created during surgery, allowing larger amounts of food to be consumed. After gastric sleeve surgery, the focus should be on nutrient-dense, lower-calorie foods to support weight loss, promote healing, and ensure adequate nutrition. This approach helps in managing weight effectively and maintains the benefits of the surgery in the long term.
Not Losing Weight After Gastric Sleeve: Portion Control
Portion control is super important after gastric sleeve surgery. Since the stomach’s size is smaller now, eating too much can cause discomfort and even stretch the stomach, undoing the effects of the surgery. Controlling portions ensures you don’t eat more than your stomach can handle, preventing discomfort and helping with weight loss.
Smaller portions also mean fewer calories consumed, essential for losing weight. As we discussed above, even though the stomach is smaller, it’s still possible to eat high-calorie foods that can stall weight loss progress. By practicing portion control, you train your body to adapt to smaller meals. This helps in the long run by preventing overeating and aiding in weight management.
Opting for smaller, well-portioned meals allows you to focus on nutrient-dense foods. This ensures you get the necessary vitamins and minerals without exceeding the limited capacity of your stomach. It’s a key factor in helping you lose weight effectively and maintain a healthy lifestyle after gastric sleeve surgery.
Stay Hydrated!
After gastric sleeve surgery, drinking enough water is very important because dehydration can affect weight loss in a few ways. When you’re dehydrated, your body’s metabolism can slow down, meaning you burn fewer calories, making it harder to lose weight.
Dehydration can also lead to fatigue and reduced energy, so you might be less motivated to be active or stick to a healthy eating plan. Being dehydrated can affect how well your body processes food, potentially causing digestive issues that might interfere with weight loss. Water not only helps your body function properly but also supports weight loss.
Other lifestyle factors include not enough exercise, poor sleep, alcohol use, and smoking can also get in the way of losing excess weight and reaching your goals. Some medical conditions and medications will also impede weight loss, so it’s doubly important to discuss these issues with your WeightWise surgeons beforehand.
How to reach your weight loss goal
We understand that reaching your weight loss goal after surgery is very important for you! Don’t lose hope if your weight loss has slowed down or even stopped completely. You can continue losing weight if you stay committed, even after you hit a plateau.
First, stay on track with your exercise and diet routine. If you have slacked a little on your exercise regimen or you haven’t been as strict with your eating habits, you could see some weight gain. It’s time to get back to what you were doing right after surgery.
Also, try switching up your exercise routine a bit – challenge yourself, make it a little more intense, or try something new completely. If your body adapts to the exercise and it’s too ‘easy’, the body won’t need to work as hard, and you won’t burn as many calories.
Supporting your weight loss after gastric sleeve surgery
The WeightWise Program is not a “quick fix” and the procedure is just the first step. The most successful patients are the ones who follow a long-term commitment to improved eating and increased physical activity. That’s why our clients are assigned a dietitian as well as an exercise physiologist.
Some clinics will perform the surgery and then give their bariatric patients recommendations for personal trainers or nutritionists to follow up with. We feel having everyone under one roof leads to better results because of this collaboration. Miscommunication is greatly reduced and patients won’t receive conflicting directions.
Working together, our surgeons, dietitians, and exercise physiologists will create a plan designed specifically for you. We also take into consideration the emotional side of weight loss surgery. Our patient advocates are here to answer your questions, provide a shoulder to cry on, and share in your achievements.
Our team at WeightWise wants to help you achieve your weight loss goals and put you on the path toward a healthy lifestyle. Watch our free online seminar to see why our program has been so successful for so many. And when you’re ready for that initial consultation, we’ll be here for you.