Losebig

I think part of it depends on body type, activity level and muscle mass. If you're very active or a larger body type / muscle mass getting calories can be hard with the restriction. I also think some people have more mal absorption than others with the sleeve, I can definitely tell I don't absorb stuff the way I used to. If I eat fatty stuff it goes right through me and isn't being absorbed, so much so that I need to be really careful or bad things happen (fried food is OFF the menu). Others don't have this issue. Not sure if its related to sleeve size, how the procedure was done or just the luck of the draw. I've had dumping with the sleeve a couple times (it was absolutely horrible), which is pretty unusual too

Yup, had that for a couple months I think and it was VERY annoying. It was likely due to the large hormone release when you lose a lot of weight quickly. You probably will also get mood swings and other fun effects, but the good news is it means things are working! Try melatonin, you can take it again in the middle of the night if you want. I personally took melatonin at bed time and also tylenol pm (benedryl actually) and that worked most nights.

If I'm creeping up to the top of my maintenance range I try to eat stuff that will very quickly fill me up and keep me full so I can't eat more without feeling sick. Steak is good for this, 4 oz and it's like a rock in my stomach for an hour+, you could also eat a little something that's pretty solid and have a few ounces of water, that does the same thing - but use extreme caution with this. You still have the restriction, so you can use it to your advantage by eating stuff that will keep you full so you can't snack. Resetting is a good idea, I don't know that I'd go back to liquids because that will be very hard, but maybe back to just simple protein and no carbs for a while. The protein will fill you up and after a week of that a lot of the cravings and hungriness should subside a little. Good to see you on here again and good luck!

I've been in maintenance for just under a year and had hit goal really quickly (6-8 months), so still had a large restriction when I started. I switched my diet to nutrient dense foods and try to eat stuff that I really like. Even now I'm still very restricted (5 oz of solid stuff max per meal and if it's like meat it takes a long time to digest (~hour). I'm really active so I have to get in enough calories or I lose weight and if I move off my current weight I just don't feel good. My BMI is still on the high side, but I'm not a good BMI body type (lot of muscle) so the DR's are very happy with me at this weight. Food wise I'm consuming about 2300 calories per day with a range of maybe 1500 - 3k depending on what I'm doing. I tracked in great detail for the first year. Now I still track but only spot check days here and there. My big tracking is a weekly weigh in and as long as my weight is within a 5 lb range I'm happy. If I'm low I make an effort to eat a little more, if I'm high I make an effort to eat a little less or more lean stuff. Foods for me consist primarily of protein with limited carbs and very minimal fruit and vegetables (I would love to eat these, but I don't have time / room and if I eat them then I don't get enough calories). I generally eat when I feel hungry and this works out to 3 meals and 3 snacks per day. Here's an example of what I might eat on a normal day: Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 slice american cheese, 1 bagel thin with butter ~10am snack: Apple fritter (450 calories - yeah not the greatest...) lunch: 4 oz chicken salad with light mayo, 1 bagel thin with butter, sometimes 1 oz of crackers or pretzels ~3pm snack: 10 crackers and 3 oz of cheese slices Dinner: steak 4 oz (or 1 sausage or repeat lunch or breakfast) ~8pm snack: Plain popcorn with salt or bagel thin, or crackers and 3 oz of cheese or italian ice or if I worked out a lot or am starving repeat a meal I shoot for 64 - 100 oz of water I don't eat every snack / meal every day and on days when I'm running a few miles, biking or other calorie intense exercise I'll eat more. If I get busy I forget to eat or run out of time so am low on calories. If I feel like I'm eating too much I'll have something that fills me up quickly like 1/4 cup of rice or steak or something else that makes me full and won't let me eat additional foods. I generally don't eat potatos, pasta or rice as I'm immediately full with these and can easily end up in pain. Great thread and hope this helps someone. I'm really happy with my new lifestyle and don't feel like I'm missing out on anything food wise and generally just eat when I'm hungry.

Have this issue too and am about 18 months out. The key is energy dense foods. I eat a lot of nuts, fattier meat (I.e beef and pork more than chicken) and more snacks (6 meals / snacks a day). I'm very active though and if I get busy I start to drop weight again so have to pay attention. You can and will stop, just track food and calories and find your sweet spot. if you are really struggling do a bigger treat that is calorie rich (I may do ice cream or a 400 cal pastry if I'm running for example to boost calories)

Well the good news is that weight is a huge contributor to cancer and other major health issues... so if you drop the weight you are way ahead regardless of what type of diet. I don’t know the percentages or stats, but I’m guessing if you lose weight but eat mostly animal protein you are still probably at less risk than having not done anything. Unfortunately human nutrition is not as well understood as other things (it’s REALLY complex). I bet in 50 or 100 years people might look back in horror at the stuff we put in our bodies today

My dr and nutritionist said BMI is useful for classifying large groups of people and useless for individual weights. For me I would need to lose another 40 lbs. at this point 32” pants are getting loose and I’m in a medium shirt. Bones in my shoulders are clearly visible and ribs are when I lay down. Another 40 lbs to the ‘normal’ range and I would have serious issues. Body fat is a way better method if you can get it tested. I’m just happy I’m never the fattest person in the room now (yes I used to keep track of that!)

I’m 10 months out and just finished dinner, which was 2 eggs, a slice of American cheese, 3 small sausage links and 1 piece of toast. I was right on the edge of painfully full. This minus the toast is a meal I have eaten at least once a day since July. Sounds like you are right on track. Keep track of calories and whatever else your nutritionist wants and try to stay within their limits. I’m in the maintenance phase and average around 2k calories a day. If you eat too much you will KNOW. I dry heaved for 30 minutes last night because I ate one strawberry to many.

I kind of wish I could eat like people did before factory food took over. Simpler foods with basic ingredients and minimal processing. My wife is super into those processed high volume low calorie things. I can't eat like that, I don't like it and it isn't nutrient dense enough. At the end of the day it's calories in vs calories out and if you can maintain basic nutrition that is all that matters. I personally like carbs at times, but will often end a snack (say chips) that isn't filling with dense protein, which fills me immediately and prevents overeating. I wish I could eat brown rice, potato or beans, but at current volumes I would either have to eat constantly or starve to death.

Wondering what other folks maintenance diets are like? How many calories, what types of foods, number of meals / snacks etc? I'm meeting with my nutritionist to tweak mine, I think I probably need to vary my diet a little bit and figure out how to maintain for the long term. Right now my diet consists of protein centered meals (eggs and sausage for breakfast, ground turkey with sour cream and taco shells for lunch, some kind of lean meat for dinner (4-5 oz) and usually 3 or so snacks throughout the day, which range from pure carbs (pretzels and hummus or chips) to more protein heavy (Greek yogurt). There's certain things I'd like to eat that I really still struggle with due to restriction (vegetables, more than a small amount of fruit and any kind of hard core starch like potatoes, rice or pasta are painful after more than maybe 1 oz). To get enough calories my goto is peanut butter toast, nuts or sometimes a protein shake smoothie. Daily calories for me are around 2,000 and probably vary from 1500 - 2500 depending on what I'm doing. At that level I'm slowly losing weight What's your program like? can/could you eat stuff like potatoes in any quantity 10 months out?

I had the same starting weight (304) and some similar NSAID issues (have inflammatory arthritis). After talking to the DR I went with a sleeve, but knew I'd need to work hard to make sure I got the weight loss I wanted out of it. It's been 10 months and I'm VERY glad I made that decision. Here are some key points to think about: - I eat out a lot for work, so wanted to be able to continue that. The sleeve lets me do this, albeit with a smaller portion, the bypass wouldn't have - I NEED NSAIDs unfortunately, right now I'm having a severe flare up of arthritis and am using NSAIDS, which are ok with the sleeve per my surgeon (just liquid caps VS pills). If I couldn't take them I'd be on some other much more severe drugs. - I can eat a somewhat normal and varied diet. This is important, especially now that I've hit goal and am struggling a bit to keep weight on (I'm very active). I think I'd have a serious problem with the bypass and my physical activity would be limited if I wanted to maintain weight. I do a mostly protein diet now with some fruits and vegetables and limited carbs. - I was worried about long term nutrition and with the sleeve I'm able to maintain my nutritional levels mostly via diet (I have to take a multi vitamin). I would sit down with your surgeon and ask them what they would do in your situation. That's what I did and he didn't hesitate when he said do the sleeve. The surgery was fairly easy and recovery was quick. I'm sure the bypass would have also been effective, but am really happy with what I chose to do and glad that I can be sort of normal now.

I picked a number that I had previously been at and felt like I was a good weight and on the edge of 'too thin' (could see my ribs). I chose 190 based on that. My practice doesn't really emphasize the goal and didn't even write it down. As I got close to 200 my nutritionist started to talk about stopping losing weight. One thing I didn't take into account with 190 was that I now have some excess skin (thankfully it's not bad), but that skin weighs something and I can't lose it normally. That means that 190 now might be closer to 180 or 175 then, which was WAY too thin. After talking with the DR and nutritionist they suggested around 200 lbs because visually i was a good weight and athletically I was in great shape, which was the goal. BMI is useless for me because I have a long torso and a lot of muscle. I have struggled a bit to maintain around my goal and when I dip into the lower 190's I can tell, i don't feel good and it effects my athletic performance, around 200 is perfect. Right now I'm fighting to stay at 200 because I'm very active and now when I'm busy I forget to eat I can accidentally drop 5 - 10 lbs quickly and then have to fight to gain it back (doing that now). So short answer is you can pick a number to start, it doesn't' really matter. What does matter is when you get close to a healthy weight listening to your team and your body to find what 'feels' right for you and looks good. I would recommend trying to pick a weight to stay at after the lose phase is over so you can make sure you don't start regain or lose too much if you're still in that first 18 or so months when it's easy to lose.

Keep up the hard work good things will come

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

No hair loss for me (I’m past when it occurs). My nutritionist thought it was because I always exceeded my protein goal and never missed a supplement.

I’m down about 100 lbs and slowly entering the maintenance phase. I would like to drop a few more lbs to get under 200, but at this point I’m starting to feel too thin where I’m hurting my exercise routine by not eating enough and am uncomfortably boney in some places. I’ve been about level for a month, which is good as I was afraid I couldn’t stop near goal.... the plan is to figure out the right weight in the next month or so then try and stay within about 5 lbs of it.

I think that as you hit goal and focus on other things this journey becomes a less central part of your life and inevitably you talk / think / write about it less. That's why the forum is dominated with so many new folks. I'm already starting to notice that myself. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

Sounds like a good menu. I will probably be eating tacos (3.5 oz ground turkey, .5 oz sour cream and 2 taco shells) for the 100th time in a row. Maybe I'll mix it up and have 3.5 oz of chicken.. can't say I mind it though.

I was at that level for my first 5 months or and now (6.5 months) hae about doubled that as I approach goal. Eating that level I was losing 3- 4 lbs weekly, now it's 1 - 4 lbs depending on activity level. I don't think you have anything to worry about

I have a small amount of ice cream at least weekly (kiddie size or I feel sick). It's a good treat and I account for the calories. It is a slider food though, so if it didn't make me feel sick I'm sure I could eat a lot. If you are prone to eating too much then avoid it. If you can do good portion control then it should be ok.

Thanks. I remember you posting about the underwater scale. So far I haven't found anything like that, it would be a great way to figure out an ideal weight!

I originally set a goal of 190 based on the fact that I had previously been at 185 and my ribs were clearly visible. Now as I approach that goal I’ve been talking with my team about when to stop (assuming I can). The nutritionist is fine with where I am now (206 down almost 100) and doesn’t want me under 190. BMI is totally wrong for me (lots of muscle, big build and long torso makes me heavy for my height). Wife thinks I’m thin enough. I’d like to get into onderland just because. I think fitness and size wise I’m good. I run 3.5 mi (10 min miles) a couple times a week and it’s not too hard, bike a lot. Shirt size went from xxxl to M and pants from 44 to 32. How did you decide you were ready to enter maintenance?

I often mix it with light cocoa, the warm beverage goes down easier and even has some protein in it (though you are probably on shakes only). If the shakes are too sweet or thick try mixing them with water (I added 10 oz of water per 12 oz shake). That really helped me

Good for you! If it's not there you can't eat it. Cheese it's are my personal nemesis and I've had to toss them before

Not sure if they recommended it, but start taking a stool softener or miralax now. I waited a couple weeks and the first BM was worse than the surgery! The gas pain is outside your digestive system (they inflate you like a balloon), so it has to reabsorb. Walking is really the only thing that helps.