Sleeved on the 12th of January. First two weeks the scale was falling so fast it was almost frightening, 18lb down, and I'll admit I got used to the morning weigh-in being the best part of my day.
Then day 17 it just... stopped. It has now been NINE DAYS at exactly the same number. Same scale, same time, same everything. I'm following my stage sheet to the letter, fluids fine, protein first, walking every day. I know I read something about a "three week stall" being a thing before surgery but I skimmed it because obviously that was going to happen to other people and not me.
Someone tell me straight: is this normal or am I about to become the one person the sleeve doesn't work for? Because 3am me has fully decided it's the second one.
Normal, normal, a hundred times normal. Mine hit at week 3 on the dot and lasted SIXTEEN days, during which I grieved, raged, and googled myself silly. Then it broke overnight and the loss carried on like nothing had happened.
Two things kept me sane. A tape measure: during my sixteen days the scale didn't move but my waist lost inches, the body was clearly rearranging even while the number sulked. And getting dressed: mid-stall I put on trousers that hadn't fastened since before surgery. The scale is one witness, and honestly not the most reliable one in the early weeks.
Also, gently: maybe weigh less often for a bit? Daily weigh-ins during a stall is just paying for bad news you already have.
Mine arrived the same week as my first meal out with friends, which I'd been dreading anyway, so that was a fun cocktail of feelings. For what it's worth the meal was fine: I ordered a starter as my main, ate half, took the rest home, and precisely nobody at the table cared. The stall broke about a week after. The two facts are unrelated but 3am me connected them too.
#4February 10, 2026, 8:47 am Tracey, what you're describing is one of the most predictable events in the whole recovery, common enough that bariatric teams half-expect the phone call in week three.
In general terms: a good portion of very early post-operative loss is water rather than fat, as the body runs down its stored fuel. Around the second to fourth week it rebalances and replenishes those stores, and the scale flattens even while fat loss continues underneath. That is why the stall so often follows a fast start, and why it ends on its own. The pattern, and the sensible ways to ride it out, are covered properly in the site's guide to the gastric sleeve stall. Donna's tape measure is an old favourite for good reason.
The caveat that belongs in every thread like this: I'm describing the common pattern, not examining you. If a stall stretches well beyond a few weeks, or comes with anything else that worries you, pain, trouble with fluids, feeling unwell, that's a call to your own bariatric team, who have your operation notes and your blood work. They would far rather hear from you than have you consult 3am you, who I gather is not an optimist.
This thread locked automatically 60 days after its last post. If you landed here worrying about your own weight, diet stage, or symptoms, that conversation belongs with your bariatric team, who have your notes; a forum full of strangers doesn't.
