The Maintenance Thread

[AZhiker 2,253]

I keep losing weight, even with a much higher carb intake, using the Whole food Plant Based approach. I cannot eat any more calories. I don't even count anymore - just eat as much food as I can, making sure it is all healthy and nutritionally dense. Each day I eat at least 2 pounds of veggies/fruit (mostly veggies), whole cooked grains, legumes, nuts & seeds. I look so boney, although my BMI is still good. I cannot get smaller than a size 10 pants or else I will have to completely change the clothes - again. I have never been a size 10 in my life and it is a good size for me. I'm just not sure about what to do at this point to keep from losing. 5 more pounds OK, but absolutely not more than that. Ideas?

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

1 hour ago, FluffyChix said:

Johnson grass? We would smoke (or try to) smoke Johnson grass behind the garage. LOL.

Nope. Both my parents smoked, so the real stuff (Pall Mall unfiltered!) was always available 😉

[LynnV1964 134]

On 11/03/2019 at 15:19, AZhiker said:

I keep losing weight, even with a much higher carb intake, using the Whole food Plant Based approach. I cannot eat any more calories. I don't even count anymore - just eat as much food as I can, making sure it is all healthy and nutritionally dense. Each day I eat at least 2 pounds of veggies/fruit (mostly veggies), whole cooked grains, legumes, nuts & seeds. I look so boney, although my BMI is still good. I cannot get smaller than a size 10 pants or else I will have to completely change the clothes - again. I have never been a size 10 in my life and it is a good size for me. I'm just not sure about what to do at this point to keep from losing. 5 more pounds OK, but absolutely not more than that. Ideas?

You may need to add in more calorie dense foods and fats and cut back on the veggies a bit. They do fill you up and are healthy but don’t give much as far as calories go.

[GreenTealael 25,430]

4 hours ago, AZhiker said:

I keep losing weight, even with a much higher carb intake, using the Whole food Plant Based approach. I cannot eat any more calories. I don't even count anymore - just eat as much food as I can, making sure it is all healthy and nutritionally dense. Each day I eat at least 2 pounds of veggies/fruit (mostly veggies), whole cooked grains, legumes, nuts & seeds. I look so boney, although my BMI is still good. I cannot get smaller than a size 10 pants or else I will have to completely change the clothes - again. I have never been a size 10 in my life and it is a good size for me. I'm just not sure about what to do at this point to keep from losing. 5 more pounds OK, but absolutely not more than that. Ideas?

Rich Soups like loaded potato, butternut squash (cream based) as some of your liquids, Hagen Daaz ice cream sometimes?

Good Luck 💙

Edited November 4, 2019 by GreenTealael

[GreenTealael 25,430]

I have a (don't shoot the messenger type of) question that I have avoided asking for a while now :

Do we really not know how to halt weightloss?

Edited November 4, 2019 by GreenTealael

[AZhiker 2,253]

2 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

I have a (don't shoot the messenger type of) question that I have avoided asking for a while now :

Do we really not know how to halt weightloss?

A very fair question, and one I am asking myself. I am eating lots of carbs, getting plenty of fat, and have even cut back on my exercise. Yet, I continue to lose. The only thing I can think is that my surgery must have given me a really hefty dose of malabsorption. This could also explain why I lost my weight so quickly. Maybe I need to do the opposite, since increasing calories seems to help a lot of people get past stalls, maybe I need to drastically cut calories and let my metabolism think it is going into starvation mode. However, that will not help fuel training for the 50 mile bike race coming up in 3 weeks. Oh well, I will let this play out for a couple more week and see what happens.

[AZhiker 2,253]

3 hours ago, LynnV1964 said:

You may need to add in more calorie dense foods and fats and cut back on the veggies a bit. They do fill you up and are healthy but don’t give much as far as calories go.

Yes, I thought of that. I am eating quite a bit in the way of nuts and seeds, legumes, homemade granola, oatmeal, butternut squash, sweet potato, avocado, Peanut Butter. I add Protein Powder to smoothies and yogurt. I even eat some 80% cacoa chocolate covered almonds in the evening. Can't think of more calorie dense foods, except for adding sugar, which I cannot do. Sugar and wheat cause massive inflammatory reactions in my joints.

[ms.sss 15,714]

8 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Oh cinnamon sticks!!!! Yes, fabulous!!! I'd forgotten about those!!!! I loved them! It was awesome to inhale down the hole they made. Probably wasn't the best thing for your lungs, but still. What a great idea!!! You should totes do that @ms.sss!!

Hmmmm....i would if I could stand cinnamon. When my brother and I were younger we wouldn't touch cinnamon gum nor those valentine cinnamon candy hearts with 10-foot poles. He was/is the only person on this planet I know who agrees with me that cinnamon smells like sneezes. LOLOLOLzz

In any case, I'm now finishing up Day 3 of OPERATION QUIT SMOKING, and am proud to announce that I am still firmly on the wagon. Last night I even had coffee with the BFF who smoked* during and I didn't even flinch (okay, maybe I flinched a little).

*NOTE: BFF actually was not going to smoke in front of me but I insisted that she not change her own habits to accommodate mine. I want to be able to manage my own issues and not rely on others to do it for me. I was able to hang out with smokers before this current predicament and it did not bother me. I need to get to that same place again. She was the same with my weight-loss/diet-eating early on: she would not eat in front of me or would offer to go to some place that would have diet-friendly menu items that I know she hated. I said I was on the diet, not her, just like I'm the one quitting smoking, not her. (But I love her for the thought, regardless ❤️)

[ms.sss 15,714]

13 minutes ago, AZhiker said:

A very fair question, and one I am asking myself. I am eating lots of carbs, getting plenty of fat, and have even cut back on my exercise. Yet, I continue to lose. The only thing I can think is that my surgery must have given me a really hefty dose of malabsorption. This could also explain why I lost my weight so quickly. Maybe I need to do the opposite, since increasing calories seems to help a lot of people get past stalls, maybe I need to drastically cut calories and let my metabolism think it is going into starvation mode. However, that will not help fuel training for the 50 mile bike race coming up in 3 weeks. Oh well, I will let this play out for a couple more week and see what happens.

How many calories are you taking in daily? Do you know? And what are your macros like? You may be very well "eating lots of carbs, getting plenty of fat, and have even cut back on <your> exercise", but if your total caloric intake is below your BMR then you are going to lose weight.

You still have lots of wiggle room for more trial and error and time get used to the idea of eating higher calorie foods.

I recall a post I read earlier that you were going vegan? (sorry if its not you!). If you really want to stop losing weight, you could try one or all of these once or twice a day:

• a whole avocado with olive oil drizzled all over it.
• sweet potatoes slathered with tahini
• nut butters by the spoonful
• handfuls of dried fruit.

...but this is only if you want (or are ready) to stop losing. I do find that for many of those in maintenance , it is really quite difficult to get out of the weight-loss mind set and behaviors (myself included, it took me a couple months to acclimate).

It sounds like you are handling it though, your posts don't read as if you are stressing out too much and it does read like you are just taking your time. And that's not a bad thing.

Good Luck!

[AZhiker 2,253]

21 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

How many calories are you taking in daily? Do you know? And what are your macros like? You may be very well "eating lots of carbs, getting plenty of fat, and have even cut back on <your> exercise", but if your total caloric intake is below your BMR then you are going to lose weight.

You still have lots of wiggle room for more trial and error and time get used to the idea of eating higher calorie foods.

I recall a post I read earlier that you were going vegan? (sorry if its not you!). If you really want to stop losing weight, you could try one or all of these once or twice a day:

• a whole avocado with olive oil drizzled all over it.
• sweet potatoes slathered with tahini
• nut butters by the spoonful
• handfuls of dried fruit.

...but this is only if you want (or are ready) to stop losing. I do find that for many of those in maintenance , it is really quite difficult to get out of the weight-loss mind set and behaviors (myself included, it took me a couple months to acclimate).

It sounds like you are handling it though, your posts don't read as if you are stressing out too much and it does read like you are just taking your time. And that's not a bad thing.

Good Luck!

Yes, I am willing to let my body adjust - just don't want to get too thin. I fully agree that the mindset is challenging. For so long, carbs were taboo - now they are OK. It's hard not to feel guilty.

I do eat Peanut Butter daily, I use tahini with cashew butter for my salad dressing/hummus, I do eat raisins and dried dates, I have either butternut squash or sweet potato daily, I eat about 1/4 avocado daily - get nauseous with any more than that. Also eat a crazy amount of nuts and seeds which have astronomical calories. Oils bother me. I clearly have fat malabsorption from the nature of my stools. Nuts and seeds are fine, but processed oils seem to cause some intestinal distress.

No I am not going vegan. More like 80% whole food, plant based. A vegan can eat oreo Cookies and french fries and still be vegan. I am committed to whole, unprocessed foods - as healthy and as nutritionally dense as possible. Many of my veggies come from my organic garden.

I appreciate all your suggestions. I cannot tell you how many calories I am eating now - just that I am eating as much as I can, with no limitation except to be healthy. It seems pointless to count, as I can't really change it to make it more at this point. Such an interesting situation that I could not have imagined in a 1,000 years!

[GreenTealael 25,430]

3 hours ago, AZhiker said:

A very fair question, and one I am asking myself. I am eating lots of carbs, getting plenty of fat, and have even cut back on my exercise. Yet, I continue to lose. The only thing I can think is that my surgery must have given me a really hefty dose of malabsorption. This could also explain why I lost my weight so quickly. Maybe I need to do the opposite, since increasing calories seems to help a lot of people get past stalls, maybe I need to drastically cut calories and let my metabolism think it is going into starvation mode. However, that will not help fuel training for the 50 mile bike race coming up in 3 weeks. Oh well, I will let this play out for a couple more week and see what happens.

IMHO what you want is currently diametrically opposed.

[Recidivist 1,141]

10 hours ago, AZhiker said:

I keep losing weight, even with a much higher carb intake, using the Whole food Plant Based approach. I cannot eat any more calories. I don't even count anymore - just eat as much food as I can, making sure it is all healthy and nutritionally dense. Each day I eat at least 2 pounds of veggies/fruit (mostly veggies), whole cooked grains, legumes, nuts & seeds. I look so boney, although my BMI is still good. I cannot get smaller than a size 10 pants or else I will have to completely change the clothes - again. I have never been a size 10 in my life and it is a good size for me. I'm just not sure about what to do at this point to keep from losing. 5 more pounds OK, but absolutely not more than that. Ideas?

As I've said here before, I'm dealing with the same issue. I have done many of the things suggested here: avocados with olive oil, sweet potatoes and pumpkin, nuts (love them!) and Peanut Butter (organic without sugar). Unfortunately, the peanut butter made me massively sick, but the rest went down well. I'm also experimenting with other things, like sugar-free chocolate, gluten-free bread with butter and cheese (I'm gluten-intolerant), and sort of "heavy" meat stews with Beans.

I feel like I've been totally indulging for the past couple of weeks, but I've only managed to stop losing weight for the past week--probably because I still can't eat much in terms of volume. In fact, I'd like to gain about ten pounds and settle there. Slowly but surely!

[Recidivist 1,141]

16 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Interesting! Best of luck quitting again!

Question: Was everyone a prior smoker? I couldn't tell if there was anyone who was not?

I have never smoked in my life--unless you count pot for a few years back in the late 70's. 🙂

[AZhiker 2,253]

4 minutes ago, Recidivist said:

As I've said here before, I'm dealing with the same issue. I have done many of the things suggested here: avocados with olive oil, sweet potatoes and pumpkin, nuts (love them!) and Peanut Butter (organic without sugar). Unfortunately, the Peanut Butter made me massively sick, but the rest went down well. I'm also experimenting with other things, like sugar-free chocolate, gluten-free bread with butter and cheese (I'm gluten-intolerant), and sort of "heavy" meat stews with Beans.

I feel like I've been totally indulging for the past couple of weeks, but I've only managed to stop losing weight for the past week--probably because I still can't eat much in terms of volume. In fact, I'd like to gain about ten pounds and settle there. Slowly but surely!

Sounds like we are in the same place.

[AZhiker 2,253]

37 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

IMHO what you want is currently diametrically opposed.

Yup. Can't cut calories and train. So I'll keep on eating and maybe add some Protein Bars if needed. I worry about rebound gain once the honeymoon stage is over, but will cross that bridge when the time comes. There is always the IF tool to pull out. Such an interesting, unique journey for each of us.